Mianne benchwork???

Thanks guys!

Eddie, Here's the plan I drew:

The white post (part of the railing around the stairwell) in the last photo is next to the wall (black long box on lower 1/3 of drawing).  I have a "tunnel" going thru the 6" thick wall and the track will be on a 10" wide shelf just at the top of the stairs, which just clears the small (27"x36") landing at the top. Tim made some short legs for me to fasten to the wall, but I don't know if I can use them, I may have to make something.

I estimate the mainline run will be .6-.7 scale miles long.  The old layout (lower 1/3 of room where the black long box wall is located) was 1/3 scale mile with a duckunder at that white post .  I would take out the top portion of the wall (down to the level of the layout), but there's really no need.

I really enjoyed assembling the Mianne frame, no dust no muss.  The most difficult part was interpreting how the 45 degree pieces attached to the corners, but once done the others were a breeze.

Looks great! I am glad you like it!! I really thought you would. You have a bit larger layout than I do and it's a bit different, but it looks like things really came out nicely for you. Looks like furniture in your space. I think you will like it even more once you start adding things for your layout. You might just find some nice built in features that can be used for other things that you will think of as you go about building. I am still a big Mianne fan too...Really nice stuff!  Please keep us posted of your progress, with lots of pictures included!! And good luck too!

I just hope I don’t let myself down by putting scenery on top that detracts from that nice wood work!

Got the plywood yesterday and put the last piece in place an hour ago, 9 sheets to cover the entire layout.

I'm glad I did it now instead of waiting another couple of years, I'm getting too old to be lugging plywood up the stairs.  I wanted to lay it on top and mark it, then turn it over on a table I have to cut it with a jigsaw.  Fortunately my dad rebuilt my stairway when we moved in so I'm able to get a full 4x8 sheet upstairs.  I did make the railing so it would unbolt, just had to unbolt 1 post and 1 top rail to get the plywood in.

I did all the carrying myself, not something I'd recommend if you're over 60yrs old (I'm 66).

Now I need to crawl underneath and attach the plywood to the frame, not looking forward to that either.

After that I'll cut some of the rubber roadbed (from the rolls of anti-fatigue mat from Lowes) I have and start drawing the plan on the top.  I've already put some track down just to make sure the Signature Switch #6 turnouts and the Atlas 49.5" radius track fit like I wanted, looks like I have a couple of inches in width more than I thought (I used the old Atlas track plan program with only an Atlas track library).

Once I cut the roadbed I may spray some of that textured paint on it to see what it looks like, don't want to use ballast, just negates what I'm trying to do with the rubber mat (found that out on my old layout).

Man I'm sore

Bob; I empathize with you. I built my las benchwork 9years ago. I am now 81. We just have to pace ourselves. And I used OSB which is even heavier, but I like unidirectional stability compared to plywood; I laid generic homasote on top. Works great in soun deadening with tubular track.

Wally

Wally, if it wasn't so much fun putting this Mianne stuff together it would be easy to slow down.

I got all the plywood cut and fastened down, just a few more spots I want to add fasteners to.

The one area I need to take my time with is the trackwork at the very top of the stairway.  It's narrow so it's crucial I get it right.

Here's some photos of my progress so far.  I have 2/3 of the mainline down now, had to order more track!!!

I used 15/32" plywood from Lowes.  The roadbed is 3/8" thick rubber anti-fatigue matting cut into 3" strips 5 ft. long then beveled 45 degrees on my bandsaw, the matting also came from Lowes.

I'm using Micro-Engineering and Atlas code 148 track, along with Signature Switch and handbuilt #6 code 148 turnouts.  So far, every piece of my rolling stock and engines (all with 3-rail wheels still on) has rolled fine on the code 148 rail.  I stapled the matting about every foot, then drilled holes and used 4" zip ties to hold the track in place about every foot also, but loose enough to make adjustments and not deform the plastic ties.

The rubber matting keeps down the noise, IF I ballast it'll be on the outside of the track but I'd rather have it quiet without the ballast.

