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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
 Posted - 08/19/2010 : 09:51:03 AM
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I'm ready to start actual benchwork construction on this project and I want to cover that in a thread separate from the "Rail-Marine Layout Plans" thread. So here goes...
Moving to a new window so I'll be able to edit.
Don |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 10:02:44 AM
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Here's the general idea:
I'm going to build a shelf layout in two rooms - my hallway and my bedroom. The hallway is pretty well specified because of space constraints: it will be 18 feet long and 18" wide.
As regards the piece in the bedroom - I'll still trying to decide how much furniture I can get rid of or hide under the layout. The simplest design would be 15' 6" long with a 3' removeable section to allow access to a seldom- used but occasionally essential back door. It could be a bit wider than 18" - maybe 24". It's also possible that it might grown an L-shape or a peninsula.
The concept is that these two pieces represent urban yards, probably in or around NYC, on opposite side of the Hudson River. They are connected by carrying a car float barge (easy to build) or car ferry (a lot more challenging) from room to room during an operating session.
I am particularly attracted to this prototype because it gives me the opportunity to build the mother of all coal trestles (at least by my standards): http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/dlw25.html (A trestle! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! A trestle!)
Enough for now. I'm going to start on the benchwork in the hallway without waiting to figure out what I'm going to do in the bedroom. Maybe I'll hire Vagel as a design consultant.
Don |
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shortliner
Engine Wiper
United Kingdom
442 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 10:15:36 AM
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| Mount your car-float barge, or car-ferry onto a 4-wheel trolley or "hostess-cart" and wheel it between the two. |
Edited by - shortliner on 08/19/2010 1:45:41 PM |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 2:19:13 PM
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Thanks, Jack, I'll keep that idea in mind as I'm planning the layouts.
Now let's see if I can move the stuff about the magazine storage cases over here:
Part of getting ready to build the rail-marine shelf layout is (1) getting rid of the big Ikea particle board bookcase in the corner, which currently holds a lot of my MR magazines and (2) building new magazine storage cabinets which will store the magazines flat and support the layout.
So...while this isn't exactly rail-marine, it does contribute to eventually getting it built. I took advantage of having the shop to myself which Garth was out of town and did the basic case work on two magazine storage cabinets. Here are a couple of pictures:
There's still a fair amount of work to be done but the hardest part is behind me. I should have them finished and curing in a couple more days.
BTW, John Polyak (see the New Home for B&SGE thread) lent me his old camera, an Olympus E-10, to use until I can afford to buy a replacement camera. Fortunately, it has a PhD (Push here, dummy) mode which works well for me. That's why I'm able to post pictures that are in focus, for the first time in months. |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 2:21:50 PM
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Pasting from the other thread:
I made some more progress on the magazine storage/benchwork cabinets. Here they are with the shelves inserted:
I used ordinary yellow glue and an acid brush to add small areas of glue at the back of each shelf to make sure they don't shift around. Once the backs are installed, they'll be quite invisible:
I have the back pieces cut but I don't want to mess with the units until the glue has had a couple of hours to set up.
The backs might get installed later this evening. Then some polyurethane on the sides; make the kicks and install them; build layout on top. Simple... 
Don
P.S. I might make some more of these to hold magazines out at the MR Club. |
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Mike Hamer
Engineer
9343 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 2:22:59 PM
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| Great news, Don! You did a fine job on those bookshelves. I'm certain many forum members would hire you out in a heartbeat. You'll fine 18" to offer you plenty of depth for your scenes. I'm currently building a diorama that is 16" deep and I'm happy with the results. Keep up with the fine progress and soon enough you'll be running trains! [:-thumbu][:-thumbu] |
All the best, Mike Hamer
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
http://craftsmanstructures.blogspot.com
http://bostonandmaine.blogspot.com
http://fridaynightgroup.blogspot.com |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 2:23:16 PM
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Hi, everyone --
The magazine storage cases are finished, moved into the apartment, and filled up almost completely. I may create some space for future use by getting rid of some magazines that I don't often refer to, like really old back issues of "Fine Scale Modeler."
Here are a couple of pictures:
Backs installed - nothing fancy, since they will be under a layout and the edges won't be visible.
Maybe I'd better make sure a magazine actually fits...
The kicks and adjusters built and installed. Again, keeping with the "good enough" approach - this ain't furniture, it's benchwork. The adjusters are lagscrews driven into offcuts from the legs of FreeMo modules.
All the exterior panels got three coats of full-strength poly, brushed on, with sanding between coats. The front edges were finished with Minwax wipe-on poly - no drips or sags. As I mentioned earlier, there is no finish on the shelves because I'm sure the magazines would eventually stick no matter how long I let it cure.
And here they are, in the hallway of my apartment, waiting for somebody to come along and put a nice rail-marine shelf layout on top of them. Anybody want to volunteer?
