Baton Rouge Southern 3.0 - a Design discussion

[Philip H]

Nearly a year.

Bad Philip. No update.

After getting back from the Altoona N scale weekend I had some major organizing and cleaning to do. Then back to work. First up was to add MT couplers and caboose trucks with IM metal wheels to this grand old crummy:



That done I fixed a broken coupler on my JTC 17 post container wellcar and set about starting a grade crossing build:








We closed the day with a hotshot UP mixed freight run to honor the passing of Allen McClellend.

[C855B]

Oh, don't feel bad about laying out for a while. I'm in a similar boat. By coincidence I also have a minor update in my own thread. 

[Philip H]

I’ve done more then this but been lazy posting.

Glad you remain ok.

[Bill H]

We closed the day with a hotshot UP mixed freight run to honor the passing of Allen McClellend.

Gee, I totally missed that Allen had passed away. I remember him moving to a seniors home which ended work on the V&O second layout, a move which I thought was mainly about concerns for his wife. A great loss to the modelling community, he certainly was a principle driver to where our hobby has gone. I remember when telling a friend of my about my life long hobby and he said it didn't figure - "after you build the loop and run in circles for a while - then what?". Well Allen and some others answered.
RIP Allen.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Philip H]

Well Happy New Year!

I’m trying to get back up to speed - which means most of yesterday was spent cleaning my workbench. 1/4 of the bench later I uncovered these decals from CMR Easy Streets.




This is a stub end street that T’s off US 61 to serve industry. I am WELL aware that these road markings are too close to the tracks per prototype standards. I like the look and so they will stay. As this is meant to be the north kind KCSmain I need to add crossing protection next and some gravel shoulders and more signage.

[wm3798]

You're building a theater set.  Don't sweat the details.  If you make it too precise, it won't look right from most viewing angles.  Throw a little landscaping down, and build the crossing and call it Christmas.
Lee

[Philip H]

https://goo.gl/maps/8y4U7q1hxQTGUBXv6


Sometimes they really are that close.

[davefoxx]

All right!  Ed’s Law has proven that at least one side of your crossing is prototypically accurate.  Good job!

DFF

[Philip H]

All right!  Ed’s Law has proven that at least one side of your crossing is prototypically accurate.  Good job!

DFF

Nah - I'm just that anal.

[Philip H]

sometimes you acquire.  sometimes you sell. Sometimes you look at the cobwebs and decide to let them be.  So it goes.

I have two weekends coming with fewer commitments, and so I'm thinking about benchwork and worksurfaces.  If we bounce all the way back to @AlkemScaleModels original track plan, we see the "bottom" section of the layout is on a shelf along my cubicle divider wall:



I have spent the better part of 4 years trying to figure out ow to hang the shelf on the cubicles themselves to eliminate legs etc. Well now that I've decided my workbench (tucked under the end segment between the two long segments) is not really working for me, its dawned on me that if I make a shelf and workbench the same width and the same length (6ftx18in) I could mount one atop the other and be done with both relatively quickly.  And if I use the folding door set I have in my attic, I have two hollow core doors to work off of.

My engineering question to the assembled masses is this - how to I construct light weight legs to hold up both?  I have some 1/2 sheets of /2 inch plywood I could rip into legs . . . .in an L shape . . . glued and screwed at the corners . . . .but even a hollow core door would maybe sag across 6 feet if there wasn't support in the middle.

 So Brain Trust - have at it.

[nickelplate759]

Truss rods? 

Keeping an 8' span from sagging significantly for the layout part should be easy enough.   Consider adding some structural steel angles or channels along or under the framework or (or hollow door).  Make sure it can't twist.

The desk might be trickier.

[Philip H]

Its 6 feet, not 8.  Bad fat fingers. 

[nickelplate759]

6' span shouldn't be an issue for a hollow door core for the layout surface, or even properly constructed grid framing.

For the desk surface, I'd do one of the following things:
If supported only at the ends, add 1.5" angle to the door "frame".  Steel is best, but even aluminum would work if you do it at both the back and front of the desk.
If legs can be inset from the ends by 1', just add some angle braces (or shelf brackets!) on either side of the leg.
If the legs cannot be inset, use a shelf bracket at least 1' long as a brace for the leg, pointing towards the center of the desk.

[Philip H]

I wouldn't expect the workbench to have heavier loads then the layout portion.  SO why the more robust build?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I used Ikea Omar shelves as the legs for my workbench. Bonus: they give you shelves.
These might work for you:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/omar-shelf-unit-galvanized-00069768/