August 30, 2008
The benchwork for the new layout is somewhat different from what I have tried before. I always enjoy exploring something new. Based on the design diagrams shown on the Designs page, I started building the bottom part of the benchwork. I bought enough 4x8 sheets of 3/4-inch plywood, 1/8-inch Masonite hardboard, and 3/4-inch blue insulation foam to build all of the bottom parts. I had the store cut them down the middle length-wise so they'd fit in the car. The rest is up to me.
The first step was to cut the plywood boards down to the size needed. These form the base of the modules. They are sized to fit the cabinets upon which they rest. The idea is that eventually I will be adding fluorescent lightbulbs above each of the modules, so their length is dependent on the width of those bulbs. The next photo shows the sheets cut to size and placed on the cabinets.
Using a wide-angle lens, you get a complete view of the entire layout space in the above and below photos.
The base of the module is effectively a tray. After cutting each of the sheets of plywood I cut the side pieces, which are 1.5 inches tall. I had forgotten about accounting for the front fascia panels, so I had to cut 1/8 of an inch off of the depth of each of the sheets to accommodate the front panels. Luckily I noticed it before I started gluing.
September 2, 2008
All five of the tray bottoms are now complete. They have not been mounted to the storage cabinets underneath or to each other. I need to build the backdrop and overhead lighting support system first. That will be attached to the back of the trays. The fronts of these trays will have 1/8-inch Masonite hardboard fascia panels installed later, which is why there is a slight difference between the edges of the trays and the edges of the storage cabinets. Eventually these surfaces will all match up.
September 4, 2008
The next step is to build the light bars. As my Design page shows, I want to build an as-light-as-possible structure to hold the fluorescent light bulb above the module. The next set of photos describe how I built one of these. Some of this detailed construction is also for my own record, so that I'll know how I built one of these in the future. This first photo shows the parts on the table that went into building one of these light bars. The Masonite boards are 58 inches long for this particular module.
I glued 1/4-inch strips of Oak to one of the smaller Masonite boards so that there is more glue surface to which to glue the other smaller board.
Next I glued two pieces of 3/4-inch plywood as part of the end cap for the light bar. These provide structural integrity and allow me to attach side panels later on.
I cannibalized a standard 4-foot fluorescent light fixture for the two clips that hold the light bulb in place. Yes, those metal light fixtures are actually heavier than my light bar! I decided to glue them to the light bar, so I first needed to sand off the three nodules that are on the back. The one on the left has been sanded and the one on the right is the original. I used a grinder wheel, which made quick work of it. The clips are made of plastic, but it is a very tough plastic.
I glued the clips to another set of 3/4-inch plywood boards with epoxy glue and let them dry overnight. The clips are one inch away from the top of the light bar. The next day I glued the plywood boards to the light bar. Their distance from the ends are such that the light bulb, which is just slightly longer than 47 inches, comfortably fits between them. Some test fitting was necessary.
As mentioned on the Designs page, all of my layout wiring, which includes the lighting wires, will be above the light bar. I drilled two holes in the plywood boards and Masonite top and routed the wires out to the top. The ballast that will feed the light bulbs will be placed above also.
The next step was to glue some more 1/4-inch strips for additional glue surfaces. I also glued two small Masonite cover plates at the end caps. These plates are on the bottom of the light bar, so they are visible.
And finally, the front fascia panel was glued to the light bar. The next photo is of the light bar completed and in its normal, upright position.
And this is the back of the light bar.
And the bottom view. I hooked it up to one of the ballasts and it worked great. The 1/4-inch strips visible at the bottom of the light bar are there to provide support for the diffuser panel. A diffuser panel is needed to filter out the UV light which, over time, is said to fade our model structures.
September 7, 2008
There is a 1-inch space behind the bottom trays of the modules and the wall. To make sure I'd allow a bit of a fudge factor, I cut the vertical supports just short of 1 inch (15/16"). I am spacing them 6 inches apart (on center). In the next photo I am gluing the first set of these to the back of the light bar. The module's backdrop panel will be glued to these vertical strips of plywood. To balance these strips, I used paint cans and shims. You might have also noticed that the first coat of white paint has been applied to the interior of the light bar.
