Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 3) Started 7/27/19

Started by S&S RR, July 27, 2019, 08:44:50 PM

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S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

Now for a trip to the layout and a few pictures under the layout lighting with with the background scenery. 


John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

The bare plywood to the right of baseboard really messed up the iPhone camera - I need to take a day and get the SLR camera out and do my yearly layout progress photographs.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

Dennis Bourey

Dennis Bourey
dpbourey@comcast.net

Lake's Region RR
(Happy Modeling)

vinceg

Looks really nice, John. Great execution on what is probably my top two or three FSM kits (G. Wilikers also on that list)

Looks like you're using a relatively thin piece of foamcore for the base. Is that true? Has it been stable for you?
Vince

Protolancing the Illinois Central Chicago District from Chicago to Kankakee

S&S RR

John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

Quote from: vinceg on March 30, 2020, 01:15:36 PM
Looks really nice, John. Great execution on what is probably my top two or three FSM kits (G. Wilikers also on that list)

Looks like you're using a relatively thin piece of foamcore for the base. Is that true? Has it been stable for you?


Vince


Thank you for the kind words.  You will be happy to know that two of your top three FSM kits will be side by side on the S&S RR.  G. Wilikers will be to the right of Grandpa John's Welding Company.  I plan on finishing up the Fox Run Milling build that is on my workbench and then I will be building a large stone roundhouse for the new section of the layout.  Once that is off the workbenches I will be starting G. Wilikers.


The thin foam board is gator board and it's 3/16 inch thick.  It works fine on the workbench but I mount it to a 3/4 inch exterior grade plywood baseboard when it goes on the layout.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

I was asked to explain in some detail my process for creating the touch toggle control panels in the new section of the layout. Since one of my current projects is to replace the manual ground throws in the older section of the layout with tortoise machines and touch controls I will be taking progress pictures to help to explain my process.  This is just the way I do it - it is not the only way. ;)
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

To start with here is an overview picture of control panel number 7 installation. The little cart you see in the picture is what I use to get around under the layout. Crawling on my knees on floor is no longer an option - my knee let me know real quickly what a bad idea that is. So I have shown this cart before in this build thread series but that cart plays a big role in my control panel design.  My control panels - at least one in each section of the layout also serves as a grab bar so I can pull my self up from a few inches off the floor to a standing position without rolling off the little cart on to my knees.


John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

I wonder how many miles a have on the little cart? As you can see, in addition to sitting up, I can also lean the back down and use it like a creeper. The control panel is built in four layers. The first layer is a piece of 1/2 plywood held in place with glued and screwed 2x4 braces.  I can do chin ups on this thing. The second layer is 3/16 inch foam core board that is the thickness of the touch toggle buttons. The third layer is a paper printout of the track plan scaled to fit the control panel. And the fourth layer is a Plexiglas panel for the surface of the control panel.  I'm using 1/16 inch thick Plexiglass.




John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

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