Sunday, August 2, 2015

Layout Chronicles Step 1A

Nothing says layout room like sky blue walls!
As you can see the ceiling tiles are all in, as are the new fixtures. But the beige paint had to go.
For this iteration we chose "Wash and Wear" at the Home Hardware for wall colour. I like it.
I may use a different shade once the layout gets underway, but this'll do for now.
I plan to add "backdrops" to the back of the benchwork as I go along, but not to the ceiling. To just above eye level. That'll keep the space a little more airy and allow better air flow.
You can also see that I've created my first bit of benchwork.
16' long by 16" wide bit for the west end staging yard. Room for 8 long tracks. I'm trying for 14' long trains. It'll become clearer why in the future.
14' will allow for about 25 40' cars, plus a caboose and 2 F7s. Not a bad representation of a Redball, which were usually twice as long.
And I've decided upon benchwork height. 48". It's a nice height for me. I can reach in when I have to. There will be a couple of deep scenes as the yard develops. Access is always important.
Right now I'm fiddling with the yard ladder, trying to decide how best to lay it out and not loose precious length. Pretty sure a compound ladder is in the offing.
Sometime in the next few weeks, Trevor will be back and we'll be crawling on the floor drawing the St Thomas yard onto Kraft paper to make sure it can fit as we think it will.
The next dilemma is going to be Homasote I fear. I have to contact the wholesaler in London to see if I can get  a few sheets without buying a full lift load. The local lumberyards don't stock this item anymore. Not looking forward to having to find alternatives.
Stay tuned.


3 comments:

Bandoman said...

You should try using ceiling tiles for your staging. I used ceiling tiles for my entire staging area and it worked great. You have to cut them first paint them, including the edges. Get a good glue that is non-toxic and glue them down. Track can then be silicone tight on top.

Pierre Oliver said...

The old tiles are all warped and sagging. And filthy.
And are already in the dump.
I suspect that if Homasote is a non-starter, it'll be cork.

Barry said...

Copp's Buildall on Dundas in London ordered one sheet of Homasote from the plywood supplier across town just for me. It even came attached to a sheet of slightly damaged 1/4" plywood. Bonus!