FSIJ - 16mm narrow gauge

[Greengiant]

I have started working again on a layout build that has been asleep for a few years, not helped by the Covid interlude! It is taking up space in the workshop which I need for another project! With an offer of a permanent housing for the layout when complete to be on display, it is this that has kicked me into action.
It will take me a while to get the thread up to speed, but if you can bear with me over the next few days I will do my best.

It will chart the concept, execution and evolution of the layout over a period of four years. I hope it will be of interest to see the thought processes and development as we as a small team went along with the build. Apologies if you have already seen it on another forum.

Here we go, back in early 2015...

What?
16mm to the foot (1/19th), fine scale model railway.

Who?
Three people (later to become four), narrow gauge enthusiasts, modellers, railway volunteers, all wanting to do something a little differently to the norm, bringing skills of draughtsmanship, engineering and art to the melting pot and hopefully coming out with something worthwhile at the end.

Why?
All three of us have 16mm live steam locos and enjoy the whole garden railway community. We are all modellers in 7mm scale, both narrow and standard gauge, the benefit of which has enabled us to exhibit our work at many exhibitions, an activity we enjoy. All three of us are regular volunteers on the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway, giving us superb access to a whole array of narrow gauge railway items.
Our aim is to produce a finescale model railway in 16mm scale, scratch building virtually everything, using which ever production method is suitable, exploring laser/digital cutting, 3D printing, CNC milling, DCC control with sound.

The model
Will be a true scale representation of Stony Shaw station and approaches on the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway, time stamp will be the first Sunday in June (hence FSIJ). Here will be documented the Warts-n-all process we go through in hopefully achieving our aim.

The beginning
Each Monday evening we met up and developed our ideas, some of which culminate in some test building to prove or visualise concepts. Between meetings there are projects we work on in readiness for the next meet up. Having a regular commitment should enable the project to keep momentum and progress at a regular rate. A timeline has been created to cover baseboard, track, scenery, signalling, stock and wiring, enabling parallel production to take place and give us targets to achieve.

The layout will be approximately 25 feet long plus a traverser fiddle yard, with the minimum number of bolts, if any, holding it together to allow quick assembly and take down for exhibition use.

To get going a site survey was made with a lot of measuring taking place.





Planning
This is the original concept sketch that started off the whole project.



The desire to produce a layout that gets away from the matt black front profile edge that is seen so many times at exhibitions. To find an alternative to the obligatory hanging curtain fixed to the lower edge of baseboards. Perhaps the inclusion of mood lighting to add variety to the presentation of the layout. I see many beautifully modelled layouts let down but ‘after thought’ presentation, a real shame. I strongly believe layouts should be designed as a complete package, to show them off at their best. There are some very imaginatively presented layouts out there, they draw you to them, encouraging you to take a look.

To this end, we have designed out the flat baseboard edge, FSIJ is to have a completed landscaped edge, to give the impression of floating in the air.
The presentation surround to the layout is a complete contrast to the popular black by being white.

Main construction materials to be thin ply, foam and PVC. Minimum use of bolts for assembly, minimum wiring connectors.

Further sketching refined the design. We also built an initial concept model, it was enough to prove to us it was workable.



This is the very first concept model and it convinced us the project had some potential and worth developing.



The figure is a 16mm scale figure, so a scale 16mm scale model of a 16mm model!



The original idea was for a 90 degree formation, this has now changed slightly.



To help fully prove the design further a 1/25th scale model of the model was constructed using balsa, card and foam.

The support formers were cut from card to represent the thin ply, balsa was used to represent inner timber framing, this may eventually be replaced by thin foam in the real model.





Initial assembly.



Representations of the main baseboards.



A board and two supports taking shape.



Now with two of the six boards in place.



Upper and lower facias making an appearance.



To be continued ...

