Milestone reached in layout construction, I put down the first
lengths of flex track last night. All the benchwork for the
round-the-walls layout is up. Made the shelf brackets, the plywood
tables, found the studs, sank the drywall screws thru the brackets into
studs. Shelves made up from 1/2" plywood and 1*4 lumber, glued, sanded,
painted to match the room. A layer of 2 inch blue foam cut to fit the
shelves, beveled, and stuck down with latex caulk. Came out level, all
way round the room, and doesn't sag anywhere. Awesome.
I wanted roadbed that would take track nails, and that means wood.
Plywood is too hard, the glue layers will bend the track nails. Cork is
too soft, the track nails pull out.
To get 1/4" wood for the roadbed, the newly acquired Craigslist bandsaw
was able to resaw ordinary 3/4 inch pine into 1/4 inch slabs. Used a
sharp blade, widest the machine will accept (1/2" for my saw). Made a
fence from 3/4" plywood and c-clamped it to the bandsaw table. Feed
slowly. A new blade will cut straight without drift. Straight and
standard curves are simple to cut. For the fancier trackwork, easements
on curves, turnouts and such, lay out the track full scale on poster
board. Then cut the track shape out with sissors and use as a template.
Once cut, bevel the edges with a router, mounted in a table. Made my
router table up from scrap plywood and except for amplifying the scream
of the router, works well. Stick the newly made roadbed down with PL300
Foamboard adhesive. $2.99 a tube at the hardware store, and it says
"Foamboard compatable" right on the tube. You get 10-15 minutes of
working time, and then it needs over night to harden. Weighted the
roadbed down with the usual assortment of heavy objects from the shop
Paint cans, tool boxes, vise, etc.
Once dry, a sharp plane will level the joints between the pieces of
road bed. I decided against using the belt sander 'cause it cuts awful
fast, and throws sawdust everywhere.
Started laying track at the turnouts. Used 1/2" twist drill to bore
a hole for the under table switch machine (Tortoise) operating rod. The
twist drill makes a clean hole thru the pine road bed, the foam
subroadbed and the plywood foam backing. I don't recommend a spade bit
for this trick. Since the turnouts need to be accurately centered over
the operating rod hole, nail them down first and cut the rest of the
track to fit. Pine roadbed loves track nails, I can push them in with
long nose pliers and they stay down.
At this rate, I might be able to run a train in a week or so.
--
David J. Starr
Blog: www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
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