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H.M. DOCKYARD 2

Hi there blog buddies,

This week has been productive for me as I was super keen to get on and finish the legs of the of the layout so I can get the whole thing up and all bolted together. The main 6 foot section has to take quite a bit of weight as I intend to eventually extend the front, rear and sides of the scenic parts of the layout to create an area for a small dockyard town and the actual dockyard itself at the front which is the reason for the whole layout. 

The layout will be curved across the front and back and will be set within a frame creating something similar to a theatre set where lighting and sound will be fully controlled and the layout will be viewed through opening at the front. So like I said before, the main framed middle section will have to take the brunt of the weight and requires to be solid and ridged.

The legs have a brace across the bottom to stop the legs splaying outwards and two side braces to stop the layout swaying from side to side. As can be seen from the images, I have fashioned a plate at the bottom of the legs that the two foot section legs braces will be bolted onto.

 




Where the two leg braces meet in the middle they are bolted to two 3/4” x 2 1/2” pieces of wood sandwiched between the box plywood.  The two foot ends of the layout are piggybacked onto the centre 6 foot section as seen in the image. Again, I use braces to stop any lateral movement of the 2 foot sections.  I also use a small horizontal brace to stop the ends splaying.

 

So there we have it, the completed baseboards and legs. I’m not the best joiner in the world but I think I have built a fairly strong and stable platform for whatever comes next. I now have to go out and purchase all the track and points or switches as they are called in North America but being a Scotsman living now in Canada I think I will stick to what I know and points it is.

Thanks for joining me in my rambles.

The thought for the day is:

 “In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.”

Now off to have a wine.

Thanks,

Calum 3DK