The backdrop panel is made of a 23-inch wide sheet of Masonite hardboard. It is being glued to the vertical supports shown in the photo above. I used a bunch of mostly-full paint cans to provide the clamping force while the glue sets. The vertical strips of plywood wrapped a bit. That is fine for all but the one on the far right of this photo (not visible). I used a couple of nails to force that one to be straight along the edge of the Masonite backdrop panel. This is because the right-hand side panel of the layout will be attached to this later. The point is that sometimes clamps cannot be used and so temporary finishing nails will do the job.
September 8, 2008
I bought two sheets of 2' by 4' styrene "clear cracked ice" ceiling diffuser panels. You can find these in the ceiling panel section of Lowe's or Home Depot. Make sure that the ones you get are not cracked, chipped, or broken, because they are rather flimsy. One thing to note: the panels are actually 47-3/4 inches long, not 48 inches.
The instructions on the sheet tell you to score the styrene, much like you would score opaque styrene used for scratchbuilding structures. I measured what I needed and lined up my straightedge. I scored the styrene a number of times. Then I lined it up on the edge of the table to snap the piece off. It went fine for about a foot and then the piece cracked. Crap! I took the broken off piece and tried cutting it on the table saw. It worked like a charm, and it left a nice, clean edge. I then cut the piece you see in the next photo using the table saw. It does leave a little bit of residue on the table saw blade because it melts some of the plastic while its cutting, but that comes off fairly easily.
Here's the back of the light bar and backdrop.
I then flipped the whole assembly upside-down on the table and put a second coat of white paint inside the light bar area. The idea behind painting the interior white, of course, is to reflect as much light back out the bottom of the light bar toward the layout.
Since this particular light bar/backdrop assembly is for the tray that is on the right-most side of the layout, I wanted to put a nice side panel against it. I needed some more glue surface along the edge of the front fascia panel at the top of the light bar, so I glued a piece of plywood to the top.
And here is the side panel cut to shape.
September 10, 2008
The next photo shows the drywall screws that hold the backdrop to the bottom tray. I added this photo mainly as a reminder to myself how I will need to disassemble these modules in the future.
To complete the hidden wiring of the module, I attached a barrier strip to the top of the light bar (behind the valance, of course). The two wires in the front (toward the back of the module) are for a 12-volt accessories line (for such things are lights and animation). The other two wires are for the DCC main bus wires. After this first module, I started using an 8-pin barrier strip so that the other pins could be used for routing the 110V electrical wires for the lights.
In the back of the module behind the bottom tray, another barrier strip was installed to route the wires from the strip at the top to the layout. This is necessary so that the wires can be removed when the layout is dissassembled. In the photo I used connectors, but I soon stopped using them and simply screwed the wires under the screws of the barrier strips; much more reliable. After this first module I started gluing the barrier strip to the back of the Masonite backdrop panel, because bending those feeder wires so sharply was hard to do.
Under the barrier strip I drilled holes to feed the wires to the front in the layout space. From there the wires will be routed and connected to things when the layout is constructed. From the front of the layout, the wires on the left are the accessories wires, and the ones on the right are for the DCC bus (this is just for my personal notes). I also concluded it is much better to have these wires come into the module on either the left or right side, not in the center (a mistake I made in one of the modules).
The photo below shows the completed assembly. The clamp on the right is just to hold the assembly to the tray while I installed the screws. The electrical cord on the left is also just temporary to provide electricity to the ballast of the fluorescent light that sits on top of the light bar (behind the front fascia/valance).
As you can see above, it provides plenty of light for the layout portion. It took me about a week of free time to build this first light bar/backdrop assembly, and I have four more to build, so I know what I am going to be doing for the next month or so. Assembly-line construction isn't really possible, because each assembly has to be carefully measured and fitted to both their tray bottoms and to the other assembly that I have already done.
