Update on Layout & Life: Boxing in New London Staging

What a crazy bunch of weeks it's been! It may seem like I've fallen off the planet since my last blog post was waaaaay back on October 30, and I've even missed not one, not two, but three Wordless Wednesday posts. That has to be a new record - and not a good one.  So if you've been wondering what I've been up to, or if I owe you an email, etc. this post will let you know what's going on & will bring you up to date.

Long story short: You may have heard there was an election recently. I was pretty heavily involved in the days leading up to it, and then very heavily involved in recounts (all at the state level, btw). After all that was said and done, I got a significant promotion and as a result - and I guess as I should have expected - my life went from being just very busy to hyper overdrive. But I know I'm in the right place since I find that I have to pull myself away from work rather than dread doing it. So that's been filling just about all my time lately. Fortunately for the layout, 1) it won't (hopefully shouldn't) always be this way. This is the inevitable ramping up and steep learning curve time. 2) I've actually been able to get to the basement for a few hours each Sunday.

So Beware! This post is super heavy on photos, but it should be a quick read with just captions. And when you get to the end - whether all in one sitting, or viewed over a couple of days - you (and I!) will be all caught up with where the layout is Right Now . . .

I decided to try and get the last of the layout "heavy construction" finally done. I'd been wanting to "box in" New London staging since it's the only part of the layout that's in an unfinished part of the basement and subject to dust. And I figured this would be a LOT easier than dismantling staging to finish this corner with studs, sheetrock & dropped ceiling. This photo and the next shows the first stick of "roof & valence support" going up.

I spaced the supports around the perimeter and put one in the middle to support the "roof girders" that would come later.

Basement time is usually Sunday afternoon, but if I'm able to get some hobby time on a weekday evening, I'm trying to dial-in the decoder on K-1 #359. It has a Tsunami2, so no chuff cam. Jury's out on whether the new "digital cam" can be made to be as good. I'll letcha know...

Back to the basement! Clamps are your friend when working alone (an unfortunate reality these days). Since this is "only" staging, I decided not to bother painting the backdrop or do any real "finishing" (taping/topping seams, hiding screws, etc). But I did want a little bit of a finished look. So instead of buying regular masonite - and to keep the area nice and bright - I got white finished masonite that's typically used for kitchen/bathroom backsplashes and such. In this photo and the one below, I'm positioning the backdrop and holding it up with clamps.

One annoying reality of doing this after the track is all in, is that you have to have to put up the masonite twice - once to mock it up for marking, then for final installation.

But the backdrop is only the "sides" of the box(ing in). I wanted a lighting valence, and I figured that would support the "roof" as well. Here's the first piece going in over the east end of Saybrook (the only portion of finished layout that's located in the unfinished part of the basement).

See what I mean about clamps? Here, I've already screwed in & secured the far end of the backdrop, and I'm gluing one side of the splice between the two sections of backdrop.

One of the challenges of gluing backdrop sections together is how to clamp them while the glue sets. Here I've used a long piece of wood to "extend" the clamps along the seam.

Once the backdrop was in place, the next step was to add "roof girders." These were made from two 1x3s screwed together to make an L-girder 1) to make it more rigid across the span, and 2) to provide a wider base of support for the foam board roof.

For additional rigidity and support, I added a cross piece and a diagonal brace.

And here's the first piece of valence going up! At first, I lined up the top of it with the top of the backdrop - but then I realized that wouldn't cover the edge of the foam board roof that would be sitting on top of the backdrop. Since the foam board is 1.5" thick, I raised the valence an additional 1.5" above the top edge of the backdrop.

Here's a better view of the "raised" valence. The foam board roof will rest on top of the backdrop & girders and nest in behind the valence.

Here's my trick for making sure the top of the girder lines up perfectly with the top of the backdrop and holds it there while I screw everything together.

Valence finished! Next comes lighting . . .

For the lighting, I decided to try out some LED tubes. I got a 6 pack of 4 footers from Amazon for $35.

They're very easy to install - basically just install the clips & clip them in. But I did run into a problem with the very first one . . . Apparently, the east end of Saybrook is exactly four feet wide. Problem was - the tube - with the plug - was too long & wouldn't fit!

One of the lessons I'm learning over and over again while building this layout is that you can never anticipate every single problem. And trying to is an invitation to Analysis Paralysis. It's often better to Just Get Started and deal with problems as they come up. The problem with the light length was a perfect case in point. I ended up just routing out enough material to accommodate the plug. Turned out to be a fine solution to what I feared would be an impossible problem!

Lighting done!

