Hi all, Finally got a start on my new layout in earnest this week with one and a half spare hours on new years eve. Gary has challenged me to get this ready for June, he is more optimistic than I am though! This will be a modular layout, as the title suggests, each board being 1m long and 0.5m wide. If I design it carefully it will fit, with one board on top of the other, in a frame that could fit into a sedan boot, otherwise one board will have to go on the back seat. Each board is light-weight, being made of 42x19 pine. With a sheet of 4mm marine ply on top. This was all put together with my new favorite tool, a nail gun, a C1 bradder, in this case shooting out 30mm nails. Makes very quick work of the frames (with glue for added strength) then the top board was glued and nailed into place. There will be more bracing to come, that will be an integral part of another design idea that I will showcase when it is up and running. Together the two boards look like this. With a small piece of track and a 40' bogie wagon for a bit of scale. This will be a classic "timesaver" layout, which will hopefully turn into a game with maybe some sort of leaderboard and competition. The theme will likely be a bit generic in nature for the landscaping and scenics, something to keep other spectators of all ages amused, no real plans yet on that yet though. Another idea of the layout is to showcase what can be done fairly quickly at home, and that a fun layout does not have to take up a whole room in storage. Control will be DC, only have one engine at a time anyway, points will be electro-frog with rod in tube changing, all done from the front of the layout. Am thinking of some sort of dynamic buffers to absorb the inevitable over-runs. The name Gundah is keeping with my plan of naming layouts after survey trig stations in my area. The remains of Gundah trig are in the next suburb, Mt Ku-ring-gai. Gundah either means going upstream or storm or rain in the local indigenous language. A favourite spot of the local kids is Inflatable World, located on Gundah Rd, so this ties in nicely. Next to get the two boards joined in an accurate and removable system, then track.
You have my attention. These boards look very tidy and that nail gun ..... Wow ...... It's like the digital equivalent of a hammer ...... I like hammers. Looking forward to seeing this come on ..... Now remember ...... June. Cheers Toto
Coming along a treat Tony. One recommendation would be to build in a centre brace below the baseboard, it may just help it to stop sagging. Looking forward to this. Cheers, Gary.
Nice work Tony, got to love those nail guns, I've got four of em, from 4 inch nails to 1/2" brads. Luverly jubberly. Cheer's, Pete.
Looking forward to following your progress. I'm just starting my first plank, I have made the frames, now fighting to work out a layout plan. Phil
This is a top thread to follow (no pressure there then) looking forward to the next installment. Ian vt
June is just around the corner so you are certainly in for some sustained activity. With all the progress being made on various members' layouts I am starting to feel a bit slothful so I am just now leaving for the shed to get Dargan moving again. Cheers and happy modelling Richard
I'm Guessing that The June dead line is the long weekend and you will be joining Platform1's Show arena That's 3 new layouts on the go then Been a bit waylaid with my plank over the Xmas period but that part of the beauty of Model railways you can have a break and pick back up where you left off, And nothing really changes Will follow on as well
That would be a distinct possibility and give me a change of activity from the long term scale of Dargan to something with a more finite conclusion. Any suggestions? Cheers and happy modelling Richard
Just a bit of progress, doing lots of house tasks, erecting privacy slat screens, pouring concrete, mowing etc. Today finally got to fitting the cabinet makers dowels and bolting the whole layout together, Drilled the holes and epoxied the dowels in place, then held in with coach bolts. It all comes together well, and comes apart too. Yes Gary, there will be lots more bracing to come, this will be seen in due course. Hi Pete, In a previous life i used to hire out all kinds of nail guns, from 2 inch T-nailers, 4 inch framers, coil, secret nailers and cordless gas powered impact guns (won't mention Ramset guns with 22 gunpowder ) all good fun. But this little gun fired out 18 gauge nails and does not split the wood, brilliant. Maybe tomorrow morning will be playing with track plans on it full scale, have got basics done on RailModeller for mac (they don't make Anyrail for PC) and it is seriously painful compared to a full on CAD program like Microstation, but I don't have that at home But might not get much done tomorrow, indulging finally in my other love, boats, taking my ski-boat out for a run on the Hawkesbury, 200 horses of outboard fun! Cheers Tony
Bought some bits and pieces. I try to buy locally (Hornsby) as much as possible. It's all very well saving a few dollars and buying on-line from overseas, but if I didn't have a local shop, then all the other little things would be hard (brushes, glue, paint, couplers etc) not to mention just looking at things in glass cases, and therefore wanting them Our hardware store shut down over a year ago, and now it's at least a 1 hour round trip to the next hardware, the little ones are dropping like flies, now Wormalds hardware in Turramurra is closing to, leaving only one big chain... Here is the layout, hope you can see my pencil marks for the flex-track, the points are indicated by the stuck down cut -outs. All points are electrofrogs, this layout will primarily have 0-4-0 locos on it, such as the pictured Bill, Ben and Percy, and some 0-6-0s like Thomas and Duck. As any reader of the Thomas series knows, "big" engines like Gordon, don't "shunt". He didn't have one of the points I needed, will hopefully have them in by now, but was out of cork underlay, might have to get that further afield. Also have a few building laid out in the positions, a large Tyco freight station, a Bachmann freight station, a Frateschi water tower, Dapol bungalow and an old airfix shop. I may have some others lurking in boxes, will see how this lot looks first. Have a piece of PC board to make joiner sleepers from. Hoping the scroll saw will help me with this, the board generally doesn't like to score and snap like it should. Once i get the last point and cork and some time I should get moving, I also want my saw-horses back! Cheers Tony
Wow Tony you are getting serious with this project even the Scientific Calculator is out Great to see your progressing will be interesting to see what this ends up like Got too love Bill N Ben My parrot Wally has a Bachmann Percy so he will be most interested to see the layout as he sits and watches Thomas the tank for hours on the TV
Davoetype wrote: Yes nice looking kit those Dowels Tony can I ask Brand / Where you purchased the Alignment Dowels.
Sorry Chris, Just saw your question on the dowels. They were from a woodwork place in Mona Vale https://www.thewoodworks.com.au their ebay store name is toamic1 Managed to sneak in half an hour's work on it yesterday, cut to length the re-enforcing strips for the layout, nail gunned and glued in place. Yes they do appear random, and overkill in number, but they have a dual purpose, more on that later. Cheers Tony
More progress being made. Just be careful where you locate the cross bracing. If you intend ever using point motors, I can guarantee one of the braces under the board will be right where you wish to mount a motor. I always print my track plan out or draw it out using Peco track templates and work out where each point is located. Knowing this allows me to plan the placement of any cross braces. Oh, drill a few 1/4" holes through the braces to pass wires through... Cheers, Gary.
What my picture doesn't show is the track plan drawn out on top, the struts are right where they need to be. All will be revealed when I get to it. Points will be wire in tube across the top, I never intend to use point motors on this one. Have a right angle drill so holes for the wires will not be a problem. Was going to drill them all first, but if i do it later I can have them where I need them to be, haven't thought too far ahead yet in terms of the wiring and I need them out of the way for something else. Had an opportunity yesterday to attach them in, but not to drill holes anyway. I have very restricted times to do things to this layout. Cheers Tony