My New Build Thread...

The electrician finished the recessed lights, the painter is almost done too.  New carpet in a couple weeks.

Great looking room!  Will you have access to the windows.

No I won't have general window access, but I don't mind, if I HAD to open one I can do it, albeit very inconvenient, but doable.  I live in the southern U.S. where it is hot 8 months of the year.   We rarely open windows and run AC almost non-stop.   There is another window in the room above the desk that I can easily open if I had to have some fresh air.

Great looking room!

Just a FWIW thought.  When ever I did an install in a carpeted area I fully covered the room in heavy 6 mil or 8 mil poly cloth.

A side benefit is that with a plastic carpet covering it is easy to slide my butt on the floor.  It is also easy to slide out the plastic from under the legs when done.  Some clients kept the plastic under their platform down because it made sliding train boxes much easier.

Hp289

I see that you are using a lot of curved switches. They save space but please be aware of one issue......with smaller engines: geeps, 10 wheelers, switchers, etc, running at slow speeds, there are times when power is lost because of the gap between powered center rails.

I ended up changing out my Atlas O O72/O54 curves switches because of that issue.

If you can, measure the power gap on the switches you have chosen and the distance between you pick up rollers.

This is the layout I built in 2011 and by the end of 2012 the curved switches were gone......it only happened at prototypical speeds.....at "PostWar" speeds (60+ smph), the momentum was enough to compensate for the power interruptions.....

Great room and have fun.....looking forward to more pictures of your progress.

Peter

Tom, agreed, no point in ruining new carpet.  Putnam, **** You with bad news!   Just kidding, Ugh!   Well I hope it's not going to be a big issue, I might put in a call to Steve at Ross where I'm getting the switches and get input, as I really really prefer not to change my plan.   I had heard the Ross curves were trouble free.

@Putnam Division posted:

Hp289

I see that you are using a lot of curved switches. They save space but please be aware of one issue......with smaller engines: geeps, 10 wheelers, switchers, etc, running at slow speeds, there are times when power is lost because of the gap between powered center rails.

I ended up changing out my Atlas O O72/O54 curves switches because of that issue.

If you can, measure the power gap on the switches you have chosen and the distance between you pick up rollers.

This is the layout I built in 2011 and by the end of 2012 the curved switches were gone......it only happened at prototypical speeds.....at "PostWar" speeds (60+ smph), the momentum was enough to compensate for the power interruptions.....

Peter

Peter always wondered why you pulled those curved switches.  But this begs the question is this problem only with the Atlas curved switches and/or the Ross switches also?

Ron

Hp......good idea....call Steve......my issues were with Atlas.....

Peter

The only issue with Ross switches you need to know about is running Lionel Post war engines and operating cars with slider shoe pickups through Ross Switches. The design of the Ross Switch will cause the engine / car to uncouple when the slider shoe crosses the center rail of the switch. Operating cars with slider shoes will activate when going through  a Ross Switch. Jim Barrett has a fix for this problem in one of his back shop  videos. It involves filing back the slider shoes, and insulting the car body from the track ground.

-Greg

Also, be sure you're good with the lighting before starting construction. Ceiling spots tend to illuminate a narrow beam and you might want to consider additional general lighting or at least check the light beam angle on the ones you have and install ones with a greater light disbursement, if needed. 

The lighting is more like floods rather than spots.   It's very good coverage.   Thanks!

Well, things are slowly moving along.  First, the track plan was modified, finalized, and ordered from Ross.  Gargaraves straights, Ross curves and switches.   Expected delivery in a couple of weeks more.

More details.  All 072 and 084 curves.  

I got ahead of myself and bought some wire.  red, white and green spools of 100ft. 14 gauge THHN.  16 ga for the feeders, and some 20 ga for switches.  

Wire.

Now some table construction.   2 5x8 tables from 2x4 frames with 1/2" cabinet grade plywood.   Plus two 3x8 tables.  

The frames are a little smaller than the plywood so after I get it all stood up, I can trim back to what I need.  The "bolts" are for leveling so I can get the tables really level as a group.  I'll need to put something under the bolts to protect the new carpet, but I'll come up with something.  Maybe a 4" square piece of plywood?  Not sure yet.

