Neat, Jeff.

Looking forward to this build.

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: ACL1504 on June 10, 2025, 01:23:01 PMMark, Cheers,

Your thought process in solving the roller door is masterful as well as the fix itself. I'm very impressed with how you see an issue and then proceed to make it work.

I probably would have sealed off the door long prior to it getting this far.

Great work all the same.

Tom

Thanks, Tom.

Yes - there were some challenges to overcome when doing this job!

I had intended to to get this job done much earlier - in fact long before laying any track, even before completing modules 9 and 10 and hanging the ceilings over module 8.  If this had have been the case, I would have been able to roll module 8 a couple of feet away from the door making the majority of the work far simpler.  However, I was enjoying myself working on the layout so much I decided to carry on and just deal with the problems this created later.  In the end, I got the job done.

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: Jerry on June 10, 2025, 10:15:02 AMMark your just amazing at carpentry work and fixing things.  Well done!!

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry.

Although earthquake proofing was a large consideration, keeping the the room warmer through the winter and cooler through the summer was my main goal.  That roller door is thin and has significant, drafty gaps - especially when a cold front was moving in from the south west.  Also, in summer, the afternoon sun would heat it up to the point that it was too hot to touch.  This, in turn, heated up the layout room.

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: deemery on June 10, 2025, 08:43:41 AMAre there any earthquake-proofing considerations for this? 

dave

Hi, Dave.

Well - the whole thing is really an earthquake consideration.  If the Alpine fault line goes in a big way, with the epicentre close, then the whole barn may fall down - and there is really nothing I can do about that without spending a hell of a lot of $$$ that I don't have!  That being said, the barn is light weight cladding on timber framing and the concrete floor is thicker than typical and hopefully reinforced with mesh (I know there were a pile of mesh offcuts over under the hedge that I have slowly used for various projects since we moved here).  The whole idea of building the layout in modular form, on wheels, and with backdrops and cloud ceilings all incorporated into the design, is to let the layout move independently from the ground in an event.  It was my experience when living through our 2011 earthquake that my one module on wheels and with built in backdrop and ceiling and detached from the garage suffered almost no damage.  Meanwhile, the module attached to the back wall of the garage suffered much damage.  The removable wall section is also an earthquake consideration, as well as future proofing.  If we suffer another event, and repairs are need to be undertaken on the barn, the whole layout can be dismantled and rolled out the hole in the wall, transported and stored while the work is done.  When completed, it can then be reinstated.  This will be no easy task, but possible.  This removal of the layout in 11 modules also means that if I get this empire to a state where others might want to preserve it, this can be done.  I'm hoping to get another 30 years or so to achieve this.

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: Rick on June 10, 2025, 07:05:50 AM

Quote from: PRR Modeler on June 10, 2025, 06:26:44 AMGreat wood working skills Mark.

That's the first think I think when I see one of Mark's posts.

Thanks, Curt and Rick.

I'm pleased to have this job done.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Well - a change of tack.  So, some years ago, when I decided to take over the second of the central two rooms in the barn, I looked at replacing the roller door with an over height slider.  The gap when the slider was fully open needed to be wide and tall enough to allow all my modules to roll out the door - some 2.36m tall and 2.15m wide (7'9"x 7'1/2").  It soon became obvious that these simply did not show up second hand and to buy and install a new one I was looking at around $7,000.  I decided I could simply build a wall on the inside of the roller door for a little over $1,000, while leaving the roller door in place for the next caretakers of our little slice of paradise (besides, $6,000 buys a lot of trains!).  The problem is, I carried on with the layout modules instead of building this important wall midway through the module construction - when I would have had, at least some, good access!  Anyway - with the cold of the New Zealand winter fast approaching again, I decided it was time to finally get this job ticked off my 'to do' list.

Photo 1 - shows the wall from the outside with the roller door open as high as it will go.  I moved the stops up a little so that my modules will clear to top of the door when fully open.  Room was very limited, so I opted to use ceiling battens as framing.  These are only 70mm (2 3/4") thick.  Here I am part way through the job.  The section without building paper (still to be added) is removable, held in place by two screws into the top and bottom plates, and four into the opening studs.  I ripped 1/2" battens to contain the insulation.  Dan band strapping would not have been strong enough to stop them swelling out and interfering with the roller door going up and down.  It was tricky getting fixing for the building paper down behind the wing walls.  I had to combine two drill extensions to get over two feet of length in order to reach the screws which held vertical ripping's, which in turn held the horizontal ripping's which held the building paper which held the insulation batts, in place!  The bottom plate is in the door rebate and pretty much flush with the interior concrete floor.  The black you can see at the bottom of the wall in the photo is a damp proof course, which is attached to the underside the bottom plate and then turned up the front and held in place with staples.


