Good evening. First venture into the forum for some help. Need to mount my grandson's first o gauge up on the upper wall, in their play room. See a lot on You-Tube...any one have actual plans, to include best brackets etc?
thanks!
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Marv,
Welcome.
This will likely be of little help, but, my Dad built me a folding HO layout when I was six years old. Mounted to the wall with simple hinge's, a rope through a pulley on the wall near the ceiling, one folding leg on the corner while the other corner rested on my trash can sitting on the bed. Simple enough that I recall the design so I wouldn't think it to be overly complicated. Use a four foot level and a couple of quality hinge's etc. And as the old Nike commercial always said "Just Do It"!
Rick.
Best brackets is partly aesthetics. I used cheap metal a brackets from home depot, but many would want wood for a better appearance. A key issue is the corner pieces. Their size will be determined by the radius. The corner behind the curve is a place to put items like a station. Be sure to consider overhang on curves. If there are no switches and it is a simple loop, then width can be say 4" - again partly aesthetics. If you a going To have sidings or a double loop, then set up on floor to get widths.
It will help you to use the search function under "ceiling layouts"---there are a number of examples shown there.
As "ogaugenut" noted in the post above, Home Depot has metal["Maxi"] brackets that are very good ---1/8" x 1-1/4" plate steel---enameled. They come in various lengths.
Decorative wooden brackets are available from Lowe's and the Home Depot.
Generally, Lowe's/Depot can rip four 11-3/4"x 8'x3/4" shelves from a single 3/4" sheet of plywood which is suitable for the straight runs on a a dual track shelf or ceiling RR. Two 4'x4' corner sections[minus 1/8" sawcut] can be cut a from a single sheet at Lowe's. Thus, a fairly good sized room can be equipped with shelves with three--four sheets of 3/4" plywood.[however there are many ways to skin this cat besides plywood alone].
I note the above example since it is how we built a number of ceiling/shelf operations in spare bedrooms, condos ,etc, back in the early-mid 1990s. THe 3/4" plywood is strong enough to span 32" o.c. supports and in the 4'x4' corners enable strong cantlever ability extended out over supports and allow wide curves if desired[when MTH isssued the Challenger in the mid '90s most everyone wanted 072 minimum corner curves].
One of the guys had pencil sketches of how we built it in a typical 12x14 room---I don't know if I kept a copy or not---I will check later.[we often "tunneled" through the top of closets that did not have load-bearing walls].
Typically, in a corner, we made an 072 curve cut in the corner face from the 11-3/4" point to 11-3/4" point where the straights ended---enabling the owner to properly space and select at least one of his curve arcs up to 090 if desired. Most everyone used flex track for the corner curves.
Decorative wooden brackets shown in photo below, reinforced and supporting a triple track shelf---9' above floor level--tracks "stepped".
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This is fantastic stuff guys, appreciate the info. and direction...lots of resources.
I will keep you posted on the project.
best,
Marv Aardahl
Hi Marv,
Depends on the age of the grandson. My grandson is 2 1/4 and tactile sensing is important. Thomas, Clarabel and Annie get handled as much as they perform useful tasks. So, for now, the layout needs to be low. He also likes to test the circuit breakers with derailments.
If they are older, the shelf approach sounds good. I still think chair rail height would good. They still want to handle the trains, open box car doors, peer into passenger cars, etc.