And now the roof goes in . . . This was a relatively simple matter of laying the foam board on top, snugging it against the wall and corner, and tracing the outline of the valance so I could cut it to fit.

The roof used up two 4x8 pieces of foam board, cut into three sections to cover the whole staging yard.

But hopefully you'll agree, it came out pretty nice!

That last pic there shows the state of things as of November 20. The idea will be to cover the "slot" between the fascia and valence with some sort of curtain whenever I'm doing any cutting in the shop (that's the area I'm standing in in the photo above). There's really nothing left to do with the boxing in, but I will need to do more on the "east end of Saybrook" area: Vinyl backdrop & paint - and of course structures and scenery.

But it looks like Major Construction on the layout is finally done! The only thing left to do is decide whether to add any valence to the rest of the layout. I'm still mulling that over. I really like the shadow box effect here (and I have it in the Saybrook Scene as well), but I don't know yet if I want/need to replicate that effect across the whole layout (see Mike Confalone's Allagash Rwy for an example of not using valences).

So all that's left to do here is to install the 2nd/last shop light over the bench (I moved the two shop lights from above staging), and do a massive cleanup of this whole area. Those who know me well know that I'm pretty OCD when it comes to keeping my work areas clean and tidy - so the state of things here is a HUGE departure from my norm!

And hopefully soon there will be at least a small departure from what's become the "norm" in my life lately and I'm able to post more frequent layout updates. Thanks for being patient and for continuing to follow my progress. As always, I appreciate any feedback & hope you'll stay tuned!

Finishing the Vinyl Valence & Christmas Module Progress

Once the paint dried on the vinyl (click here for pics of the valence construction so far), it was time to Hang the Valence! Here are some "before" shots to remind us how the Saybrook Scene looks(ed) coming down the stairs:

Notice the shop lights, wires, HVAC piping

Turning 45 degrees right.

Overall shot of the Saybrook Scene

Not bad overall. It's certainly better to have the lights than not have them, and you don't really notice them too much while you're operating. You're concentrating more on what you're doing than on what's above your head. But best practice is to try and frame our scene - it provides a nice, finished look, especially for when you're not operating and/or when non-RR guests visit. Having a valence will make this look much nicer overall and fit better with non-RR sensibilities (it's amazing what layout owners and model railroaders are willing to accept in the service of More Layout...)

While I chose vinyl for its light weight and ease of installation, it's still a good idea to have a friend (or the Missus - well, she's a "friend" too, of course) help you out. It's a long roll of material and having a 3rd and 4th hand help hold up the roll while you staple is especially helpful.

And that's what I did. I started at one end while the Missus held up the rest of the roll. I took great care to make sure the first few staples attached the end of the vinyl all straight and square. Then it was just a matter of having more vinyl fed to me as I continued to staple the top edge to the edge of the plywood formers.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pics of that actual process - our hands were kinda full. Literally.

When I got to the end of the 9' run, there was of course still farther to go. So I got the other piece, started at the other end, and used the same process. When the 2nd end got close to the 1st end, I had a decision to make: butt the ends together and splice with another piece of vinyl glued to the back of the joint - or overlap them?

I chose to overlap since getting the ends/edges to match perfectly would be difficult - if not impossible for me to do. So I cut the 2nd piece back a bit so that only about 6" would overlap (I used a small T-square to help me mark a straight, perpendicular cutting line). Then I tucked that in behind the end of the first piece, applied vinyl glue, and pressed the two ends together. To keep them together while the glue set, I improvised a looooong clamp:

"Good enough for guvmit work" as they say

That was good enough to hold things together overnight while everything dried/cured.

And here are the "finished" photos! Compare to the "before" photos above since they're taken from similar angles

View coming down the stairs (you can always enlarge by clicking on the image - and you can see more detail if you tip your screen)

 

Overall shot of the scene. Nice!

I REALLY like how this came out, and think you'll agree that it's a huge improvement. While most folks paint the valence black or some other dark color (based on the theater maxim paint it black to make it disappear) I think it looks better matching the wall color. And the vinyl was VERY easy to work with and cut - much easier than masonite. Not to mention orders of magnitude lighter and easier to install.

The only regret I have - and it's a small one - is that I should have made it just a little bigger/wider. At 16" everything is covered nicely from a distance - or if you're tall (over 6'). But shorter folks will still see the lights under the valence and get the glare. Not awful - and it's better than no valence at all - but I'm going to try a deeper valence in future installations - certainly 18" (which would have worked fine here) and maybe as much as 20" (as long as folks aren't bumping their heads too much on it).