Photo 2 - Inside, I started by adding 4.75mm MDF sheet to the wall.  Again, because my modules were right up against the inside of the wall, I had to come up with sneaky ways of holding the MDF in place until the glue set.  I made sure to cut the sheets vertically so that the removable section would still be able to be removed.  I cut this wallboard so that it was 4.75mm below the top plate. I then had to build a bulkhead around the roller door mechanism, big enough so that it would house the door when rolled up (i.e. fully open).  There was very limited room between the bottom of the roller door and the top of my modules, so I used the 70x35mm battens on their flat for the horizontal section.  There was also no room for fixing, so I had to build the section up near the ceiling (If I built it outside I would not have been able to get the finished piece up onto the top of the modules), working on a couple of planks, and then flipped it and slid it into position.  This section sat on top of the small lip created by the vertical wall board.  I ripped the long outer two battens for this section in half lengthways, and so was then able to screw the inside one of these into the top plate of the wall shown in photo 1.   


Photo 3 - Here is the other end of the bulkhead.  The thin section under the roller door mechanism sits about 1/2" above the ceiling units - not a lot of clearance!  If I was starting again, I would allow a little more.  Indeed, legs that screwed up to lower the height of the modules would be ideal - but they were so expensive, and with 11 modules that's 44 units!  Because this section was so thin, I insulated with 40mm high density foam.


Photo 4 - A view from by the attic door.  Next came the worst bit of all.  After framing up the front wall of the bulkhead, I needed to insulate it.  I had bought a bale of bats for this job and so needed to retain these from falling into the cavity and getting tangled up in the door when opening and closing.  I had to kind of shuffle along on top of the door, stappling building paper, dan band and screwing ripping's of batten as an extra safeguard to make sure things would remain where they were intended.  I felt a bit like a chimney sweep!  Usually, when doing a job, there are a few awkward bits - this job was awkward from start to finish!  And, of course, all this work on the bulkhead is done from a couple of planks laid on top of my modules!  BTW, I propped my modules underneath at the loading points, and you can see I also screwed a piece of 90x19mm to support the planks in the middle - one end screwed into the module stud, and the other end screwed into a jack stud which is propped underneath.


Photo 5 - A view looking up at the end.  I used 50mm foam for insulation here.  That is the pipe for the roller door sticking out.  That end piece of wallboard was rather tricky to get right.  I got pretty close, but the 1/4 round trim hides any gaps.


Photo 6 - The view of the end from by the attic door.  Lastly, I added 1/4 round trim and 12x35mm vertical battens down the joins.  After seeing the price of these at the hardware store, I ripped my own from the left over ceiling batten - yes, just one.  When the weather warms up a bit I'll get a lick of paint on my work.  Very frustrating work and darn good to finally have it done!


More soon - from a warmer and far less drafty model room(!), cheers, Mark.

Hi Jeff.

Looking good.

Yes - they can be fiddly and frustrating.  I would tackle these in several subassemblies, adding the posts and railings as I go to each subassembly and then joining these together.  I use canopy glue on anything like this.  I don't know if you get John Siekirk's e-magazine?  I did a very tricky set of double stock ramps for my abattoir in the last issue with some good blow by blow photos with captions describing how I went about it.  You may find in helpful.  I'll be posting this in an update on my layout soon...  If you like I can email the word document to you.

Cheers, Mark.

That works, Tom.

You seem to have misunderstood my fix.  I would, in essence, cut a rebate in the back of the wall reducing the thickness of the tabs, but not reducing their length.

Cheers, Mark.

Neat kit, Tom.  I'll be watching.

I wouldn't exactly call that a major issue.  I would either glue together as is and fill with a filler before adding the stucco or trim a little off the back of the tabs until a good fit is achieved.  I'd start by checking the two side walls to make sure they are the same length.  I'm keen to see how you tackle the problem.  The side wall of my grain exchange kit that was sanded so thin at one end of the side wall that all the window detail had been sanded off and the wall was literally paper thin, was a major issue...

Cheers, Mark.

Looking great, Curt.

Just curious - did the rafters have birds mouths in them?

Cheers, Mark.

Looking good, Jeff.

Yes - it all depends on the thickness and type of timber used for decking.  In our last house 1 1/2" thick hardwood was used and the joists were spaced at 2' 8" centres.  It wasn't at all springy to walk on.  Of course 'use' would also come into the equation.  If you were expecting delivery of large woodworking machinery then you would need something more substantial.

I like the different pattern used on the cross braces along the front of the deck, but must point out that two of those posts are not braced.  Of course, you can apply a rule here.

Cheers, Mark.

Great looking kit, Tom.

I have plans in a MRR magazine for something very similar to this that I plan to scratch-build.  Its good to see that quality control is as good now as it was back then...  I'm looking forward to seeing you work your magic on this one.

Cheers, Mark.

Coming on nicely, Tom.

I like your colour schemes.

Cheers, Mark.

Spectacular shots there, Greg!

Your build of Skinner's came out beautifully.

Cheers, Mark.

Gee, Tom.  I'd better have a clean up...

Cheers, Mark.