Dan Randall
Western Thunderer
Richard - I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading about the design and execution of your baseboard support system and can’t wait for the layout build to start!
Regards
Dan
Regards
Dan
Thanks for your interest and your kind comment - I've actually just started on some stock building, but the next stage on the layout itself will be a start on underlay and track-laying, I think. I tend to work at what I rather optimistically describe as a moderate pace, so after finishing the series of postings about the baseboards I'll be posting a bit less frequently ... but I am trying hard to maintain momentum.Richard - I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading about the design and execution of your baseboard support system and can’t wait for the layout build to start!
Regards
Dan
Beneath the fixed entry track is a void, to which I fitted a floor to provide a small storage compartment, capable of accepting two “Really Useful” 1.7ltr boxes – really useful for storing spares, fixings, etc.
Thanks for your interest, and your suggestions. I don't really need a lockable drawer, but the storage space can be used flexibly - I mentioned the boxes because I use some and they happen to fit the space. I'm sure that once the layout is in use that space will become a hole with a role. To be honest, I didn't think of putting a leveller at a higher point - I'll give it serious thought if I need a Mk.2.Could you install a lockable drawer - saves having to carry two boxes?
As a thought - rather than have the levelling bolts/feet at the bottom of the trestles could they have been placed between the top of the trestle and the box girders or fitted to the top of the box girders or underside of the baseboards. This would save crawling about on the floor adjusting the feet and bobbing up and down to see the spirit level.
Thanks, Jonte - why not have a go? The design I arrived at can be readily adapted, as the only really tricky part is dealing with the tolerances and clearances, and trying to build in some scope for adjustments. It would definitely be worth having a look at the article in MRJ 199, though, that's where the original idea came from, and it's very neat. I don't consider myself particularly inventive but I actually quite enjoyed the challenge of adapting that idea to make it work in my situation. I spent a lot of time thinking (a good excuse for procrastinating at a tricky part) and checking things before attempting the next task, and a lot of that thinking seemed to be about how best to either avoid or recover from potential errors.Ingenious, Richard; clever stuff.
I’ve a 360’ bearing squirrelled away somewhere after salvaging it from my broken swivel chair. Thoughts had crossed my mind that perhaps one day it could serve a similar purpose to yours, although I have neither your ingenuity nor skills to make it work. Especially not in a such a clever design as this anyway.
Jonte
Thanks Paul - I managed to make it without damaging myself ... but my brain hurt at times!That is a really impressive fiddle yard system Richard - a lot of thought will have gone into that. Excellent stuff!
The scenic section of Craster covers two baseboards with a total length of 8’ 6”.
In the past I have found it difficult to build baseboards that would enable all the features I wished for, and on some projects this barrier became insuperable. One of several reasons for this was that I found it hard to be sufficiently specific about some features like variations in ground levels actually to start building, but felt unable to proceed otherwise. The board I built for the “Low Quay” cameo was effective in many ways, but even then required later modifications; it was heavy, the integrated backscene proved unwieldy and made access to some areas difficult.
A probable underlying cause of difficulty was that I tried to integrate too many functions into the boards – a trackbed, multiple scenic levels, integral lighting, a fascia and backscene, routes for cables, etc. In all honesty, this aim exceeded my capacity to design and build it effectively. In summary, my previous baseboards showed too few features of intelligent design and too many features of “… A Cunning Plan”
Finally recognising this enduring fundamental problem led me to try a different solution for Craster, radically reducing the functions of the baseboard at the initial stage of construction. Broadly, I decided to make the baseboards as only a light but rigid core framework with two functions: primarily to provide very stable support for the trackbed and a base for features known to be at the same ground level as the track, and secondly to provide a foundation to which lightweight scenic and functional elements can later be added.
