Wood butchery and 'My Last Great Project'!

A strange title but my woodworking skills are such that wood is unfortunately not crafted with skillful hands into something that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I have to coerce, force and batter wood into something that resembles, with a fleeting glance, what my mind has created as a beautiful project that would add class to any self respecting home. 

Something that I have not talked about on this blog before is what I will whimsically call 'My Last Great Project'. Not that I don't plan to be around for a while yet but given my rate of progress on matters it will take an age to get this finished. So what is this great project? Well nothing more than a large roundy style 00 gauge layout. Roughly 12 foot by 5 foot it will be unashamedly a place on which I can watch my accumulated over the years collection of engines and rolling stock finally run on a decent length of track (cue the theme to Born Free with visions of locomotives free to stretch themselves on a lengthy track and get back to their natural habitat). No prototype, no historic accuracy, no timetable operation, no worries about the Flying Scotsman running next to a Class 66, but it will be fun and that to me is my own desire for this project. 

Whilst it sounds like it will be more like a Hornby Trakmat layout, it will, hopefully, be a little more detailed. First thing though is the baseboard. It will not be a flat sheet of ply or chipboard but it will be an open top one to allow for below track level scenery. Material is ply for lightness with soft wood corner strengtheners. In addition it will be built in four sections. Two 6 foot by 2.5 feet and two 5 foot by 3 foot but with rounded ends. That will allow it to be separated into manageable boards if it needs to be moved. Not that I am expecting to take it to exhibitions (if you recall those events pre Covid!) but I have to be realistic in that I am not going to be here for ever and if the layout can easily be dismantled it is probably far easier to dispose of and might make it more attractive to a buyer if it were to be sold. Much as it is a sobering thought you do get to a stage in life where you need to be sensible and take account of a World without your presence! Anyway, moving on from these dark thoughts, the baseboard is under construction at WMD HQ in what I laughingly call my garage or Room of Gloom! It really needs a further clear out but that can wait for the moment with this more pressing project taking precedence. 

The photo below shows progress after about a week. Doesn't look much after that time but I am taking my time and trying to think things out before committing saw to wood but even then there are still things I would do differently but hey ho! If you try to get perfection you sometimes will never finish it. So, as long as it is basically flat, solid and enables me to move onto stage two that will do! Here is what I have so far.

The one thing I will highlight is that trying to get decent timber at the moment is difficult. I eventually managed to get some ply at Wickes but to be honest it is not the straightest of materials and has need some coercion to be straight where needed. This is where being a Wood Butcher does come in handy  though - Now where's that lump hammer?????

The wonders of wiring!

The track plan for this layout is fairly simple and was shown in this post. Happy with the fit of the various track pieces wires were soldered to the fishplates strategic points. This is a neat way of in effect hiding wires and avoiding that soldered blob on the side of the rail. You do learn over the years and I do now wire power cables at each point so that both the entry and both exits have power to them rather than relying on the point itself. It may seem over the top but better safe than sorry as I have learnt over the years!, In addition as I was going to use both DC and DCC on the layout it made sense at this early stage to take this approach. The picture below shows the initial wiring in place. It needs tidying but it works. As I was going to use DCC, a tip I think I saw on a British Railway Modelling DVD was to twist the wires together to minimise electrical interference. I have no idea of the science behind it but that is what I did and it also avoids loose wires flapping about so even if the science doesn't work there is something to be said for doing it! In addition, although not doing it at this stage, holes were cut under the points to allow point motors to be retro fitted should I want to in the future - as I get older I think smarter! The track was fastened down to the baseboard using small blobs of superglue on the sleeper base. Track pins are a normal choice for most but gluing avoids those unsightly mushroom heads of the pin tops in the sleepers. You can also lift the track fairly easily if you only use small blobs of superglue by sliding a thin bladed screwdriver under the sleeper base and breaking the bond if an alteration to the track is needed. Eventually the ballast that will be applied will provide the final bond of the track to the baseboard.

Next on the agenda is getting some landscaping done.

And now for something completely different! - Small 009 Narrow Gauge Layout

Well since various tank and truck related projects have been completed the time has come to move onto something different although this does go back in time - almost another Shelf Queen. As you may have noted I have varied model making  interests - possibly too many both for my sanity and wallet! However in the spirit of 'you only live once', here is my excursion into 009 narrow gauge modelling. Not my first but I wouldn't say I am an expert so follow this and learn from my mistakes!

The basis of this layout is a piece of hardboard that came as part of the packing on some furniture. In true 'that will come in handy' style it went into the garage but unlike many of its friends in there, it re-emerged to become the baseboard to this layout in a matter of months. Whilst hardboard is not seen as the best material for a layout it was what I had, fitted size wise to what I was going to do and with some bracing it would be stable enough and given the Lock Down getting any new materials was next to impossible. The pictures below show the construction. The measurements of the board are, and as I am old these are in inches, 22 by 44. Bracing is some soft wood 2 x 1inch cross braces and 2 x 1/2 inch longitudinal braces all held together with screws. All components were painted in acrylic white undercoat to give a bright clean background on which to start working on. The pictures show better than my words!

You will note from the date stamp on the photo the baseboard was constructed in April of last year and as I was still working despite the pandemic this was a weekend job - it was from memory a nice warm weekend when I should have perhaps cut the grass but it will only grow again!.

The track plan is fairly simple as the picture below shows, with an oval and some sidings. My plan was always to add another board so there are two sidings leading off the oval to facilitate that when the time comes! As you can see profile boards for the landscape are in place and painted a satin grey. At this point the trackwork is yet to be finally laid and more of that next time.