Mornin' all,

It's a wet gray cloudy day as the cold front moves through. Early next week is going to be fairly cold with lows in the low teens and single digits.

This morning I drove up to the Home Depot in Lenior City to buy 'select' 1x3 boards to start building the screen walls that support the outside of the upper level benchwork.  These 1x3s are so much nicer than the 1x3s I get from the local building supply place.  But they cost more than 3X so they are cost prohibitive to use for general 1x3 benchwork.

I also bought three sheets of 3/16" hardboard which I use for fascias and 1/8 hardboard that I use for backdrops and coved corners.  And 6 sheets of 1/2 foamular rigid foam board that I am going to try as a substitute for 1/2" Homasote panels.

I also bought a couple gallons of Behr 'Radiant Sky' blue paint that I will use as the base coat for backdrops.

Hope y'all have a great day!

Doug

PS: It's nice that 4x8 sheets fit in the back of the Expedition

I started work on the upper level 1x3 open grid benchwork. Keep in mind that the outside edge will be supported from the ceiling.

I need to find/buy some better quality 1x3s to build the screen walls down from the ceiling. The 1x3s I have for building the open grid are pretty sketchy. They range in width from 2.5" (expected) to 2 7/8" (yeesh).  I may have to start ripping them down to 2.5" on the table saw.

A reminder of the upper level design.  The mainline track comes across the aisle from the middle level nolix and makes a circle around the center platform before entering the upper return loop (and staging tracks).

I cut/installed the 3/4" plywood helix base pieces today. When I am ready to start building the helix I will put 16 riser blocks on the helix base. These riser blocks will establish the 4" rise for each revolution of the helix. There will be 4 1/2 revolutions to the top of the helix. I build the helix roadbed with overlapping 7/16 sanded plywood (so 7/8" thick).

I cleaned up and did some organization of the layout room this week.

Mornin'

A relatively balmy 23 degrees here right now. Forecast high is 40 today and then 50s for the next 3 days. And then the next cold front rolls thru.

Real work continues to take too much of my time.

Yesterday I started cutting the 3/4" plywood circle (70", 85" diameter) for the helix support base. I am cutting through two sheets of 3/4" plywood with a jigsaw, and it is slow going.  I have another 36" to cut. Hopefully I can get that done and installed this evening.

Hope you guys have a great day.

Doug

Quote from: westtexjohn on January 14, 2025, 03:26:33 PMIs there a topic on this forum for "Layout Electrical"? A topic that includes DCC installs, turnout installs/control etc? LED use and structure lighting.

Thanks....John

I don't think there is, but I wish there was. I have to go elsewhere for my DCC questions.

Good morning,

Fires at work this week.  I sure will be glad when I can retire....

Not much progress on the layout this week so far.

Doug

And then this photo shows the inside with 1/8" masonite painted sky blue with hazy clouds (as a first step for a backdrop).  Again, from the previous layout.

Here are photos from the previous layout that show how the outside edge of the upper benchwork is supported from the ceiling with a 'wall' that drops from the ceiling.  These walls are built with 1x3s at the top and bottom and 2x2 in between.  There is a lip on the inside bottom formed by the 1x3 that the open grid benchwork rests on. The outside gets covered with lightweight 1/4" Luan plywood and the inside gets covered with 1/8" masonite/hardboard (backdrop).



And then with the Luan plywood installed on the outside. Eventually I painted these outside panels to the room wall color.

Quote from: elwoodblues on January 11, 2025, 10:56:09 PMThat is some serious benchwork and well made to boot along with very colourfull carper tiles.

Looking forward to seeing the upper level built.

The colorful carpet tiles are $0.49/sq ft.  It's the least expensive option I could find that is nice for walking on, crawling on, and easy to replace individual tiles when 'accidents' happen. Highly recommended.

I finished the open grid 1x4 lower level benchwork that wraps around the outside of the center platform. I just have 2 more support struts to install. Much of the lower level will have 5/8" plywood and then 1/2" homasote or foamular rigid foam. I used homasote on the previous layout and it has a lot of positive attributes, but it was NOT flat and it required a lot of patching/leveling.  That's why I'm thinking about possible using 1/2 foamular instead.

I think I will start on the upper level benchwork next as I don't have any questions/issues as I have with the middle level benchwork. As a bonus the upper level benchwork is much smaller in size then the middle or lower level so I hope to knock it out quickly.

This is the narrowest aisle at 40" wide. The other aisles are 46"-48" (or wider).





This is where the mainline wraps around the center platform and then will enter the helix for the trip up to the middle level.

Good morning,

Ended up getting around 4-5" of snow yesterday before it turned to sleet/frozen rain.

Been working on benchwork this morning.

Otis loves playing in the snow and eating it as well.

Going to continue working on benchwork today.

Have a great day y'all!

Doug

Good Friday Morning!

The snow has started.  Forecasts range from 2" to 10" today/tonight.  Average snowfall for the year around here is 5".

I'm hoping to get some work done on the layout today and this weekend.

Doug

Mornin' all,

14 degrees here this morning.  4-10" of snow forecast for tomorrow. I went out this morning and stocked up in case I get trapped in the house for multiple days.  The road that comes up to my subdivision is VERY steep with a very sharp switchback so there is no getting in/out until the road gets plowed or the snow/ice melts.

Yesterday a used Athearn Gen1 gas turbine (slab side) was delivered from Ebay so I tested the decoder/sound and everything worked great.

Hope y'all have a great day!

Doug

Morning all,

25 degrees here this morning. High forecast is low 30s.  White fluffy stuff falling very slowly, no accumulation.

Worked on lower level benchwork yesterday evening.


Doug

PS: Here's a photo just after sunset looking west. That's Watts Bar Nuke plant's steam plume off in the distance.