Anyway, that's the updates...

That looks like a very nice start!!

Looking crisp and clean, Hp289.  You're off to a good start with your benches.

I would urge you to reconsider using the bolts as levelers. They may be hard to get to once they bury themselves in the carpet. Even leg levelers will do that, but your idea of some plywood under the legs will help a lot. I had problems with leg levelers and short loop berber carpet and no carpet padding. You may also want to add a locking nut as they can turn if they slide.

Tom Tee showed me this little foot made with 3/4 plywood. I used a 3" hole saw. A 1" forstner bit makes a good seat for the leveler. There is some of that plastic carpet runner attached to the bottom. As you can see from this picture they can be made taller if the floor drops in some places. These two are 1 1/4" tall. The legs don't move even if I bump them with the vacuum.

Four tables completed this weekend, they will get connected to put together my plan.   Still need to add some light bracing and leveler pads, but overall I'm happy with how it's going.  

Homasote Screwed down with a bead of caulk around the edge.   On Saturday I'm going to paint the whole tabletop with some interior latex paint I have laying around from a recent project.   Notice the 3" overhang, no worries, no track or weight on that part, my track plan doesn't go to the edge.  The 1/2 plywood is 7 ply cabinet grade.   The close-up pic shows the homasote density for us new guys.  

I’m looking forward to seeing this come together.  The plywood looks excellent

I cut 3 1/2" disks and used Monarch Levelers from Outwater Plastics.  Ran a 3/8" round over router bit around the top edge.

The Monarch Leveler takes a 1 1/2" Foustner bit to make a pocket recess.

Now the biggest benefit was cutting disks from a chair pad used over  carpet.  When fastened to the bottom of the disks, the disk's nipples embed themselves into the carpet and you have a leg essentially fastened to the floor.  If you have leg braces the platform will be rigid even if you happen to bump into it.

Really coming together nicely!

Peter

I have small pieces of 1/4 ply for under my leg adjusters.   It's going to have to work, and I'm sure will be fine.   Tom's idea blows me out of the water.  

Agree, the main purpose is to not loose the adjustable leveler in the crush of the carpet pile.

Hummm...HP 289 ??  I am guessing you are somehow touching on a high performance early Mustang or other Ford powered product ??

Tom, you guessed it, the early 65-67 Mustang Hi-Po 289 "k" models were my thing for a bunch of years.  

On another note, I didn't get to paint homasote today, but I did get the 12' floating shelf built in the train room.  I needed it done to help create space for way too much stuff.

Painted tabletops with some leftover agreeable grey.   Sealed the edges up good with paint also.   Just my little world taking shape.   Thanks again to all the gents on here giving me good advice!

Moving right along, great pics for those who might want to use as a reference.  

Thanks Comm.  That is my thought pattern also with all the pics I take.   I'm going through this journey building a 17x12 layout for the first time, I'm a noob amateur and I have really appreciated the other guys threads that have detailed pics with detailed explanations.   The bantering posts I gleen over.  LOL.   I'd feel great if my journey helped the next fella after me!   Thx!

Made some progress over the last couple of weeks.  Added in the end section by the windows.  Built it independently then bolted it in place just in case it ever has to come out or apart for move or transport.  Then I finally started laying some test track.  Then started going full force laying track for real.  My layout is 2 mainlines, with both making a double loop.  The inside loops are 072 and the outside is 082.   The curves are stock as built by Ross, and the straights are gargraves.   I had about 5 or 6 full straights from GG measuring 37" each which is the stock length.  The tricky part was about 30+ cuts on the straights for all the fill in pieces.   After the cut from the cutoff wheel, I cleaned up the ends with various small files and inserted new pins.   It really wasn't too bad but it was a full job.   Anyway, the last pic shows the current state.  I think tomorrow I will begin on the bridge/overpass area and some of the elevation changes.   Well, that's it for now, enjoy the update!

Geez, you run a clean work space!  Looks great; I create total chaos during my projects (but clean up when I'm finished!).