Martin

 

[Joe's Garage]

Now this is a very unique and modern take on a baseboard Martin, I think a pure "like" does the concept an injustice, it is brilliant! Please tell me there is no "patent" on this design as I am already "doodling"
I guess transporting the pieces may require quite a large van or is there a proposal to reduce each unit?
Bonus.....it is 16mm
Look forward to more...
Cheers
Julian

 

[Greengiant]

Now this is a very unique and modern take on a baseboard Martin, I think a pure "like" does the concept an injustice, it is brilliant! Please tell me there is no "patent" on this design as I am already "doodling"
I guess transporting the pieces may require quite a large van or is there a proposal to reduce each unit?
Bonus.....it is 16mm
Look forward to more...
Cheers
Julian

Thank you Julian,
I have a lot more to post, you will see the whole design evolving. Funnily enough it was only this week we were talking about how to get the bulk down for transport for which we have a few ideas which I think could work.
No patent on this, I will be happy for people to be inspired enough to have a go themselves, be that construction and/or relook at the whole subject of layout presentation.
When you go to an art exhibition you don't see a painting framed by some old plywood with an IKEA clip on lamp hanging above it, at least I hope not!

Martin

 

[Greengiant]

The layout will be fed by a fiddle yard, rather than hide this away, we will be making a feature of it, thereby increasing the viewing footage of the layout.
This is the initial concept sketch.



As a contrast to the layout this will be mainly of a flat panel construction, with clip together assembly. The fiddle yard itself will be a traverser, hopefully in a powered format with push button track positioning using stepper motors. Viewing will be through the upper glazed panel, the interior of the fiddle yard will be mainly white surfaces and aluminium, hopefully all of display case quality and lit appropriately to enable show visitors to see the stock close up.

The lower panel will be a static display shelf behind a glazed panel. inside at the back at low level will be a shelf to hold all electrics and tools, this will basically be a wide flat box with a lid, it will fix to the front and sides and help form the fiddle yard box structure, from this the layout will be hung.

It will be the first thing assembled at a show and the last thing disassembled, well that's the theory

A model was constructed to prove the idea.



Things moved on ...
Here you can see two out of the four front boards, one of the curved boards and the fiddle yard. We had decided to move away from a 90 degree turn and gone for something nearer 30 degrees which is more in keeping with the approaching curve into Stony Shaw.



Not being entirely happy with how the end of the layout was looking, it was back to the drawing pad to rough out an alternative approach to the overall look of the layout.



This looked far more complete in terms of feel so a new model was made.
Here it is in the early stages of mocking up.



This shows how the end board will attach to the fiddle yard.

https://flic.kr/p/2pdMBhr

We also tried out some ideas for lighting. We rather like the prospect of illuminating the lower front of the layout and to have the ability to use colour in the lighting if needed. This should also help accentuate the floating in air look.





Added some colour and buildings to the scene. The final track layout will not be parallel to the baseboard edge.



Once the layout has gone through the curve it will open up a view into the station approach.



Next up a control panel.

Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Further development with the project involves the control interface(s), although tablet and smart phone control is a definite, mimic panel was also felt necessary and to be in keeping with the project feel.

Initial thoughts were for a floating panel mounted on a fine tube from under the layout, rather like this concept sketch.



Potentially milled from aluminium, the track plan engraved on the surface with touch sensitive areas for switching of points and signals.
Investigation of the touch sensitive switching areas ruled this out on grounds of cost to develop them.

We have sourced some rather nice light touch switches, which have inbuilt illumination.



A scrap of sheet steel was used to see how they could mount for the panel.



Mulling the initial idea over the following weeks, we decided the panel at the very front interrupted the uncluttered lines of the layout, a revised version is now mounted on the side of the layout but following the curvature angle of the end board framing. The thought now is to construct the panel from white acrylic which will match the rest of the layout supporting structure. The track plan will be engraved/milled into the acrylic with maybe LED/Neon lights illuminating the route of the plan when set.



A small design touch is to link the orange of the switch into the layout name facia panel thus...



Next up will be the fiddle yard which has developed into a format we had not envisaged at the outset!

Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Fiddle yard

Our initial thought was to have a traverser fiddle yard, be that manual or powered.
When we started drawing full size plans it became obvious this would be a bit of a beast in this scale, requiring a far amount of space behind the layout to get the full travel. With this would come the leverage effect due to the weight of stock.

Thinking caps on, a fresh cup of tea and we set to work devising an alternative.

I present to you the rotisserie fiddle yard MK1

A quarter scale mock up was constructed to get a feel if this could be viable. It seems we can get a six road fiddle yard in less than the baseboard depth and fully contained within the last layout board. We have the potential for pairs of parallel exit roads at each end if required.