In between all this, and considering Thanksgiving is only a week away, I also continued work on the Christmas module:

Simple 1x3 bracing for a masonite tabletop

Loktite PL300 foam-friendly adhesive (gap on left is likely location of river/creek)

2" foam applied and weighed down

Nothing at all innovative here, but certainly shows how quick and easy a project this is - and ideal for the first-timer. More pics to come as I make additional progress.

Although I'm not sure when next I'll be able to get to the basement. With a fairly stressful job (especially these days), I look forward to Saturdays to recoup and (hopefully) get some layout work done and give my brain a break. But this Saturday, I'll be working on the railroad, all the liv'long day - literally. I know - weep for me :^) With my engineer training, I haven't fired in a while so I'm interested to see how I do. But I know, no matter what, getting to see the families and kids coming out to see Santa on our North Pole Express - some for the first time - will make the hours and hard work fly by. These trains sell out months in advance, but if you happen to be in Essex, CT this Saturday, come up to the steam engine and say "hi" - I should be holding down the left side of #40.

Weekend Construction Update - Vinyl Valence & Christmas Layout

After my last operating session - and given how far along the Saybrook Scene has developed - it was high time to think about adding a valence to frame the scene.

The typical approach to a valence is to mount masonite above the layout in much the same way as it's used as fascia to frame below the layout. But I have a finished, drywall ceiling and - as luck would have it - my ceiling joists run the wrong way, which makes it difficult to mount anything of any real weight, It's hard to screw mounting brackets into joists/studs when you a) can't find them, or b) they aren't where you need them.

So I decided to take a different approach.

First, I traced the footprint/border of the fascia onto cardboard to create templates. I then used those templates as cutting guides to cut strips of 3/4" plywood to match the fascia curves. I used 3/4" plywood a) since it'd be easy to cut into curves (it's hard to curve 1x3s), and b) the 3/4" thickness would provide a convenient surface to which I could staple the vinyl.

The pictures tell (most of the rest of) the story. . .

I was able to screw into joists at both ends, then lightly screwed into drywall just to keep the plywood from sagging at all. I was able to determine precisely where to locate it by using a plumb bob, rubbing against the face of the fascia and marking the ceiling directly above the edge of the fascia.

I needed to work the valence around the ductwork, but couldn't screw plywood into that, so I tried this heavy-duty double-sided foam tape. I wish I'd discovered it earlier - I might not have bothered using screws at all. It's good for 60lbs(!)

And here is the plywood taped to the drywall that encloses the ductwork. If I tried to remove this, it'd probably take down the drywall! It'll be more than sufficient to hold up vinyl.

Here's a view of how the plywood valence mount matches the fascia. Again, I traced the outline onto cardboard to make cutting templates.

And here it is mounted on the ceiling. Since I actually found joists here, I was able to go ahead and use screws. Again, I located the plywood on the ceiling by marking it from the fascia using a plumb bob.

I did use the tape again to mount the vertical, edge mount/backing though.

I used a piece of cardboard and a compass to trace the irregular edges I needed to cut around (primarily the door frame).

The valence itself is a 6'x9' sheet in a roll I got at Lowe's for $25-30. I used my chop saw to cut it into 16" sections, which would result in a 16" valence.

Then I used the cardboard template I'd made around the door frame to cut the end of the vinyl to fit.

As you may have noticed in the chop saw photo, there is of course a pattern and color on the "top" side of the vinyl. I plan to have this face "in" toward the layout, becoming the back of the valence, and used flat white ceiling paint to reflect as much light as possible.

After two coats of white, I flipped the valence sections over and painted the bottom (now front) side to match the fascia color. Pro Tip: you can use a section of foam as a portable painting support.

That's where things are now until I can get the Missus to help me with the actual mounting. That should be MUCH easier than mounting much-heavier masonite, but still awkward enough to make an extra set of hands pretty helpful.

So while I was literally waiting for the paint to dry, I decided to start a little Christmas module/diorama/display to put at the top of the stairs outside the Photo Library room.

First step, figure out the outline, traced on masonite.

You may recall I have/had a Christmas Layout at one point. Click here for a photo. It was 3'x4' and represented my first actual completed layout - scenery, buildings and everything! Didn't matter it was only a loop of track - it gave me a lot of joy.

But it was awkward and bulky and always seemed to be in the way. I put it on rollers at one point so I could wheel it around as needed. But it was too wide to get through a standard doorway without tipping on its side (after removing the legs), so it was trapped in one of the basement rooms. Not great for display.

So a few months ago, I dismantled it - regaining the space permanently - and decided to reconstitute it on a display that could be out for more folks to enjoy. It'll be a fun little project - just hope I can get it done in time for Christmas!

All in all, a pretty productive weekend!