Diorama Baseboards

[madharry]

I enjoy exhibiting at model railway exhibitions and usually attend a dozen a year with one of my three show layouts.

However I have a lot of nice signature kits that I would to showcase as an easily transportable dioramas.

Scalemodelscenery.co.uk are now producing laser cut MDF kits which can be easily put together with just some alphatic glue.

I have recently bought four which will form a 4ft by 1ft diorama plus a 16 inch fiddle yard.

Here is a photo of the packs which are currently priced at £50 for the four. They include M5 Nuts. Bolts and Washers and 2 spacer pieces.

I will construct them in my next post.

Mike

[ACL1504]

Mike,

Those are really neat. Thanks for sharing with us.

Tom

[madharry]

Thanks Tom. I think these are really neat.

Here are the contents of a middle board. This measures 16 inches wide, 11.5 inches and the back scene is 9.5 inches high. This unit is priced at £12.50.


Mike

[madharry]

Continuing....................

The boards are really well engineered. The parts slot accurately into each other. The spacers are glued using the bolts to guide them correctly into the right position before using the Deluxe Materials Super 'Phatic Glue.

The space underneath the board is 4mm high which will accommodate most turnout motors. Slow action ones such as Tortoise or DCC Concepts will be have to be turned on their sides.

The whole process takes 5 minutes including photography.

Mike

[Dave K.]

Very interesting product...wonder how long before it gets copied by a manufacturer over here (maybe something similar is already here?).

[S&S RR]

Mike


Interesting product. Thanks for sharing it with us.  When I add scenery, etc. my baseboards get wet and dry a number of times during the build process.  Do you think I would have problems with warpage with this product?

[GPdemayo]

Good looking product Mike.....thanks for the info. 

[madharry]

Mike


Interesting product. Thanks for sharing it with us.  When I add scenery, etc. my baseboards get wet and dry a number of times during the build process.  Do you think I would have problems with warpage with this product?

The material is MDF. I intend joining a few of these together to make a larger scene. I will show the completed four boards in a future post. However to your question. I will cover the board with either thin cork sheet, cork tiles or thin sheets of foam before starting scenery. I have never experienced warping on any of my previous layouts or modules.

Mike

[madharry]

Thanks Dave and Greg.

Interestingly Phil Parker from BRM magazine has been invited by Rapido Trains to a big model train exhibition in Brampton, Canada. Phil is taking a module using these same baseboards to the show. As a result there maybe a spark of interest. You heard it first here on "The Modellers Forum".................

Mike

[madharry]

Here the completed diorama baseboards.

The first picture shows the configuration of three baseboards totalling 4ft with a fiddle yard of 16 inches at the right hand end.

The second picture shows the four boards just as a 64 inch display area.

Because of the depth of 11.5 inches the boards work best on a trestle with the scene viewed at eye level. This would make a great home for a HO timesaver switching layout  or a more extensive N scale scene.

Mike

[PRR Modeler]

Mike, that is a really neat product. It can be used for any kind of diorama.

[Janbouli]

Thanks Mike , I had seen this before , but great to see it used by a friend, makes it so much more reliable.

[madharry]

Thanks Curt I agree,
Mike

[madharry]

Thanks Mike , I had seen this before , but great to see it used by a friend, makes it so much more reliable.

Hey Jan I think these are great for n-scale especially.

Jenny my wife thinks they should be wider for the bigger kits. However I am going to add Bar Mills Cundy Harbor to one end and then some of my  smaller kits that never see the light of day. I am looking at 3 modules of 4ft = 12 ft (sorry about the imperial) to make an easily transportable display.

Mike

[bparrish]

Ok ...  Now I have it.  I was a little show from the initial photos.

Thanx
Bob