Here can be seen the powered end, which may be by stepper motor or some other motor currently under investigation.



It will fit quite nicely in the fiddle yard cabinet.





We are working on various ideas for track locking to ensure trouble free operation, with the intention for the rotary yard to be operated by six buttons, with electrical gizmos deciding which is the best direction to rotate to get the track in position in the shortest time, along with controlling acceleration and deceleration of the rotation.



Possibly the use of power location pins, but more likely to be powered side clamps.

Thoughts also turned to safety devices to prevent stock rolling if the boards are not entirely level, so a full size mock up was made of the current final solution to prove the concept.

We went through many complex solutions, but many cups of tea later things were greatly simplified and this could well be the solution activated by the locating clamps.

A counter balance weight pivots a bar up which only has to prevent stock rolling off the edge.
This will all be refined to the minimum required to achieve the aim.



Although pleased with the concept something was not quite right with the presentation. Further head scratching and tea drinking came up with a refinement, make the fiddle yard board the same as the layout boards rather than the cabinet affair we had at the moment.

This photo shows the issue, original design nearest camera the refined version furthest away.



Removing the original cabinet really shows how the new fiddle yard will integrate well with the overall layout design.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

We are five months into the project and while all the development was going on with the fiddle yard, thoughts turned to the track itself.
At the time I was a signalmen on the railway, at the end end of an Open Day I rigged up a rather long selfie stick and photographed the track, piece by piece. These days we would probably use a drone!



This was really only just to prove the theory would work, with a bit of perspective tweaking in Photoshop it was relatively easy to start to strip together a picture of the track.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

For the track I started experimenting with different techniques to distress and weather the sleepers than I had previously used for a lighter weight track test piece done a while back.



This is the lighter weight track test piece for a potential other project.



Lots of cutting and machining of timber has taken place to get 350+ sleepers.



Plus a few longer ones for certain parts of the points and switch lever mountings.



After a lot of this cutting you get a little bored and do daft things!



Those sleepers that did not make the grade were not wasted, they were used to test the strength of the glue we intend to use and have something to develop the painting and ballasting techniques.

Thin beads of TiteBond III was first applied to a piece of scrap ply.



Sleepers were pushed into this, weights laid on top and left overnight to dry.



Next day they were attacked with a wire brush and pleased to say they all firmly stayed put.
Then some initial colouring trials were started, these pictures are at a very early stage in the colouring process.





Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Parts are starting to arrive, baseboard alignment dowels are now here.



While we sourced some quality plywood in the various sizes we require, I had taken the opportunity to test some of the production methods for board joining/aligning on some offcuts of ply I had kicking around.

The boards are to be aligned by location dowel plates, having never been impressed by, or succeeded with, the usual suggested installation methods, thoughts turned to devising a method that should ensure perfect installation and alignment each time.

The basic problem is wood and wood drill bits, they just cannot be aligned perfectly unless you jig up and clamp the timber perfectly.
The suggested spade drill bit is not the best either, far better to use a Forstner bit.

First up I clamped two facing end boards together and drilled right through them in two places with a 25mm Forstner bit, using a pillar drill to ensure an upright hole.



This leaves a nice clean hole which is a snug sliding fit for the dowel plate. This picture shows just one of the end boards.



The problem we now have is although the alignment is spot on, there is nowhere for the dowel plate screws to affix.
Solution is to route out a space for a block, roughly 40mm x 40mm to be glued in. To do this I first took an initial light cut from the back. Easier to do it this way rather than take out the whole depth in one go.



Then to set the final depth, drop in a dowel plate which has a thin shim underneath, this then gives a reference point to set the cutter depth to, which will eventually leave a hole that will take a dowel plate that will be set slightly below the end board surface. I put a dowel with the male part in because they are such a snug fit you need to grip the spigot to get it back out!



Now it is just a case of routing out to the full depth. I dropped the dowel plate back in to check fit, this is when I found out I needed to have a shim under the dowel. Not all lost on this one because it was simple enough to put this one back on the drill and just shave off a little more on the depth, the others were done with a shim.



Then 40mm x 40mm blocks of ply were glued in to fill the hole just routed.
Not pretty but I quickly chopped these up, left them overnight to dry.



