Free-moN Staging Yard - 16"x10'

[wazzou]

Yeah, but cutting out each board and then painting to look like wood is a PITA 

No need, it's easy to make the styrene look like wood, both by distressing and painting/staining.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

No need, it's easy to make the styrene look like wood, both by distressing and painting/staining.

I know.
Was joking. 
What can I say: I'm a plank-by-plank kinda dude.

[dwyaneward]

But I'm open to other methods to make it easier!

How about this way

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Hmmm... wood flat deck is a good idea.
Have to look into that!

So us Silicon Valley Free-moN dudes decided to build another staging yard, though one that doubles (back) as a return loop.
 And I'm going to post photos in this thread because 1) it's a staging yard and 2) I'm getting confused with all the construction threads I've got going.
 
A main and two staging sidings, at 22", 23.5" & 25" radius curves (22" is the min.).
 We also wanted to make it as portable as possible, I designed the module to consists of 5 sections, all under 3'.
 Scott Forrest, a man of many talents and possessing great woodworking skills and equipement, built the benchwork:
 


He laminated two layers of 1/8" MDF as the curved skins, and the benchwork came out great.
 [Looks like a mystic crop circle or a toilet seat]
 One leg per section is all we need!
 
Yesterday we hauled it over to Steve William's house and proceeded to laydown the mainline cork:
 


[Those are "tacky" model railroaders Steve on the left & Scott on the right]
 
Only the main has cork all way round.
 The two staging sidings will be laid directly on the ply, and so the cork goes only to the next section, where I'll sand it down to a 4"-5" transition grade.
 


After cutting the UTP panels in the middle two sections, we sprayed a first layer of flat black on the outer fascia.
 Amazing what a little paint can do to make it look good!
 I'm going to install a 3"-4" tall styrene "backdrop" along the inside and attach some pink foam to create some California hills inside of the loop, so that'll get painted later.
 
So far I've built the #8 wye as well as one set of #8 36"/24" curved turnouts:
 


They'll be thrown with Bullfrogs, all under the "keystone" section.
 We'll use a PSX-AR for the reversing section (everything above the wye).
 
I'd finish building the next set of curved turnouts and attach pc boad ties to the section edges, but I left the bag of pc board ties at Steve's house ["D'oh"], and he lives about an hour away with good traffic, so as soon as he mails those to me I'll be back in business.
 
Hopefull all this will get done for the GTE show in mid-Sept.!
 Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

So now the staging loop sections occupy my newly-cleared workbench.
 When we glued down the cork, we didn't lay the glue across the joints but about an inch away from each side (I almost learned the hard way by almost gluing together the two sections of my Shoofly module!).
 So when I got home, I just lifted up the ends of each cork section and soaked those with wood glue.
 Much easier to wipe up the overflow when the sections are separated!
 Then filled in some spaces with spackle:
 


It's nice to have it in 3' sections: fits on the workbench & fits in the car!
 (hopefully with all the other modules, too!)
 


[Unfortunately, my car is smaller than the one in the garage!]
 
Sanded down the outer track cork to create the grade down to ply:
 


For the long staging yard, I had just sanded & sanded until smooth and my hand was cramped beyond recognition.
 This time I tried the forming tool for the "rough cuts", and it worked like magic.
 
I clamped the sections together when sanding the top & sides of the mainline cork across the gaps to prevent any dips.
 
I also learned from the staging yard that it's a good idea to paint the ply early: seals the wood & makes all processes easier (especially if you're laying turnouts directly on ply, which I realized later that I'm not here).
 But as I went to paint the sections, I realized that if I painted everything, I'd lose the track center pencilmarks we made with a trammel yesterday.
 So I just painted "outside" the track sections:
 


And that's why there's a section of unpainted ply next to one side of the cork.
 
But once I lay the track and paint it, the ply under it will get painted too.
 So all's well that ends well!
 (fingers crossed)
 
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Here's a close-up of the nifty leg set-up Scott built:
 


He glued a 90 deg triangle block of wood to the middle cross-brace, and the drove the bolt through that to hold the single "L-girder" leg on.
 Strong, firm, fabulous.
 I Gorilla Glued the bolt & washer to the cross-brace so we can slide the leg on and then use one hand to tighten the wing nut.
 
Today I installed the backdrop:
 


0.06" styrene bought from Tap Plastics in an 8"x8' sheet, then trimmed with scissors to create hills.
 (foam & spackle will fill in the space between the styrene and the mainline cork)
 While the whole section was put together and clamped, I wrapped and clamped the styrene around the inside, then used about a whole tube of Walthers Goo and some screws to keep it in place.
 
That gap is where a road is going to go, perhaps with a front-side mirror across the gap.
 I'd like to say it's cleverly positioned, but that's where the 8' of sheet ended, and the other piece of styrene I had leftover from the shelf layout backdrop only made it that from from the other side [D'oh!]
 So it goes.
 