The Craster boards are essentially a well-braced rectangular frame. I tested the rigidity of such a design using 1/12 scale maquettes made of thin card, also using these to begin to develop the shape of the trackbed. These proved to be very resistant to even quite forceful twisting. This photograph shows some early planning with the maquettes:
View attachment 116368
The boards as built differ from these maquettes, being simpler, with fewer cross-members and a slightly different configuration. Each board is built on a fret of 4mm ply which forms a base-plate holding everything in alignment, as seen in this photograph showing part of the clamping/gluing process:
View attachment 116370
The width of these frets matches the width between the support beams, so that the longitudinal sides of the baseboard lie directly on the support beams:
View attachment 116371
Longitudinals, cross-members and diagonals are 4” deep, giving sufficient depth to mount and protect delicate equipment and electronics. Cross-members are half-jointed where they cross the front longitudinal, but all other joints are simple butt joints, glued with weather-proof wood adhesive. The entire structure is made from 4mm ply except for the ends, which are of 9mm ply. Ends, cross members and diagonals are pierced with holes to lighten the structure and provide a route for cables and cross-board connections. This basic structure is shown in the following photograph:
View attachment 116372
The board in this condition was rigid and weighed about 2.5kg. The next step was to fit the trackbed, which is held on risers screwed to the cross-members and the diagonals. The use of risers obviates the need to shape any baseboard cross-members, gives enormous flexibility and provides unobstructed space directly beneath the trackbed for cable runs and access.
The risers are made as a “saddle” from three pieces of 4mm play, the two side pieces being for stabilising and fixing on either side of a cross member, and the middle piece being the spacer which sets the height of the riser. The sides of the risers were made from the cut-out triangles from the frets. The spacers for all the risers were made from a strips of ply cut at the same time with a single setting on the bandsaw, and they are very consistent:
View attachment 116373
Provided the spacers are consistent in height, the length of the risers can vary, allowing economic use of all sorts of ply off-cuts. Any number of risers can be fitted in any position to fully support the trackbed, as shown below in position on one of the baseboards, and finally secured firmly in place with a screw from each side:
View attachment 116374
In practice the risers are arranged at a maximum interval of 9” although most are closer than that. After careful alignment at the baseboard ends, the trackbed is secured to each riser with two screws. The complete structure weighs about 5.5kg and is easily carried and manoeuvred. The following photograph shows the trackbed in position on one of the baseboards:
View attachment 116375
In these photographs the risers for the nearest board end are not yet in place, nor are the dowels in the ends to align the baseboards.
The front longitudinal is set back from the edge of the base fret so that where cross members are jointed through it, a well-supported short “nib” is created. One of these is ringed in the photograph above. These provide fixing points for adding short cantilevers designed to hold a lightweight scenic contour onto this core framework; this will allow me to develop or modify peripheral elements of the scenery at a later time, as the layout develops, and finally to fit a cosmetic front ‘contour board’. In a similar way, elements such as supports for a flexible backscene can be added on the rear side of the baseboard core.
Taking this a step further, because the trackbed and the scenic extensions are screwed in place without glue, it would be possible, should I ever dismantle Craster, to re-use the core structure of the baseboard by fitting a new trackbed and new scenery.
Unconventional perhaps, but this approach allowed me actually to start building viable baseboards without having a fully detailed and dimensioned scenic plan, and to retain a degree of flexibility in the final external foot print of the layout.
Time will tell, but I’m hoping that this isn’t just another Cunning Plan – at least it got me off the starting line.
The next posting will describe the fiddle yard, and will complete the series about baseboards.
Thank you for your interest, and the kind comment. I must stress, though, that I've based much of this upon other people's ideas, particularly Robin Fielding's traverser, using risers as in the well-established L-girder system, and inspiration from Iain Rice's thinking and Gordon Gravett's. I think that, in essence, my approach is a compilation of ideas and techniques that I've applied in my own way. I've enjoyed finding what I hope will prove to be pragmatic ways of making the boards ... all I have to do now is use this foundation and build the railway part!Entirely amazing loving your planning and concert models, it’s all really clever and inspiring stuff. Brilliant read on to fiddle yard now must get reading.
Cheers
Thanks Ade - that's kind and encouraging. I do try to be neat, but I still end up having to do a fair bit of cleaning as I go along. I've also just realised that two of the photos don't appear in the text as they should - I'll see if I can fix that. (a little later - I think I've fixed it and added a photo that seemed to be missing.)Liking The Class B Richard, I think your being a bit hard on yourself with the soldering! Nowt wrong with that as far as I can see. I Would dearly love to be able to solder as good as that!
Cheers