Next day it was simply a case of dropping in the female plate, drilling a clearance hole though the middle using the plate as a guide. Then the plate was removed and the hole drilled out by a drill the next size up, this gives clearance for the location spigot as it passes through the plate into the timber. Finally drop in all plates and fix in place with the screws supplied.
I am pleased to say the end boards aligned perfectly.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

The first batch of plywood arrived, which we ordered as pre cut.



One of our team carried out site a survey, plotted all the levels and track route, from this information they made a full size master end board drawing, from this I was able to mark off all the measurements for cutting and machining.



First I made a master template to guide where to drill the dowel holes and cut the front main stretcher girder slot.



Time was taken to mark at an early stage each end board with a unique number so we do not get them mixed up, this was time well spent it made the cutting work a lot easier and confident the right piece was cut the right way round.



I set them out on the bench in order just prior to numbering.



For neatness, although this will not been seen once the boards base plates are fixed on, a template was made to guide the router to cut exact size holes. To do this a full scale drawing was made, printed out and used as a template for making the template.



First stage of routing was the dowel recesses and the main back board spline slot.



A bench saw was then set up to cut the track base support points on all the end boards. In pairs using the bench saw ensured they were parallel with the end board bottom edge. You can see in the picture the dowel backing plates have been stuck in place.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Bit more activity with machining some of the plain timber parts of the baseboards ...



... and making baseboard/support locating toggles.



Using a jig and the template to drill the holes for the baseboard toggles mounting plate bolts. I used spare brass locating dowel plates to accurately locate the plywood template.



Then the holes were countersunk, just need to get the bolts now.



First stages of assembly of baseboard number one. We worked on an old kitchen worktop supported by folding leg supports. It was important to ensure our work surface was flat, the kitchen worktop had a slight sag, so we bolted a steel 6" x 2" box section underneath to ensure it was indeed flat. It is important to get everything as near perfect as possible at each stage, otherwise you can end up with no end of trouble trying to make things align properly later on.



Glueing up the front lower beam, you can never have too many clamps!



A few ribs at the front of board one now installed. The construction is more akin to aircraft wings they conventional baseboards.



Corner pockets are constructed on each board. These are for hand space while using the board joining toggles.



Inner timbers for the board supports legs were all cut and drilled in one session.



These are leg supports, they were glued up with the 3mm ply outer skins in two batches, mainly because we did not have enough clamps that are big enough to do them all at once.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

One of our aims was to avoid any use of bolts with the erection of the layout, we have spent too much time at exhibitions with various layouts doing up and undoing bolts! Made even worse when the layout builder had not standardised on bolt sizes.

Therefore we wanted to:
a) also avoid the possibility of forgetting the bolts
b) increase speed of put up and take down

The rear cross braces for the legs are steel strip, held to the boards with these toggles, very similar to what can be found holding up trailer and pick-up sides and end doors.



The first problem we came across was the hole required in the strip to clear the toggle element was obviously larger than the toggle support screwed into the legs. This resulted in a slightly sloppy fit, which basically worked but we wanted something that was rock solid.

The solution was to turn some collars, which as you can see in the photo above gives a very snug fit for the bracing strip. The collars are deep enough to accommodate two layers of bracing strip, we machined a chamfered edge to aid guiding on the bracing strips.





This is the first time we tested the theory, the clamp is there purely to see how rigid it ultimately could be and because at this point the front bracing strips had not been thought about or indeed considered.



To test further we tried out a number of legs, at this point it became apparent the addition a front brace would be preferable, although not necessary when the baseboards are attached. But it does mean we can assemble all the legs and move them as a whole should that be needed while sighting the layout at a show. We have all been there, erected the layout and the organiser comes along and says can you move a few feet left!



We came up with a whole range of wonderful solutions for the front brace, but many cups of tea later we revised it down to a strip of steel and a screw. So front braces were fabricated from the same steel stock and suitable locating holes machined out. These are now simply dropped in place on the screws.



The bracing strips have a dual purpose, when not bracing the layout they are clipped together and form trolly handles for the sandwiched together baseboard legs, which with the simple addition of a plate and trolley wheels mean no lifting required.

