Building the Beer Line in N Scale

[mcjaco]

My Father's HO modular club went to straight foam inside a wood box, no sheet underneath.  They have not held up well, and wiring and switch machine installation has been a pain. 

Dave, wondering if you should leave the furring strips, and use them for support for lighting, valance and that ever important "more storage." 

Looks to be a great start!

[MichaelWinicki]

Watched a show on the National Geographic Channel where they toured through the abandon Pabst brewery in Milwaukee.

Very interesting.  And kinda sad too. 

A huge complex.

Pabst was flying high at one time and the nosedive must have been brutal for the folks that worked there.

[chuck geiger]

Thanks for the offer Chuck. My work crew is yours truly, and would love to benefit from your experience building great looking layouts. I typically work for a couple of hours in the evening after work and sometimes on the weekends. Send me a PM if you plan on being in Anchorage at some point and maybe we can get together.

Best wishes, Dave

Deal, I will let you know about some weekend work...

[Dave Schneider]

Sounds good Chuck. I am out of town for the next two weekends on travel, but should have some time later in October and November.
Best wishes, Dave

[Dave Schneider]

You gotta love it when your layout engineering thread give you this message!

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Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic

Undeterred, we will keep marching forward. Here is the quarterly update. As seen on the previous page, I am working on the Juneau Ave. team track, Lincoln Fireproof Warehouse and the Milwaukee Journal newsprint dock, and the Commerce Street Yard. This extends for 9 feet along the short wall of my layout room. My plan is to build the layout in sections in case it needs to be moved someday, and to utilize a shadow-box design. The first sections of the benchwork have been built out of 3/4 inch birch plywood strips. They will rest on a framework of Easy Strut. This material is designed for electrical work, and parts are available in DIY stores (Lowes, Home Depot) and electrical supply houses. The strut beams are quite stout, and can span long distances without sagging. The connecting pieces are expensive, but I had a bunch on hand from a garage sale years ago.

The base for the backdrop was constructed out of inexpensive 3/4 inch thick furring strips. The strips are nailed to the walls with 18 gauge brads. These are rather lightweight, but they are only holding up the backdrop and are quite solid. Here is a view of the backdrop frame and the Easy Strut beams. The frame was covered with 1/4 inch masonite and attached to the furring strips with Liquid Nails paneling adhesive and crown staples along the top and bottom edge (where they will be hidden). The corner curve is a 16 inch radius, and was formed by spraying the back of the masonite with water, letting it sit for 30 minutes, and then bending it into place.



The lighting valance was constructed using 19 inch shelf brackets that I got off Craigslist for $5 each. Similar ones are available at Lowes and Home Depot. I mounted them inside down, and then attached 3/4 inch plywood strips using Liquid Nails and a couple of screws. This is a very strong arrangement and allows for mounting of light fixtures. You can see the junction boxes for the lights up near the ceiling.



The "roof" of the lighting valance is 1/8 masonite, which was attached to the plywood with Liquid Nails and crown staples. This will keep the dust off the railroad and provide a nice finished look. It was painted the same blue as the backdrop. Here is a view of the top of the valance, with the wiring for the fluorescent fixtures shown completed. I ran a separate 20 amp circuit from the breaker panel for the layout lights. I used a 12 gauge bus, with 14 gauge fixture drops. The fixtures are 4 ft long T-8 with two tubes. I am testing both 3000K and 4100 K tubes to see which I like better. I may go with one of each in the fixture.



Finally, here is the view with the lights on! Just finished this up tonight and I am happy with the way it looks. I still need to add the vertical valance to finish the look and to block the direct view of the tubes. The valance will be painted a satin dark grey. I have painted the first panel, and it looks very sharp. With this part mostly done, I am ready to get back to laying track.



I welcome comments or suggestions at any time.
Best wishes, Dave

[GaryHinshaw]

Looking really good Dave.  Is this the same location as the last pics on p.5?  If so, then you have the bench and roadbed already made for this part, right?   

What are your plans for above the lighting valence?  If you protect the wiring, you could use that are for light storage: scenery supplies, kits, etc.