After installing it, I went back and cut the styrene vertically to separate the sections:
 


0.06" is a little flimsy, but once the foam and spackle is glued in place it'll be a solid scenery structure.
 
While the garage door was open, I carried the whole shebang outside and sprayed the layout-side of the styrene with grey primer and the inside of the module the same flat black as the fascia:
 


All the styrene will be covered with scenery (probably), so I just didn't want any white showing through any trees / bushes / etc.
 
Got the PC board ties in the mail from Steve, but I don't have enough to lay all the track across all the gaps until another shipment arrives from Fast Tracks (next week?), so I'll probably be building the other set of curved turnouts and start gluing in the foam.
 
Thanks for looking.

[GaryHinshaw]

Great backdrop MC.  That's exactly what I had in mind to finish the access hatches in my deep Loop shelf.  There is one corner in mine that would like a rather tight curve; how small a radius do you reckon you could bend that styrene?

I'm sure that staging scheme will be quite valuable come show time.

Cheers,
Gary

[M.C. Fujiwara]

how small a radius do you reckon you could bend that styrene?

Thanks, Gary.
The inside of the module is a 3' hole, so 18" radius, and the 0.06" styrene wraps around no problem.
You could probably wrap it around the inside of an 8" hole.
It is a bit flimsy.
If there's going to be a lot of bumping and possible bending then you might want to look into 1/8" styrene (which could still bend around a 3' hole probably).

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I plan on trying to build some endplates for these sections to ease transport and protect the scenery (always an issue with modules), but we'll see.
 
As I'm waiting for some shipments of PC board ties and Bullfrogs from Fast Tracks, I decided to start in on the scenery by laying down the foam.
 Caulk takes days to cure, so slobbering that on now when there's some time makes for a no-brainer.
 (some have commented on how fast I work: part of that is, working at home, I can pop out to the garage for 5-10 minutes and do some jobs that take time to dry/cure, but a lot of it is just planning which jobs take longer than others and doing those first)
 
So I ripped chunks of foam off a dearly-departed layout and just stacked them up along the styrene backdrop:
 




The clamp is to ensure the foam stays square (and squares) the styrene.
 I left overhang on each side of the sections so I can sand down to get a close fit when fitted together.
 (Yes, I could have cut even, smooth, one-piece sections from a fresh piece of foam, but I used what I have, and, really, in the end, it won't matter. I hope.)
 
Here's all the sections:
 


And they'll sit there curing for a couple-four of days, while I build the second of the two-curved-turnout set.
 Does the foam look bulky and gross?
 Sure!
 But have faith!
 Over 50% of that foam will be rasped away into the gentle slopes of the Sierra Nevada Foothills.
 I think I still have some rock castings left over, too, that will become exposed sections of hill and cuts.
 Three weeks until the show, but it will all work out!
 
And now I'd like to take a moment to pay respects to the final section of a dearly-departed layout.
 One section became my Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout.
 Another section gave up it's foam to become the BFG's cave for my daughter's 4th grade book project.
 All of the wiring found its way into all of my later layout projects.
 One section of benchwork support is my workbench, and another was the support for the Mt. Coffin layout for the past year.
 All the turnouts I built for it gave me the skills to do the multiple-curved-turnout fixtures for Mt. Coffin and now the Free-moN modules.
 The last section has sacrificed its foam for the staging/turnback loop module.
 And now, here's all that's left of the Dogeared & Broken Spine RR, the urban switching layout that was to last me a good 5 years until a "life event" forced a move:
 


A couple more chunks of foam to give, and then into the Chainsaw it goes.
 RIP.
 (as in "RIP another chunk of foam off that so we can get this layout built!")
 
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I've found my new Super (Glue) Hero!
 


I've been using regular Gorilla Glue to affix PC board ties to module / section ends.
 The benefit is super-tight bond and no worries using the soldering iron (CA & epoxy pops with heat).
 The drawback is the long cure time and the foamy-foamy expansion.
 And, when clamping, sometimes you clamp too much:
 


[You can see the PC board ties I clamped INTO the cork under the ones I Gorilla Super Glued afterwards] [That was a first!]
 
But the Gorilla Super Glue has all the benefits of regular GG but cures in less than a minute without the foaming:
 I was able to put down all the PC board ties for all the sections in an hour, instead of gluing, clamping, waiting, waiting...
 
So tomorrow I can start laying track!
 
Especially since I finished building the two-right-hand-curved-turnout fixture, so all trackwork is ready to go:
 




The super-long throwbars are because I realized during our last build party, that I couldn't put both Bullfrogs directly under between the points of both turnouts: they'd be in each other's way!
 But by spreading the throwbars out, and flipping one Bullfrog around, I can mount them pretty close together.
 The final throwbars won't be as long: I'm just waiting for the Bullfrogs to show up in the mail to I can get the spacing right.
 
