Category Archives: Benchwork
Foam installation on main peninsular
Scenery taking shape around the peninsula between Kankool and Ardglen.
This will be quite a high cutting in this area. To save on foam use, only about half the area between the track and the backscene is built up, then the top couple of layers are cantilevered back to and attached to the backscene.
Peninsular benchwork continues
First section of ‘back scene’ has been installed around the peninsula along with gluing some foam down.
The scenery here will pretty much be hills right up to the top edge of the back scene, so there will hardly be any ‘sky’ as such.
The MDF is purely there to help strengthen the upper deck supports and to provide something to attach the foam to as the hills take shape.
More benchwork
I had been trying to sort out some more issues with a new turnout actuator, so my attention has turned to benchwork, particularly around the main peninsula.
Supports for the backdrop and upper deck have been installed. The scene depth here will be around 300mm behind the track.
Spline now 80% complete …
Hi all,
Over the last few months, I have completed all spline work within the Ardglen area, including the ballast sidings, and also to a point about halfway between Ardglen and Pangela.
This now means I have completed construction of 80% of total spline, which equates to 292 feet (88.5 metres) with just 74 feet (22.5 metres) of spline left to build through Pangela and to connect up to the helix.
The two images below are views of Ardglen from either end, showing the storage and goods sidings.
The next image is a shot further down the grade from Ardglen, looking back towards the ballast sidings coming off the quarry road.
The next image shows the shunting neck at the end of the quarry road.
The next image shows a general view of the section above Temple Court. I have yet to finalise setting the grade in this section. Temple Court has been covered with drop sheets to protect the scenery from dust and dirt whilst working above.
The next series of images show the spline from Ardglen tunnel through to a point about halfway to Pangela.
Cheers.
Upper deck progress …
Hi all,
Since my last post, I have been busy with work on the upper deck above the Chilcott’s Ck to Kankool section.
To support the upper deck valance and future lighting, steel brackets were fabricated from second hand 20x20mm square tube, along with bracing made from thin steel plate.
A simple timber jig was made to hold the pieces of tube in place whilst the brace plate was attached using pop rivets.
These brackets were then screwed to the wall at strategic locations at wall studs.
After the initial installation of these brackets, I discovered a potential flaw in my design. The two rivets fixing the brace plate to the vertical tube were shearing off with only minimal downward force being exerted at the outer end of the horizontal tube. Now, I’m not sure whether it was actual rivet failure or what, so I decided to replace these rivets with a 3/16” bolt/spring washer/nut combination. The result is a much stronger feeling bracket.
I had also decided to install a ceiling above each scene, as I didn’t fancy the idea of being able to see the open benchwork when looking along the scene from one end. Once painted, I also think it will assist in spreading the light onto the scene.
The ceiling is made from sheets of 3.2mm MDF (2440x1220mm). This required the installation of a timber sub-frame built around the steel brackets to allow for the securing of the ceiling. 2×1 DAR pine was used.
More framing was also installed in the corner to support the backscene and ceiling.
A ceiling section was cut to size from the MDF and secured to the timber frame using Liquid Nails and small gauge countersunk screws. The adhesive was also applied to the steel tube. Temporary supports were used to hold the ceiling in place whilst fixing the screws. After the screws were installed, extra temporary supports were fitted to force the ceiling against the steel tube whilst the adhesive cured.
The ceiling section in the corner proved to be quite tricky to cut to size, but by using accurate measurements, I ended up with a piece that fitted perfectly.
A couple more sections of backscene was also installed, including the piece in the corner.
These sections of backscene have no need to extend completely down to the benchwork, as the track level will be around where the lower edge of the MDF is in the picture above, and the majority of scenery here behind the track will be hills covered with trees.
I also started playing around with how I will locate the Kankool lever frame into the fascia. The picture below shows a mock-up of what I hope to achieve.
The MDF immediately behind the frame will be the scene fascia and the curved piece in front is to indicate another section of fascia that will serve as ‘protection’ for the frame. More on this later.
Cheers.
Layout progress update …
Hi all,
Apologies for the lack of updates since early Dec last year. I have been busy with some scenery in the Temple Court section as well as some more benchwork and spline construction.