-gfh

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks Gary. It is great to get the backdrop/lighting design figured out and a section built. As you note, I have the benchwork built for the Juneau Ave section, as well as the first 6 feet on the adjacent long wall (ie. in front of the window). As for the area above the lights, I will use screws to attach the vertical piece of masonite from the ceiling to the plywood (where the lights are mounted). The lights are 19 inches from the ceiling, and a 2 ft piece of masonite will provide a nice screen for the lights. At some point I may incorporate some storage above the valance, but I have plenty of space at present. Using screws instead of adhesive and crown staples gives my some flexibility down the road. Hope all is well with you.

Best wishes, Dave

[Philip H]

Nicely done Dave. I especially like the proper boxes used to co Ed your joints - I can't tell you how any times I've opened a wall and seen similar joints made up with electrical tape and wire nuts. Even with a 20 Mp light circuit, do you have any idea what your total load is? And do you have a y unique code requirements given that you are in a trailer?

[C855B]

Nicely done Dave. I especially like the proper boxes used to co Ed your joints - I can't tell you how any times I've opened a wall and seen similar joints made up with electrical tape and wire nuts. Even with a 20 Mp light circuit, do you have any idea what your total load is? And do you have a y unique code requirements given that you are in a trailer?

I'm not a pro electrician, but between maintaining two houses and construction of the layout building I am learning the electrical code in fits and starts. In some cases the harder way, failing code inspections now that I'm a landlord and subject to safety inspections on every change of tenant.

The boxes are good (yes!!!), but I see an "oops" that will give a code cop heartburn: exposed Romex. Not a big deal... you can replace with MC (flex armored) and be sure to tie the ground to each box, or, even easier, cover the Romex with Wiremold conduit and be done, using box transitions. I know this only because it was the most recent failing on my part with the garage on the rental - I had to rewire, completely. Ugly.

Philip, just for discussion's sake, I try to avoid 20 amp lighting circuits, and stick to 15A. Sure, 20A is technically OK, but the selection of available switches plummets, they cost 4X more, and you can't use 90% of the dimmer controls available in the consumer-grade markets. Besides, 14AWG is so much easier to deal with in a crowded box.

[Scottl]

I was going to mention the switch current limitations, but I was too late.  20A is a lot of tubes....  The circuit breaker can be changed to 15A if you have 12 ga wire.  A simple fix if you are concerned.

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks for the comments guys. I think that I am okay with code, and since this is a technically a trailer rather than part of the house, it is not subject to inspection. That said, I don't want to burn it down or hurt someone. The NM romex should be fine because it will not be exposed. I still need to add the valance facia. Note that I used rigid conduit where it is exposed. As for the 20 amp vs. 15, I utilized the breaker I had in the box and I had a spool of 12-2 from a rewire of a previous house (old ceramic tube and post...talk about scary). Finding a 20-amp switch wasn't a problem and I only have one of them. No need for dimmers because the T-8 fluorescent fixtures are not easily dimmed. I too dislike crowded boxes, so I went with doubles for all the junctions. Should be fine.

Best wishes, Dave

[Dave Schneider]

Finished up the first section of valance facia while watching the NFC and AFC games, eating pizza, and drinking beer. Continued my over engineering ways by adding 3/4 inch plywood strips to which the masonite is attached.



Turned off the room lights, and staged a quick photo with a section of benchwork, the side backdrop wedged in, and my Lincoln Warehouse flat leaning against it. I am happy with how this is progressing. The tracks will continue through the backdrop and I will model in inside of the warehouse on a removable section.



Best wishes, Dave

[Hornwrecker]

Nice, it looks like a stage.  Can't wait to see the Schlitz and Pabst elevators, and eventually the rollercoaster.

I don't know if you've seen this image, before, but it gives a different view I haven't seen before: C under construction:

http://content.mpl.org/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/MilwWaterwa&CISOPTR=689&DMSCALE=35.77818&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0

[Dave Schneider]

Bob,

Thanks for the kind words. The stage look is exactly what I want to achieve. Thanks for the link to the photo. I ordered a high resolution scan of this and other Beer Line images from the Milwaukee Public Library and they can be seen on my Photobucket site: http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll290/djs_ank_ak/Beer%20Line/
These aren't organized that well, but it might be fun to page through.

Best wishes, Dave

[Ian MacMillan]

This is looking really good. Can't wait to see how the rest of the buildings look as it progresses.

I am a big fan of the shadow box look. I used it on my old basement layout and it really makes the layout pop.