fifteen minute modeller

fighting procrastination fifteen minutes at a time

Tag: ply

BBBd5

16th October 2014 / / 0 Comments

So the day finally arrived when I managed to get the ply sheet for the top, but it was not without it’s hiccups, for company that I rang two days before seemed to have gone bust overnight and shut up shop in the blink of an eye. However a kindly gent who I stopped to ask as I had been around the estate 3 times told me of this fact and said I was think about going to get timber not to go to a shop that I was almost outside as the quality was “poo” and recommended another supplier just up the road. Could not be happier with a helpful friendly service and help to car with me bits. Came away thinking yes thats how you do business and I will return (at some point)

After lumping the Ply upstairs one thing I will say it that it is much heavier than I expected as I decided to go for 9mm ply this time and thankfully the suppliers know how to store their ply, i.e. flat so there seems to be no warp in it. I am going to have to work out how I move the board around when it needs moving but for the moment I am not going to worry about that.  As you can see I have some overhang and the plan is to get one edge of the frame lined up straight with the top and then trim up the other side as the frame is not 100% square. Also coming down with a dose of cold hasn’t helped progress today and didn’t want to start cutting stuff with a very fuzzy head as if I had to get another bit…. well.. but at least I have what I need and will see how I get on tomorrow.

Base with 9mm Ply Top

Base with 9mm Ply Top

BBBd3

12th October 2014 / / 0 Comments

Ok so out of the clamps and put on the trestles and one more step towards a layout well first layout of my own really. The structure needs more strength along the length but with the top on and some cross braces I hope that this will suffice. Top should be purchased tomorrow and time willing I should be able to plane flat the top surface of the frame ready for attaching the top sometime next week. Time moves slowly at the moment in modelling terms, but won’t be long before I can start laying track.

I also need to get some adjustable feet for the trestles as I know the floor in this house is not very level. Just another job to add to the list. But for the time being I am having a mini self pat on the back as have reached further than any previous activities of my own as I have achieved a certain amount of success in club modelling. Just itching to getting to the point where I can start warming up the soldering iron 🙂

Basic frame on trestles

Basic frame on trestles

Base camp 2

11th October 2014 / / 0 Comments
assembled base

Base glued and clamped up

This afternoon I have managed to get the rails for the base glued and clamped up and 90% of the joints are square and level and with only a bit of bend in the rails at one end that I can live with the next task is too add the extension. Once this has been done I can then look at attaching the top. This will need a bit of jigsawing to match the base but should be no biggy. Then I will be ready for the first step in laying track.

Hopefully my order from fasttracks will have arrived by then and I can start thinking about laying the #10 curved switches at each end. I would really like some 9mm roller gauges but as I don’t have access to a lathe I am going to use the 3 point ones ordered and attempt to make some out of brass strips to allow for check rail spacing and the likes. Oh for a lathe! and a milling machine. But just can’t justify it at the moment to knock up some track gauges. However in the future and getting round to flogging a load of stuff on eBay might be able to come up with something.

Anyway that’s a bit of a way off yet 🙂 and have to make sure the top is nice and flat first. Progress is slow at the moment still as things stand in the way but hoping to have the woodwork completed next week once I have gone and got the wood for the top.

In the meantime I am collecting reference material with the aid of google maps etc to build the picture of what I want to achieve on the layout. I plan to do some mockups of the structures etc to see how things fit together before I go ahead and start the buildings and related ‘stuff’ Then it will be onto wiring. Anyhoo…..

Measure twice cut once

25th September 2014 / / 2 Comments

If only I had headed those words and not gone to B&Q without my backofanenvelope calculations which left me with ply cut short. However after a bit of head scratching and ponder and some tea drinking I realise that I could add on a section at the end. Due to the lightweightedness of the baseboard it shouldn’t be too much of a problem and with extra bracing for attaching to the main board everything should be rock solid!

However in the measuring fiasco it means that I will need to get some more ply for the top and so a trip out to the timber merchants on Monday for another sheet of 8×4 6mm ply. This does mean I have quite a lot left over! Do not be distracted, do not be distracted… repeat.

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