Making a start, my foray into 0 Gauge.

Fitting it above the boards is my only real option Paul (hence also why I choose to solder link each rail to the next so that the rails are the busbars) rather than wiring underneath which can easily get snagged and damaged when loading or unloading the shelves underneath. The board locates nicely under the signal box so should it be necessary, it's no problem to access should the need arise.
Keith.

 

A little more layout progress, these 3 warehouse fronts are from 'Fairprice Models' via uk Ebay. They are advertised as an aid to scratch building, which I'd agree with as they don't have brick courses lasered into them, other than that, windows and doors are excellent quality and a very economical price of £43 for the 3 including P+P. As they come, they are 'half-relief' models, 75mm in depth, but I cut them down to just 10mm depth for my use, finishing using brick papers and clear varnishing afterwards. I added details such as guttering and downpipes just to round things off, but for the money they are excellent basic kits.

 

Above the layout, things are also taking shape as the woodwork for the ceiling is now in place, the 8 main cross trusses I had to modify by using 8mm threaded rod, 'T' nuts, washers and nuts to support the central timber parts first. This was necessary as the best part of 20 years ago when we bought this property, I was running an LPG powered V8 Discovery which wouldn't fit under the original trusses as they were too low. I solved this by drilling and bolting in an angle iron higher up, then cutting out the lower central strut with an angle grinder, which gave me a central area of about 8 feet wide and of the required height. The original 'up-&-over' door was also too low, so I removed the entire concrete sectional front of the garage, built a new artificial stone frontage and fitted a new taller Cedar garage door built by my next door neighbour. All this gave me what I needed at the time, but meant that slightly more work was needed to fit the main trusses now. Cutting and fitting 72 of 4ft joists, 9 in each 'bay' kept me busy for an hour or two, but I am now ready to order the insulation rolls and plasterboard to complete the ceiling. All this assumes that the materials are available as due to the amount of construction going on both locally and nationally not to mention a lack of HGV drivers to deliver, certain building materials are in short supply, hopefully this won't delay the project by much.
Keith.

 

I got the garage ceiling completed, looks very neat and tidy, and decided not to bother with a couple of coats of "Brilliant White" paint as the board finish is quite light in colour, joint tape covers joints and screws nicely, and I'm quite happy with the end result. Having incorporated roof insulation into the build has reduced the heat coming from the metal roof sheets markedly and it's much more comfortable to work in there now, maybe I should have done this when I reroofed the garage a year or so ago, but ain't hindsight a wonderful thing?! It meant I had to install a few extra shelves as the roof trusses had their uses for storing timber etc above, but it did mean I could use some timber up and also have a bit of a clear-out at the same time. Here's how it looks now.

 

Good point Andy, something I will likely look again at as I resume operations on the layout now the ceiling is sorted. I was very fortunate in being able to source the required construction materials for the ceiling locally via an assortment of merchants, there being so much new build construction in the area that some merchants are only supplying large construction projects, others have no stock at all and no idea of when restocking will be available.
Keith.

 

I'll see how it goes with the dust Rob. The previous main source of dust was the concrete floor, but after replacing the roof, I got a couple of tins of floor paint and first sealed the floor with a coat of PVA. I keep a mop and bucket in the garage and from time to time just go over the floor when the cars are out, this helps to keep things tidy and dust levels fairly low, but during the Winter I'll probably remove the buildings and cover the layout with a roll of 'Visqueen' I had left from when I plasterboarded and insulated the loft.
Keith.