Building a light weight sky board

The original sky board had been made from the same 1/2 inch cabinet grade plywood as the module frame and deck.  Building a new sky board from 1/4 inch plywood would take some weight out.  I added a second layer of 1/4 inch plywood around the top and sides to strengthen it.  

Here is a view of the rear of the sky board with some notes on it's construction.  For the front I plan to use a nice forest scene backdrop that was given to me and will fit in well with the modeled scene.


I also added a place to install a Digitrax UP5 panel and framed the spot with 3/4 inch wide strips of the same 1/4 inch plywood .  The frame will help protect the panel in storage and transport.  I did not use any nails on the sky board, just glued with Elmer's wood glue and clamped until it was set.

Sealing the module bottom

After drilling the holes in the module deck to remove some of the weight, I put a coat paint on the bottom of the module to seal all of the hole edges and all the other scars left from the wiring and other things that had been installed there in it's previous life.

I used some left over pale yellow paint from a kitchen paint job a few years ago.  I have found that I like to use light colors in this application because it makes it easier to find things when trouble shooting a problem when the module is set up.

Notice in this photo some other holes besides the ones I mentioned in my last post.  The long narrow holes on the deck were where I had some uncoupling magnets installed on the old module setup.  And the ones on the back frame, in the bottom part of the photo are from the Digitrax UP3 panel I had also used in the old setup and another smaller one that I just added for a Digitrax UP5 panel that I will use in this time.

Lightening the load

This is the point where I want to take some of the weight out of the module itself.  The deck and frame are made of sturdy 1/2 inch cabinet grade plywood and because I plan to place foam insulation board over most of the surface, I can remove some of the deck where it will be covered.

This photo shows the holes I made.  The black horizontal lines show where the tracks will be and those areas were left solid.




In case you were wondering what a hole saw is, it is a round device that fits into an electric drill motor with saw teeth along the leading edge that cut a nice circular hole.  There is a 1/4 inch drill that guides the alignment of the larger saw blade.  After cutting about halfway through on one side, I switched to the reverse side to finish the hole.  The drill bit will have made a hole all the way through that will insure the cuts on each side will line up.

This photo shows a set of hole saw blades along with the drill motor and the wood disks that were removed from the module.

Because of the density of this wood those disks represent about 3 pounds.

New beginning for an old module

In the previous post I mentioned cleaning off the old module.  Here is a view of the top of the module with the sky board removed.  All of the track, roadbed, buildings, and scenery have been stripped off and anything that could be salvaged set aside for re-use or to sell.  When I first started this module almost 20 years ago I had sprayed a good coat of clear urethane on the top to seal it to stabilize the wood.  I think this also makes it easier to remove scenery materials later without damaging the wood.

The front of the old module was at the top of the photo, some marks can be seen from the tracks and the bridge abutments at the edges of the river.  I plan to turn it around for this project and use the bottom of the photo as the front of the module.  Many small holes can be seen and those were from turnout machine linkages, and uncoupling magnets.

A new chapter begins

Things have been slow on the Musashi-Koyama modules over the past few months.  I also have had Ntrak modules for about 20 years and have noticed that I seem to be more motivated to work on a module when I know I have a show coming up.  The AsiaNrail layout, and the Musashi-Koyama modules have not been displayed since July 2011.

I mentioned that I also have some Ntrak modules.  Specifically I have a pair of 2 x 4 ft modules that I have had since 1992.  These were heavy modules that were very well built with cabinet grade plywood and I had loaded up over the years with motors, power supplies, and other hardware.  They were always used as a pair and had gotten increasing difficult for me to set up, particularly at home to do work on them.  They were also paired up for transport and storage and in that configuration were almost 100 pounds.  Having had a favorable experience of working with the light weight module design of the Musashi-Koyama modules over the past couple of years, I realized I needed to make a change my Ntrak modules.

I had considered selling the original Ntrak modules and starting from scratch but decided instead to rebuild them and this began on one of the two modules in September of 2011 and it was ready for it's first layout in April of 2012.  Here are the basic changes I made to this module.

• Made many 2 inch and 3 inch holes with a hole saw on the 1/2 inch deck and rear frame to remove weight.  Section under tracks was left solid.
• Replaced 1/2 inch sky board with new 1/4 inch sky board with 1/4 thick frame for added stability.
• Added mountain division track and used foam board to build up area and cover all the areas of the deck that the holes had been made in.
• Built new leg system based upon the design used on the Musashi-Koyama modules.  Material from the old sky board was used for the legs.
• Any needed power supplies would be separate and would hang on the leg system after setup.
• Built lightweight cover for storage & transport similar to those built for Musashi-Koyama modules.
• Designed to be used as a single 4 ft module.

I tell this story because the second re-built Ntrak module is going to be a Japanese themed scene and will provide a junction between AsiaNrail and Ntrak mountain division and will follow all of the design elements listed above.  This process is just beginning now with the cleaning off of everything that was on the old module.  In the months ahead I will be posting on the progress of this new project as well as the continued progress of the Musashi-Koyama modules.

Summertime distractions

For most of us, even us Californians, our model building time during the summer months is impacted by doing the things that we can only do in the summer.  For my wife and I, one of those things is getting in a few camping trips.  Northern California offers many great places to camp and one of our favorites is the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Recently we visited the Feather River Canyon near the town of Clio, home of the Clio Trestle on the Union Pacific line that was once known as Western Pacific's "Feather River Route".

Here's the view from under the Clio Trestle, about half a mile from where we were camped.  Standing under it was a little creepy to hear the occasional "pop" sounds as the steel heated up in the morning sun after a 45 degree low at night.




No train passed over the trestle while we were right there, but of course as soon as we got back to camp  one did.  We could hear about 6 to 8 trains go by each day we were there and from our campsite we could see a bit of the trains between the trees and at night the headlights of the engines.

We were only about 15 miles from the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola.  It had been 10 years since I had been there so I sent a good part of one day there.  One of the great things about this museum is that they let you climb into just about everything.



As I was there on a week day, they did not have anything running but on the weekends they to have excursions.   It's well worth a visit.

My new favorite adhesive

As I had written in the blog posting You can never have too many people I had been using Wathers Goo for attaching N scale figures to the modules.   It was suggested that I try a product called "E6000" which is available from a specialty plastics store in my area.

As you can see from the photo of the tube on the left, I have been using it for attaching more than people.    It is clear, sets up in just a few minutes, and then cures in about 12 hours.   It holds firm for as long as you want, but can still be removed without damage.




So far  some of the applications I've found for E6000 where I had previously used Goo are securing decoders and wires on DCC installations, attaching vehicles and other details to the modules, and securing headlight lenses inside locomotive shells.

In this application I had removed the stock ties from a section of Atlas code 80 flex track and used the E6000 adhesive to attach the rail to the bridge ties that came with a Walthers bridge kit.

And it works great on N scale people too.

I bought the E6000 adhesive at Tap Plastics.  They are not a large chain and are only on the west coast but they will do mail order of it to the United States and Canada.