I'm still in need of 9-10 #6 turnouts, not sure if I'm going to build them or buy more from Brad at Signature Switch, he makes an excellent product.

I've run engines back and forth on what mainline I have down and so far all is fine.

I need to decide if I want to use Caboose Industry ground throws or power the turnouts, maybe both.

Also need to decide if I want to cut individual strips of matting for the yard or lay down one big sheet, most yards I've seen are flat and don't have a sloped shoulder between tracks.  If flat I need to buy 3 more rolls of matting, that ought to make it just about sound proof!  About the only sound I can hear now is the wheels on the track, I don't detect any sound coming thru to the plywood.

I think you may have mice, you might want to check into that.

Lookin' good so far, I can't wait to get started on mine!

John,

I should have (and may still) take part of that wall down.  There's a stud right behind that black line on the drywall and a stud on the sloped wall.  All my stuff rolls thru without hitting, but a couple of them are close.  Thankfully all the Mianne bench work can be taken apart.

Guess I won't be buying any Hi-Cubes any time soon

I'm just waiting for one of the cats to try squeezing thru the tunnel!

I HAVE A LOOP!!  Several more photos going round the room

The 8' long section from the oil company to the "tunnel" will most likely be made into a bridge of some sort.

With my BPRC throttle set at 65%, it takes 1 minute for a train to make the loop.  I think I measured it at over 4,000 scale feet long which works out to 73mph, need to slow that freight down!!!  The throttle set a 50% is very appealing to the eye, makes for a nice pace.

The mainline is in place, along with the sidings.  All I have left is to get/make 9 more turnouts so I can finish the yard.

I'm going to play around with what I have so far to see how I like it.  I swapped where I had my small downtown/team track with where I had the oil company.

Four-thousand scale feet in 60 seconds is a rate of 66.67 feet-per-second which equates to about 45.5 miles-per-hour.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Four-thousand scale feet in 60 seconds is a rate of 66.67 feet-per-second which equates to about 45.5 miles-per-hour.

MELGAR

I better let them know the app I just downloaded to calculate this is faulty 

DOH!  I didn’t see that the default reading was in km/h.  Once I switched it over it reads 45.455 mph, thanks MELGAR!

Looking good!! I am wishing I would have overlapped the top on my Mianne benchwork as you have on yours. Little extra 'free' top area and I think it looks nice too. I still plan to add on someday, so that's a good time to make some alterations. Grandson pointed that out to me a couple years ago too, he likes to run the cars and trucks around the layout in that space and I have it crowed up with switch operators and uncoupling track buttons.

MELGAR posted:

Four-thousand scale feet in 60 seconds is a rate of 66.67 feet-per-second which equates to about 45.5 miles-per-hour.

MELGAR

Do you have a formula for calculation the scale speed that you could post? I have a couple around here somewhere, but I don't think either one is correct? I have a small program that calculates it that I think is correct, but my calculations from the formulas I have seldom match the program's. I am going to do some fiddling with Arduinos and want to try and calculate speed correctly.

Here's one I found while searching for an app for my Ipad

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/...bers/dst/revision/1/

At this point in my life I'd just as soon let the computer do it as me try to remember the formula.

That's better than anything I found, thanks for the link!

I was fiddling with an Arduino a while back and want to resume the fiddling one of these days. Otherwise, I just use the program I have to figure these things.

Laid all the track and turnouts I have, so I'm kinda at a standstill until I get more of the same.  Might put some paint on the plywood in the mean time.

I did add some 3/4" corner molding around the edges of the layout, splinters hurt!!!

Here's a crappy 30 second video I made of my BPRC'd Williams J611 running around, I really need to take a lesson or two on how to make a video

The area you see will become the yard, it's almost the length of that entire side of the room!!!