That won't stop me from laying track tomorrow!
 Will solder all the flex together first, and then wrap each course around the whole module at once to ensure smooth curves.
 Wife & kids will be gone to Japanese school in the City all day, so should be a fabulously Free-moNy day!
 
Thanks for looking.

[DKS]

I've found my new Super (Glue) Hero!

Yep, that's a mighty fine adhesive. After I discovered it last year, it's taken the #2 spot for my favorite CA-type adhesive, behind Krazy Glue brush-on. I go through both types so fast that I buy them in bunches of 5 or 6 bottles, and I'll frequently check to be sure I have a couple unopened bottles of each on hand.

[Coxy]

Very nice! looking forward to the vid. #8 curved switches?

Did you consider a double track approach to allow for trains longer than the loop? What is the length around the main between foul points on the wye?

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Very nice! looking forward to the vid. #8 curved switches?

Did you consider a double track approach to allow for trains longer than the loop? What is the length around the main between foul points on the wye?

Hee hee: I started making a video on turnout layings, but 1) it was taking too long & 2) the iPhone autofocus was going crazy.
So I stopped.

There's lots of room around the loop: about 9+ feet on the main and 10+ around the passing sidings.
The longest train Effett Yard can handle is about 8', so the loop does it's job (you'll see in the video).

Marathon build weekend!
 Started with pink foam blocks on empty benchwork,
 Finished with shaped scenery forms and running trains!
 
Spent a couple hours Saturday filling the garage with pink snow as I cut, formed and sanded the backdrop hills, then glued on some rock castings:
 


I worked on each section individually, and then fit neighboring sections together to get smooth transitions.
 Eventually it'll look like the Sierra Nevada foothills in eastern California.
 There'll be a small town with a depot on the right at the short straight section.
 Maybe a farm with cows on the other side.
 Otherwise, rocks, grass & a lot of trees (gotta start making some oaks again!)
 
Just to add a little variation, carved out the continuation of a wash on the front side:
 


Burned the sander off!
 Actually went too deep and broke through the ply, but some styrene superglued underneath patched it up.
 
When I put everything together, I slipped strips of 0.02" styrene between the sections to add some cut room on the tracks laid over:
 


Adds only a little space and doesn't throw off the curves, but makes for better cuts in the end.
 
Soldered four sections of C55 flextrack together, pre-curved them, and then started laying track down with caulk and soldering across the gaps:
 


For how I lay track across seciton ends, see my "How to make Beautiful Butt Joints" video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1H0URvKX8&feature=plcp

 Four sections of flex fit nicely from straight section around to straight section.
 Running the flat car on the left around before soldering ensured smooth curves.
 The turnout fixtures are also caulked in, with the wye soldered to the modular end.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

After laying down & soldering all the curves (and cutting the joints in case of an earthquake or bump), I connected the curves to the the turnouts through the straight sections:
 


All railjoiners are soldered.
 
This is what happens when you get ahead of yourself and cut the rails before you solder them!
 


D'oh!
 
To be fair (as an excuse), it was a long day and that was the last section to be connected.
 Just held it with tweezers and soldered it:
 


Turned out fine.
 
Also attached the PSX-AR auto-reverse / circuit breaker to the side of the keystone module:
 


The center will be busy with Bullfrogs when those show up later this week (I hope).
 Free-moN standards call for 12 gauge wire between modules (that's the blue & orange), but we used 16 gauge speaker (70's shag carpet brown-yellow) wire for the sections because that's what we had, and it's enough for this space.
 So the main bus will go from the terminal strips, into & out of the PSX-AR, and then out to the sections.
 Everything above the wye's point rails, including it's frog, are on the reversing section.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

So with all track laid & wired & tested:
 


it was time to run some trains!
 
Moved the loop down to one end of the garage & connected the Effett Staging Yard with instert, and that took up the rest of the garage:
 




Reason I made the staging yard as long as possible was to see how the max-long train would work going around the loop.
 Turns out 20-car trains (about 8 feet) go around great.
 The main is 22" radius curves, with the passing sidings at 23.5" and 25".
 There was very little "chasing the tail" (being able to see the loco on one side and caboose on the other), though the dips in the backdrops helped give peeks of the train's progress.
 The 50" railheight helps a lot too.
 
And, of course, there's a (less-than-5-minute) video:
 

Even was able to back the 2-10-2 with all 20 cars through the turnouts without problems.
 Woot!
 
Best part: got everything broken down & put away & vacuumed before the wife & kids came home from karate!
 


So now I can file the rails flush with the section ends, and then get to work on the fun part: scenery!
 Paint track & hills & rocks, lay down dirt & basic ground cover, ballast, & start adding grass, shrubs and trees.
 But most of that I can do a section at a time (need to, so the glue doesn't stick the sections together!).
 
But at the very least, Silicon Valley Free-moN has another return loop and staging / passing module.
 And that rocks!
 
Thanks for looking.