A bit of progress….
Getting tired of working on the floor I decided to build a quick bench to work on. I had a few of those metal brackets used for shelving around so I made a bench to work on. I built it the same height as the saw so I could use it for an outfeed table. Cutting sheets of plywood can be a real pain without something to support the material being cut. This takes all the work out of it!
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Prepping layout room and work bench
This week I returned to the Bronx project after several months away from it. I did most of the work on the trackwork in the spring but got distracted with relocating the business to the new building we had built this summer. Now that most of that project is behind us I am really looking forward to spending the winter working on the Bronx Terminal layout!
I’m not quite ready to start layout building just yet, but pretty close. The first step is to build a work shop to work in. The layout room I am using is on the side of the house, just off the kitchen on the main floor. This will be a nice change as all the layouts I have built so far were down in a basement, this one will keep me in touch with the terrestrial people of the world….
I seem to have spent most of the summer building benches of one type or another and I am pretty tired of it. One more to go and I can finally get back to work on the fun stuff!
This bench will have lots of surface. A U shaped bench with 7′ long sides and a 3′ centre. Over the years I have built various modeling benches, some large and some small. I noticed that I only work on about 2 square feet of space, everything else is a place to put projects that I am not working on at the moment. My last bench was a bit small and ended up quite cluttered, so this one will be much larger and will be able to support much more clutter!
I only have the frame of the bench completed, this week I hope to complete the entire project and unpack all my tools. So far I only have the spray booth is in place as I needed to determine the best location for it. The hole in the floor (hidden behind the chair) is where the laser cutter vented outside and will provide exactly what is needed to vent the spray booth, so I had to locate it on the bench relative to the hole. This room previously housed some of the production equipment for Fast Tracks
I will be building a few drawers to hold smaller hand tools and my large collection of paints, this will be located at the end of the bench to my right. Typically I like tools to my left, as I am left handed and prefer the tools close to the hand that will need them, but since the shape of the bench would put the drawer where I would have to move the chair to open the drawer I think it would be nuisance, so I compromised and will put it at my right.
More to come as I am on holidays this week (the first time in many years!).
-Tim
Click on images for a really big view….
For the Train Show in Detroit last month I mounted some of the Bronx Terminal trackwork to a laser engraved plywood sheet. I did this to keep it from getting damaged, its pretty fragile. I expected it may be handled and this would protect it and also provide a bit of a display.
All the ties are etched into the board, this helps to make the trackwork look a bit more complete. I also painted the trackwork with a simple black paint to add a bit of contrast.
This is the N scale code 40 version of the triple lapped turnout.
Click on image for larger view….
Click on image for larger view….
I also made one with both the N scale and HO scale quad diamond mounted onto plywood with the ties engraved.
Click on image for larger view….
N scale code 40 at the front of the image, HO scale code 70 near the top.
Click on image for larger view….
I cut some frog isolation gaps in the N scale crossing shown above just to make sure it could actually be done. This was done using a jewelers saw while holding the trackwork in a vise. The technique works well, but after a few gaps the trackwork was starting to get a bit weak so I decided to hold off until I am ready to install in place. I may actually mount the trackwork onto a thin plywood roadbed after the wood ties have been attached and cut through the rail and the roadbed at the same time, this will provide extra support for this delicate operation.
I know, I know, its the same stuff that has been on the site for the last few months and I apologize for that. This summer my time has been quite stretched and hasn’t allowed for any down time. With the building almost complete, we should be moving into it shortly and that should free up some much needed space and time for me to get back to another section of the terminal!
-Tim
