Summer Shunting Shelf Project

[LKOrailroad]

Funkey,

Your scenes are superb however your fascia/shelf finishing is not up to par with your modeling. I am amazed at how quickly you get things done. Still, quantity over quality is not deserving of a man as talented as you. Glue some Formica to them, contact paper, styrene sheet. Something!

Respectfully submitted,

[pwnj]

And shelf paper! Oh, Johnny, I *love* shelf paper!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Shelf paper?
Hmm.....

No, point well taken.
Some spackle, some sanding, some slobbering of paint... hopefully then it'll pass quality control 

My high school art teacher would always say "You can't polish a turd."
I like to think my model railroading proves her wrong 

[DKS]

Funkey,

Your scenes are superb however your fascia/shelf finishing is not up to par with your modeling. I am amazed at how quickly you get things done. Still, quantity over quality is not deserving of a man as talented as you. Glue some Formica to them, contact paper, styrene sheet. Something!

Respectfully submitted,

Funny... for the most part, the great John Allen couldn't be bothered finishing the edges of his layout. Raw plywood, two-by's, whatever was there, it didn't matter--it was the modeling that was the center of attention.

Carry on, Mr. Fujiwara.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Funny... for the most part, the great John Allen couldn't be bothered finishing the edges of his layout. Raw plywood, two-by's, whatever was there, it didn't matter--it was the modeling that was the center of attention.

For me, if I'm the only one that's going to see it, then... "meh."
I don't really mind the holes / crappy paint on the shelves when I'm in the garage running trains.
And since the layout goes to shows and not the shelves... 

But I do understand the point.
When I put up the shelves / valence with fascia, it looked alright (though I still think I need to lower the valence a couple inches).
Then when I put up the angled shelves, it looked like a hack job.

So as my only functioning, operational and available layout, I think I'd like to make it look 1/2 decent and get those shelves polished up.
Of course, from now on, you'll probably never see a pull-back shot of the layout again 

[Zox]

So as my only functioning, operational and available layout, I think I'd like to make it look 1/2 decent and get those shelves polished up.

Give this stuff a try:

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-inch-x-72-inch-mesh-nonslip-drawer-liner-67055.html

(Other places sell similar stuff; Harbor Freight's just my go-to supplier. )

It's easy to cut-to-fit, doesn't need to be tacked down, and if you don't like it it's trivial to remove and replace it. And the low-gloss finish should make it unobtrusive.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Almost 2 years ago (2012):

"When I put up the shelves / valence with fascia, it looked alright (though I still think I need to lower the valence a couple inches)."



Well, finally got around to it a few weeks ago (4/2014).
Just took out the layout, pulled out the styrene, scored-&-snapped it 4" shorter, placed the bottom shelf brackets 4" higher, and:





For N scale, 10 inches is plenty of space for a 1'-deep shelf switching layout.
(Heck, with this layout could have tightened another 2" or so into a nice frame)
And the 4" gained underneath is double-plus good as well!

The long and short of it: you don't need more than 16" of vertical space--if upper & lower valence is 3" each--to have a quality, well-lit layout!
(and in reality the 14"+ of your IKEA shelves will do fine for everything!)

No space excuses for a layout!

[Catt]

So MC,are the kids still playing trains with dad?By the way thanks for all the build pics.I now know how I am going to do my next show layout.

[txronharris]

Thanks for the layout tutorial. Exceptional modelling skills that we all hope to aspire to one day. As always, stellar work M.C. !

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Thanks for the kind words.

No, the kids aren't playing trains with dad, mainly because dad isn't playing trains 

Looking back, I should not have set up the shelf layout in the garage--not only difficult to access / too much crap around for more than one person:





But also all the dust in my "California Basement" makes running trains a PITA: always have to clean the rails before each "ops" session.
(Yes, I could put a tarp / covering over the layout to keep out dust between sessions but 1) that looks lame and 2) see above)

Really, I should install the shelf layout along one wall of either my bedroom or the family room.
That way people can just pick up and play!

And now that I have the wall space (after selling off 1,000 books) and that the fam will be gone to Japan for a month (during the World Cup, no less!), maybe I'll sneak that into the house.

And as to the holes: it's a rental, but hey, that's what spackle and toothpaste are for, yes?
 

The more layouts I do, the more I find the "Pick Up & Play" aspect becoming paramount.