Temple Court scenery
I’ve made a start on some static grass application but have not done much since Christmas. It’s been tricky getting the look and colours right, but I think it will look OK as it progresses.
Some pics below of the progress so far.
I still haven’t done any more with the rocky outcrop, but you can see lots of plaster castings sitting around for inspiration.
Lower level backscene, upper deck benchwork and spline
I also started installing the backscene from staging through Kankool, including the entry from staging onto the Chilcott’s Ck bridge scene.
The last picture above shows the new supports installed for the upper deck above Kankool as well for backscene support. As mentioned previously, I am using 3mm MDF as the backscene and this will be painted with the sky colour.
I had always planned to work on the lower deck scenery and trackwork from Chilcott’s Ck bridge to Ardglen first before the upper deck, mainly due to thinking I would have access issues on the lower deck for scenery work if I built the upper deck benchwork. In the last few weeks I have since decided to progress with upper deck benchwork, spline and scenery from Ardglen through to Pangela as the next stage.
This all came about after I had started to think about getting the bridge in place and laying track from staging through Kankool. But I realised that this may not be such a good idea as once the bridge was installed, and I had scenery in place, I would be working above all this with the ever present danger of things falling on the scene below.
So, the decision was made to continue with upper deck benchwork above Kankool and around to Pangela as well with spline construction from Ardglen to Pangela.
As I had already built the benchwork for Ardglen and the section above Chilcott’s Ck to Kankool some time ago (see previous post), I started to lay out the spline in this area.
As mentioned above, the plan is to continue with upper deck benchwork all the way from Kankool through Pangela and to build the spline from Ardglen to Pangela, then start on basic scenery formation. Once all the messy stuff with plaster is done on the upper deck, I’ll probably then look at getting the Chilcott’s Ck bridge installed and continuing with scenery through Kankool and beyond towards Ardglen.
Cheers for now.
Temple Court scenery – Part I …
This week has seen me make a start on forming the scenery in the Temple Court section.
So I dragged out some polystyrene foam I had been collecting over the years and worked out what I could use.
I had some 30mm thick sheets about a metre square that would do the trick, along with an assortment of various shapes and sizes.
The foam is cut to shape and glued to the joists with water based construction adhesive, with additional timber supports installed where required. The next stage is to use some high density XPS foam to build up the areas that will require carving away.
The section on the far left will probably end up being a low cutting to help disguise the ‘rat-hole’ in the backscene.
The section near the centre of the photo will be a rocky outcrop based on the prototype as shown below.
4538+4512+4497+48138 with Up No.606 freight, make their way past
a granite outcrop near Temple Court on 19 May 1982.
Photo by Mick Morahan
4854+44224+4483+44211 with an Up wheat near Temple Court in 1980.
Photo by Chris Nelson
Cheers.
Work continues on Temple Court section …
Hi all,
Since my last post on Temple Court, I have been busy continuing with benchwork for the backdrop in this section as well as installing some upper deck supports.
I also added extra bracing back to the walls to strengthen the whole thing.
I have had to do quite a lot of thinking about the deck separation and depth of scenes around Temple Court, as, for me to continue with spline construction up into Ardglen, I needed to have some supports in place. This meant working out a bracket design that would support the spline and scenery, as well as maximising deck separation below to Temple Court.
I always had the idea of making the upper deck brackets out of 20mm square steel tube, mainly to maximise deck separation, but also because I had heaps of the stuff left over from an old balustrade system from around our outdoor deck.
As it turns out, at least in this section, I decided to use only a few steel brackets, as I could see issues with fixing future timber risers to the steel tube. Anyway, these ones will be a test for future supports under Pangela.
I ended up making the rest of the supports from 2×1 DAR pine screwed together in an inverted L shape. A 6mm ply brace was also glued and screwed to these supports.
These supports are placed at roughly the elevation of the spline at each location. I was going to make them exactly at the elevation, but thought it wouldn’t leave any room for adjustment to the correct height. This will be achieved with timber shims. The supports are just long enough so the spline will be attached close to the end. Another piece of 2×1 will be attached later to extend out for the fascia support. This design was done to ensure maximum scenery depth below track level but also to maintain maximum deck separation.
I wasn’t concerned about the angled brace being high at the back, as in this part of the upper deck scene, there will be hills pretty much the full height of the backdrop.
