Sunday, May 1, 2022

April Construction Update

The framework for the east wall of the garage stall has been completed and that for the west wall has been started.   Half the plywood for the staging tracks has been installed and the other half is waiting for additional support pieces to be installed.   The plywood for the upper and lower towns has also been cut to size.  

The following photo shows the front half of the east wall framing.   Each framing section is three feet wide by eight feet long.  The two sections will be bolted together with carriage bolts.   The legs are attached with carriage bolts.   The support pieces are held in place by 1.25-inch wood screws.  I had originally intended for the legs to be removeable but had to permanently attach them due to needing them supporting the upper level of the track.  

I have also drawn the curved plywood sub-roadbed pieces to be cut out of the remaining sheet of plywood.  These can be seen in the second photo.  These will probably take a day to cut out with the jig saw.  These are 30-inch radius quarter circles.  Most of these will be for the loop area on the northeast end of the layout (see track plan) along with connecting the upper-level town on the east side to the loops.  

I also need to go to the hardware store for more 1.25-inch wood screws and 1x3 inch lumber for support pieces.  I will also check to see if the store has any cans of mistake paint that is close to sky blue.   Every once in a while, when they are mixing paint, they will make a mistake and end having to make a second can of the correct color mix.   The mistakes are usually a lot less expensive than buying a can.

I have levelled the front section of framing to match the rear section when it is level again.  The floor has about a two percent slope from the rear of the garage to the front.  

May construction plans are to finish the framing for the west wall, lay roadbed and track for the staging yard and maybe complete the lower-level loop connecting the two ends of the staging yard to the rest of the layout.  Then wiring the track so I can run a train or two.  The staging tracks are about 18 feet long and will hold two normal sized trains each.

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