For example: Free-moN modules are awesome IF there is a group a fun dudes to help set up and take down.
On my own I can set up my modules (about 60 feet mainline running) and get trains going in 2-3 hours, with another 2+ hours to break down.
Our group (10+ dudes) can get 300+ feet up and running in less than 2 hours, and we can be packed up and gone in less than 1 hour.

At home, when my 2'x4' Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout was on my workbench, I could plug in and play within minutes.
Easy access all around.
The Alameda Belt Shelf Layout is awkward to access (too much crap underneath) and clean, so I rarely play.

As family situation would probably frown upon moving the shelf layout into the house, I'll probably clear space underneath, install a dropcloth (keep dust out) and No-Ox it (haven't used it yet, so good chance).

Probably will replace Caboose ground throws ("Catapults!") with micro-slide-switches to power the frogs.
But just brainstorming out loud right now.

Starting a new Free-moN module so we'll see what happens.

[bdennis]

Just went back to page 1 on this thread.. All I can say is.. what a great project and a fantastic reference point for so many different industries..
Well done.

[timgill]

The more layouts I do, the more I find the "Pick Up & Play" aspect becoming paramount.

This.

Having the layout be 1. accessible and 2. operable with the flip of a single switch is super important. Yeah, our garage layouts need to have frequent track cleanings, but there are ways to make it happen easily. I tie everything on my shelf layout into a single power strip so I can head out to the garage, flip a switch, and be off to the races.

I'll bet with a creative re-organizing of that space you could be able to get to that layout a little more readily, and operate it more.

[Catt]

MC, after going through this L E R several times ya got me thinking this would be a neat way to do a Z scale layout.Main difference would be it will be a roundy round so I can BS with folks at shows.Thanks for the ideas.

[jpec]

MC, I applaud you showing things as they stand in real life...I'm sure your clutter is no different than what 90% of us on here work in...reminds me of a short-lived magazine called The Scale Coupler that was published here in the east 3 decades ago - the cover showed a drawing of a pristeen layout environment and when you turned the page it showed the opposite...kind of a "fantasy v. reality" concept. Thanks for sharing your great work.

Jeff

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, now that I've gotten rid of 90% of my Free-moN modules (all except Shoofly!)(and 2 cool 45's as photo dioramas), I finally have some space on my workbench:



[Ignore that "Possible New Shelf Project"--not going to happen/for awhile]

So while I build some structures to finish up the HO logging layout for a friend, I thought I should use the opportunity of a relatively-clear workbench to "finish" the "Alameda Belt In A Box" layout my daughter and I did awhile ago (wow: she was nine when we worked on it, and she just turned 13 yesterday!).
And by "finish" I mean replace those ugly oversized Caboose Industries ground throws with slide switches that 1) won't look like gargantuan catapults and 2) power the frogs (very important!).

Based on recommendations from fellow Mark W, I picked up a variety of slide switches to experiment with:



The Radio Shack are smallest (and more accessible), and the Adafruit are solid, with a slight "snap" throw, and black, but I wanted to try the smaller SparkFun first, mainly because they're smaller than the Adafruit (I could always carve a bigger hole!) and they have a metal cover that goes almost all way around (RS are mostly plastic).

Actually, the most difficult step of the whole conversion is drilling the hole:



But even if you're close to the edge, the plastic is very strong: I slipped the brass rod in and could not break through the plastic.

I popped the Caboose ground throw off, then drilled a hole with a bit slightly smaller than the width of the slide switch:



Drilled another one next to it, then used the Dremel to ream out the space. A triangle file helped square the corners and widen the space so the slide switch slipped in snug:



Originally, I was going to try to slip decoder wire under the rails on the surface, but it looked bad, so I just used ye ol' 22 gauge stranded under & back up:



At least the wires don't hang out too much.

Then I scraped away some paint on the throwbar to expose the copper, and the soldered the brass wire to the throwbar:



I had to re-position one point rail to match the slide switch throw distance, but otherwise it works great!
I was thinking I'd have to use the uncoupling tool (bamboo skewer) to throw the slide switch, but it's still big & sturdy enough that a fingertip/nail can throw it fine.

Careful application of NeoLube on all shiny parts really helps the slide switch disappear:



I still need to go back and do a little touch up ground cover, and I'm thinking about ways to make it look less slide switch and more turnout switch stand, but all in all very happy with the new look (and POWERED FROGS!!!!!!!! WOOT!).

You can see the improvement over the Caboose Catapults already:





One down, 13 more to go!

Thanks for looking.