The above two photos show the section ready for backdrop installation. I have chosen to use 3mm MDF. In this section, the backdrop is about 400mm high, so out of a 2440 x 1220mm sheet, I was able to get three sections of backdrop for the full length of this scene. Prior to installing the MDF, the rear of each sheet was painted in an undercoat to seal the MDF, so as to prevent any possible ingress of moisture. I was unsure whether I would have to worry about it, but better to do it now than later.
The above two pictures show the curved backdrop at either end of the section. The left hand shot is at the Down staging yards and the right hand shot is leading to the helix.
The shot above shows the second section of backdrop being held in place with clamps and pieces of 2×1 whilst the adhesive sets. The clamps were left in place for 24 hours. I used construction adhesive, and was planning on using only that, but have since decided to also screw the MDF to the supports at the top and bottom. These screws will pretty much be hidden behind scenery and the upper deck pelmet.
The shot above is a panorama view of the Temple Court backdrop as it is now. I have started to fill and sand the joins in the MDF. Next stage will be to paint this in a “sky” blue.
Cheers for now.
Backdrop & upper deck supports for Temple Court section …
Hi all,
Since my last post, I have completed the painting of the CV track in the Temple Court section. I pretty much continued with the same colours and techniques as described in the previous post, and am pretty happy with it all. The section is now ready for ballasting but this won’t happen until I have the scenery in place.
I had also started fitting some styrofoam in place for the scenery base, but realised I couldn’t do much more until I had the backdrop supports installed. At this point I was unsure of how much scene depth I was going to have in this area.
The upper deck that will carry the track coming into Ardglen will be fully supported on the main benchwork in this area. There will be no anchoring of benchwork to the ceiling. Supports were made from 70×19 DAR pine and cantilevered off the existing joists supporting the Temple Court roadbed.
Even though the cantilevered joist length was short, I decided to install angle braces back to the main beams. The whole weight of the upper deck and fascias will be supported by these timbers.
Yes, it’s probably over-engineered, but better to do it now than have problems later on.
To finish off, a couple of shots of the section with some masonite temporarily clamped in place so I could get an idea of how it will look.
I am thinking the next stage will be to actually fit the backdrop sheeting in place so I will have something to fill with foam to begin scenery shaping.
Cheers.
A revised ‘new location’ – Temple Court …
Hi all,
Well things have been pretty quiet since my post in late August. During September, myself, Jodi and Connor went to the United Kingdom for a holiday. We all had a great time but were glad to be home after being away for a month.
Work on the layout was pretty much non existent since we returned in early October, but a few weeks ago Andrew and I cut up some masonite sheets for more supplies of spline strips, and this spurred me on to complete the section of spline from the bottom of the helix round to the Down storage yard.
Since my post way back in January this year about incorporating an additional crossing loop in this section, I have since changed my mind again and decided to just make it a scene from the area around Temple Court, which is between Pangela and Murrurundi. The main reason for not going ahead with Wingen, is that trains just wouldn’t have been in the right context for that location (I know – picky, picky! 
). If an UP train was being banked in the front all the way from Willow Tree, the bank engines, which were sometimes attached “in the shafts”, normally would have been detached at Murrurundi, and therefore a train with bank engines attached would have looked out of place at Wingen, which is further south from Murrurundi.
I had come across a couple of great pictures showing a big granite rocky outcrop at Temple Court that was just begging to be modelled.
4538+4512+4497+48138 with Up No.606 freight, make their way past
a granite outcrop near Temple Court on 19 May 1982. The 44 and 48 are the bank engines.
Photo by Mick Morahan
4854+44224+4483+44211 with an Up wheat near Temple Court in 1980.
Photo by Chris Nelson
I have also laid down the foam roadbed in this section in preparation for commencement of laying down the Central Valley tie strips. The photo below shows the foam in place on top of the spline.
I also installed a few more sections of the PECO flextrack from where I finished off when tracklaying in the helix. See previous post.
There will be one more length of flextrack installed than in the photo above, which will be close to where this section of track will emerge into the new Temple Court scene. The CV track will then be laid all the way back to the staging yards.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to carry out some tests on painting the CV track in readiness for laying. I will keep you all updated as that progresses.
Cheers.
Liverpool Range 