All the cardboard organizers the magazines used to live in are stacked up on the floor, awaiting dispostion. They're fairly expensive but we've found out at the MR Club that we can't even give them away. If anyone wants a bunch of them and is willing to pay postage, I'll be happy to disassemble them and mail them off to you.
Don |
Edited by - AVRR-PA on 08/20/2010 8:53:28 PM |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 12:21:20 PM
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Good progress. It looks like a nice long space but rather narrow. How deep are the shelves in the hall? I presume it's about 14".
I'd be a wee bit wary about having the layout in the hall any deeper than the selves for the risk of cramping yourself and guests when they come to visit and making it difficult for operators (assuming you are planning to possibly have operation sessions with friends) to pass each other in front of the layout.
It's such a long section that a few inches off the depth wouldn't drastically reduce the possibilities plus you have the opportunity for deeper scenes on the other section. Just my 2 pence/cents  |
Built a waterfront HO layout in Ireland http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22161 but now making a start in On30 in Australia |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 8:58:45 PM
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Mike, thanks for the kind words. I think 18" will be plenty and it's a manageable amount of space for someone my age to "fill up" and finish.
Neil, the magazine cases are just a smidge more than 11" deep. Because they have to sit a bit proud of the wall to clear baseboards and a heating register, they actually stick into the hallway about 12". I've taped off the 18" width on the floor so I can get a feel for what it will be like but I think I'll do a little more prototyping - I'll steal some of Vagel's cardboard and put an 18" wide piece on top of the book cases and see if it makes the hallway too cramped.
I know that getting furniture in and out of the bedroom would be really tough with the layout in place so I'm going to build it in three 6' sections so I can be removed if absolutely necessary.
But who needs bedroom furniture?
Don
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9270 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2010 : 01:58:14 AM
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| "...keeping with the "good enough" approach - this ain't furniture, it's benchwork..." he says? HAH! To me, that's furniture. You should see me in a wood shop. Nice looking shelves Don! |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2010 : 07:08:11 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkF
"...keeping with the "good enough" approach - this ain't furniture, it's benchwork..." he says? HAH! To me, that's furniture. You should see me in a wood shop. Nice looking shelves Don!
Welllll, Mark, you know what I mean. If I were building them for a customer, I'd have cut rabbets in the back so that the back panels were "let in" and didn't have raw plywood edges visible from the sides and top. And I'd have put a second top layer on, with a nice molded edge, screwed on from below, instead of having all those exposed drywall screws on top.
Was it John Allen who promoted the "good enough" idea? It's kind of hard for me to not do things with maximum fussy-ness. Vagel jokes that I want to put three coats of hand-rubbed finish on his benchwork. I try to behave myself.
Mark, if you still have all your fingers, you're doing fine in the woodshop.
Don |
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PaulS
Crew Chief
USA
743 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2010 : 09:29:21 AM
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Don, the shelves look great and a very nice solution to all of the magazines and reference material that we all seem to accumulate.
I'm looking forward to following along as you move forward with your rail-marine shelf layout.
Have fun, |
Paul
Modeling the Atlantic & White Mountain Ry. |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 3:37:56 PM
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I forgot to scrounge cardboard from Vagel, so I just put some 18" pieces of scrap on top of the mag cases to see if that width would make the hallway too cramped.
If I keep banging into them (or giving myself unplanned kidney transplants), I'll make adjustments in the width. Otherwise, I'm going to start building benchwork.
Don
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elwoodblues
Fireman
Canada
4859 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:15:32 PM
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Don,
Those magazine racks look great.
Interesting prototype for your new marine based layout. Looking forward to following along on this adventure. |
Ron Newby
General Manager
Clearwater Valley Railway Co.
http://www.cvry.ca |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2010 : 06:40:29 AM
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It doesn't appear to stick out too much so you could be ok.
As a test you could invite some mates round for a few beers and see if they all manage to avoid the strips of wood
I like the finish on your shelves (and the weight of all the magazines will keep the layout steady for sure!) |
Built a waterfront HO layout in Ireland http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22161 but now making a start in On30 in Australia |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4585 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2010 : 07:43:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Neil M
It doesn't appear to stick out too much so you could be ok.
As a test you could invite some mates round for a few beers and see if they all manage to avoid the strips of wood
I like the finish on your shelves (and the weight of all the magazines will keep the layout steady for sure!)
Adding beer to the equation would definitely make it a more serious test.
Even though they seem pretty stable, I'm going to play it extra safe and attach the cases to the studs with a couple of "L" brackets. Having one of my honorary grandchildren pull one over on himself...don't even want to think about that.
I'm pretty sure 18" will be ok so I'm going to buy a sheet of good plywood and get Garth and or Vagel to help me rip a bunch of nominal 1x4's out of it.
Don |
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Topic |
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Rail-Marine shelf layout in a small apartment
