What's on my work bench

[Lewis HoldenKeymaster]

I’ve been working on getting NZ120.org back up and running, finally had some time to get back into my shed and working on the NZ120 modules today. Got a fair amount done, here’s a two pics of the modules as they currently are. As you can see I’ve used 5mm plywood as the fascia on these modules, and XPS as the base (a change from the original use of plywood for the baseboard and 5mm MDF for the fascia. I’ve discovered MDF seems to attract mould like anything and have started cutting up and getting rid of what I’ve got.

Next step is cutting the 5mm plywood into backscene boards, which will be removeable.

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[Lewis HoldenKeymaster]

Backscene boards have been added this week. My eventual goal is to be able to display the layout at shows so I’ll need decent backscenes. Luckily I had enough 5mm plywood to cut into the right-sized sheets. I’ll take them off for now (next step is tracklaying, yay!) and come back to them when the rest of the layout is good to go, but at least I’ve got the boards cut to the right sizes etc.

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[ECMTParticipant]

Nice work. I had an idea to use 3mm MDF for back scene boards – maybe MDF in your train room/shed may be more susceptible to mould than inside a house.

[Lewis HoldenKeymaster]

Yeah I think you’re right, the shed is damp compared to where I had my model railway stuff stored previously (in the garage) so mould will inevitably grow I guess.

[beakaboyParticipant]

I have issues with mould in my shed as well. Can usually smell it during the winter when you walk in and it coats the MDF in a white mould. Have wiped the sheets down in the summer and it seems to help, but I will be using hardboard as back drop material as I got free supplies of it prepainted.

[Lewis HoldenKeymaster]

I’ve now got the loop running. Unfortunately, there’s a bit more work required getting the ends to line up perfectly, the issue appears to be that even though the track is cut from the same pieces, all sorts of fun things (e.g. twisting, warping and bending) occur to the tracks which puts it out of line with the other module ends. Nevermind – I have two locos (DX and a Conrail SD40-2) that can do the full loop no worries.

One issue I have uncovered though is that the Atlas Code 55 points / turnouts aren’t spring like Peco turnouts are, and so the switch blades actually move around a bit. This is very frustrating as the SD40-2 can’t go through one set of points without them switching themselves and sending the loco in two different directions.

[Lewis HoldenKeymaster]

Happy New Year! Work continues on the layout. I’ve been working on the scenery – polystyrene built on the extruded-polystyrene base (the yellow stuff in the pictures). I acquired one of these electric foam cutting tools:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Professional-Foam-Cutter-15W-10CM-Electric-Foam-Polystyrene-Cutting-Machine-Pen-Portable-Styrofoam-Cutting-Tools/32883241361.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.23.3454424aUsEjtP&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10065_10068_10547_319_10059_10884_317_10548_10887_10696_100031_321_322_10084_453_454_10083_10103_10618_431_10307_537_536,searchweb201603_52,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=56a3d58c-e093-4fa0-a52a-aaf6229cc9b8-3&algo_pvid=56a3d58c-e093-4fa0-a52a-aaf6229cc9b8&transAbTest=ae803_4

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[TrackgangParticipant]

Nice bit of progress there Lewis. The scenes are starting to take shape nicely.

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