September 25, 2008
Due to the major interruption caused by hurricane Ike, the next module's benchwork took two weeks to build. It has a corner assembly on the right to match up with the first module.
September 30, 2008
Because the center section was split evenly between two modules, I built both modules at the same time. It took me a few days to install the left-hand side of the center section shown below. Three down, two to go...
October 7, 2008
The last two module light bars and backdrops were built at the same time. The smaller of the two is next to be installed. As opposed to the 48-inch lightbulbs in the other lightbars, this one holds a 24-inch fluorescent lightbulb. It is offset from the back corner because of the curtains in front of the room's windows. In a future room I might be able to push this whole leg of the layout back three inches, so I built the lightbars so that they can be easily adjusted for that.
The last module was finished the next day. The next step is to complete all the wiring for the lights, DCC, and the accessories line across all the modules.
October 10, 2008
It took me two days to connect and route all the wiring for the lights, the DCC, and the accessories lines. There is only about 9 inches between the top of the modules and the ceiling, so it was hard, cramped, and hot working up there, but it is all done. This next photo was taken holding the camera above the modules. It shows all the wiring behind the valance.
And this is the view from the room's entrance.
October 22, 2008
I have completed painting all the exposed surfaces of the benchwork. In the next photo you can see the top valance painted my favorite dark green, the main viewing area has been painted a light blue, and the bottom "tray" has been painted a brown. I painted the tray so that if any liquid ever falls on it, the wood will not warp. The light blue background color is just the base color for the future sky. I just wanted to paint the Masonite so that it would be protected.
The next step was to more securely mount the modules to the storage cabinets underneath. The reason is that it is too easy to bump the modules out of their alignment, which would later affect the track work. The first step was to make sure the modules' edges lined up with cabinets. The fronts of the modules will eventually have a front fascia panel made of 1/8" Masonite board, so I used a stand-in piece to align the modules. Next, I clamped them down, drilled holes, and installed 1-1/4" drywall screws.
I drilled three holes into each of the modules, except for the smaller module, which only has two screws. For my own records, each screw is one inch from each inside corner of the module, and one is in the center. The screw is set back from the inside front edge by one inch. I need to track that so that I can find them again when it is time to dismantle this layout. A portion of the scenery will have to be "dug up" to gain access to these screws. I also need to take care not to place any track work over the screws' locations.
I had planned on using two layers of insulation foam glued to a sheet of Masonite hardboard to be the inserts into these modules. However, after building them I discovered that they take days to for the glue to dry, they are not entirely flat, and they are not even. It doesn't allow me to make them level with each other. After much thought I decided to abandon the idea and switch to building my track using the "cookie cutter" method. To start off with that, I bought and cut 1/2" MDF to cover the entire layout. I will draw the track and scenery plan on these sheets, and then cut out the parts that are to become the subroadbed for the track and structure placement.
January 5, 2010
Now that the track work is done, I decided it is time to install the front fascia panels. These would have been in the way while laying track, which is why I waited. I am using 1/8-inch Masonite hardboard for the panels, just like I used for the light fixtures above the layout. This photo shows the panel in Canonsburg being glued in place. I decided for the Canonsburg and Washington areas to make the front fascia panels 3-1/4" tall and flat on the top. This is because eventually this will represent the foundation of structures that will appear at the front of the layout. For the Shingiss area (the middle section), I varied the top of the fascia panel to mimick the undulations of the terrain.
This is what it looked like when the glue dried. I cut a temporary corner off on the right hand side so that the fascia panel meets up with the vertical side panel. I will eventually smooth that out and make it blend in with the scenery, rather than have this odd triangular cut.
Although the picture came out kind of bad, here's the view of the Shingiss area.
This is the finished view of Washington. I will soon come back and paint the fascia panels the same dark green color with which I painted the light panels above the layout. For now, it presents a much cleaner look than the raw wood before.