Here you can see the first two boards assembled and tested on the legs. Also in this view the early stages of sorting the curved under frame can be seen, giving a good view of the floating edge baseboard.



Martin

 

[Dog Star]

This is an excellent description of design and construction for your boards. Thank you.

 

[Greengiant]

Marking out the track on the first few baseboards.





Many clamps make light work, here glueing the blocks for the over latch clips on board 3.



Board 4 is now beginning to take shape.







Boards 3 and 4 progressing, slower than I would have liked, the drop in temperature has certainly slowed down the glue setting time and the thought of bringing it indoors to dry in the dining room did not meet with approval!



Being warmer indoors the task of making up point templates to aid track positioning was undertaken. To give an idea how big these are I placed a OO tank loco on the template.



The next session consisted of erecting four boards, 1,2, 3 and 4, this gave us the opportunity to plot the track routes through boards 3 and 4 so the track subbed can be constructed and the boards finalised as far as the timber work is concerned.

We were extremely pleased at how quick the supporting leg work assembled and the accuracy to which the boards aligned and clipped together without any adjustment being required. Board 3 is the one where the main line falls away so a gradient is introduced which carries on through boards 4 and 5, where it will level out before board 6 from where it will enter the fiddleyard.

View from board 1 end.

https://flic.kr/p/2pemkQJ

View from board 4 end.
The trackbed on the right of board 4 is not the correct piece, it was a temporary board to support the ruling strip we were using at the time, the actual board angles more to right to where the goods shed will be located and stops short of board 5.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Boards five of six now have their basic elements assembled. This is board five, clearly showing bracing channel towards the front edge.



This is the underside of two of the boards showing the channel that runs the entire length at the front of the boards.
The well in the furthest board is for access to the underside of where the points will be, when complete a removable panel will be fitted here.
The small hole on the left is a hand hole giving access to the baseboard joining clip.



This photo shows boards three, four, five and six. We are plotting the curve of the main line so that board six can be constructed. I knew those venetian blind slats would come in useful one day!



This shows the changing track levels on boards three and four. Goods yard to the left, main line on the right.



Here we are mocking up positioning for the facia and thinking about the supports for this and the height.



The first prototype facia supports tested.



With these in place, LED light panels were trialed as a potential light source, early impressions are very encouraging.



Martin

 

[Joe's Garage]

Very interesting description on the baseboard construction Martin, thanks.
I am also I intrigued as to what rail you are going to use, did I miss this? The sleepers look very realistic.
Cheers
Julian

 

[Greengiant]

Very interesting description on the baseboard construction Martin, thanks.
I am also I intrigued as to what rail you are going to use, did I miss this? The sleepers look very realistic.
Cheers
Julian

Thank you.
Track update not covered yet, it will be along soon.
Martin

 

[Greengiant]

We are now in April 2017.
With the fine weather of late it was opportune to connect up all the scenic boards and parts there of to get a feel for the size of the layout.
In the pictures below, the ruler laid on the boards is a one foot rule and placed roughly where the end of Stony Shaw platform and foot crossing will be. Yet to be added is the eight foot of baseboard for the RotaYard at the far end of the layout.



The rear shelf recess at the back is where all the point motors and electrics will be housed. No more crawling under baseboards if there is a problem at shows for us any more, done that too many times!





Track bed on board five is now installed.



Construction of board six, the final scenic board has started. The end panel is roughed out, we have not decided on the final profile yet. The triangle of plywood is a temporary brace as the board is built.
Clamped while the glue dries are the side supports for the front beam. Once dry, the base will be cut out and a top fitted.



Despite all the planning, sometimes one of these comes in very useful during construction!



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

Now the scenic boards are well underway, attention has been paid to the RotaYard.
This is one of the early concept models.



A CAD model has been worked up to prove the functionality of the concept. There are six stock Gondolas, the system has been designed to cope with all six full up with stock.



One gondola in isolation, the red block represents one full length train.



One of the Gondola support brackets.



A fully loaded RotaYard.



Martin

 

[Greengiant]

CAD of the RotaYard main support frame.





This has now been welded up and ready to be used as a guide when building the plywood baseboards in which it will sit.



The RotaYard gondola supports are out being CNC'd at the moment. Plywood for the RotaYard support baseboards has been machined and now awaits assembly.

Martin