I painted some of the bare plywood surfaces today and thought...Well, the last video didn't work so I'll try again but using Youtube, this time with my Atlas F3 pulling freight:

https://youtu.be/9Dub0f4Ogdg

https://youtu.be/d5wMOfWPlzU

https://youtu.be/Nzi-6kn4SVY

The periodic buzz and hesitation must be from me using a Nikon Coolpix, sorry.

rtr12 posted:

Do you have a formula for calculation the scale speed that you could post? I have a couple around here somewhere, but I don't think either one is correct? I have a small program that calculates it that I think is correct, but my calculations from the formulas I have seldom match the program's. I am going to do some fiddling with Arduinos and want to try and calculate speed correctly.

Determine the number of inches of track the model train travels. Divide by the number of seconds required to travel that distance. Multiply by 2.727 to get the speed in miles-per-hour.

Or, if you prefer, determine the number of feet of track the model train travels. Divide by the time in seconds. Multiply by 32.727 to get the speed in miles-per-hour.

MELGAR

Thanks Melgar. That looks to be a different formula than any I have so far. I'll give it a try and see what happens. I have not yet studied the stuff from Bob's link above though. That was interesting too, but needs further thought on my part. 

Still waiting on several turnouts from Signature Switch, but I’ve been running the mainline to see how my track laying skills are doing.  So far so good.

 I’m always curious about noise so I cranked up the app I have on my IPad.

I ran one of my Williams/Samhongsa brass USRA Mikados around pulling 8 cars and caboose:

The low was 54.6 decibels and the hi was 64.6.  The distance is .7 miles and the time  was 1m 43s for a speed of 25mph.

(and that was with a LG portable AC running)

 I figure 25-45mph is about as fast as I’ll ever run my freight, so the noise is acceptable to me.

I’ll check it again once all the track is in place.

 I found I can run rolling stock with either 2-Rail or 3-Rail wheels on the code 148 track, another good thing!

Bob, are you saying there is an app for the Ipad that measures dB? If so can you share the name?

Thanks, Steve

Steve,

Yep, it's called Decibel X or dBx.  Don't know how accurate it is but I find it worthy for my purposes.

The version I have is free, but you can upgrade.

Thanks Bob, I'm going to try it. I wouldn't expect it to compete with a precision instrument, but ball park numbers are close enough for comparison results.

I have moved things around a bit on the layout, swapped the downtown out in order to use that large area for a paper mill.

Here's a photo of a large building I made when my layout was in my garage:

It's been out in the garage for maybe 10 years and the paper "bricks" have come off the styrene siding.

I found a place online that had brick patterns I could copy and print out and I did so on some cardstock.  I sprayed the cardstock with some clear to seal it, but I can't figure out what to use to glue them onto the styrene, any ideas???

Also, when I cleaned the thing off with water the windows (black frame) came off so I need to do new windows.

The openings are 1-1/4"x1-3/4".  I can't recall but I think I drew them (by hand) onto a piece of clear styrene and cut them out to glue in place.  Anyone know if there's a program that I can use to draw them againor some commercial windows that will fit the openings?

While I'm waiting for my switches to come in, I decided to redo the "brick" on that 8x8x33 building, here's the result:

The brick pattern is much better than before.  I printed it on some cardstock, sprayed some clear flat, then cut it to fit and glued down using Elmers Rubber Cement.  I need to touch up a couple of spots where I scratched the green paint but I'm pleased that it looks so much better than before.  Still not sure what I want to do with the windows but that can be done any time.  I downloaded the brick pattern from a place in the UK called Paperbrick, they had a variety of types and sizes.

This building will become the paper mill building where paper is pressed out of pulp and into large rolls of finished paper.

I can't do anything much until I get the turnouts to complete the yard, which has moved/shortened a bit from my original plan.

Wow, almost 3 months since I last posted.  I've been waiting on my Signature Switches to arrive (and plinking away at the shooting range) but they have all come in.

I've got all my track down and now I'm running trains to see how it all performs, hopefully I won't have to redo any track.  The Signature Switch switches/turnouts are wonderful, the 7 I built are so-so but functional (as of today).  Brad makes a fine product!

I've got buildings placed on the layout but I don't plan on doing any scenery until I'm satisfied with the track and where I have the industries located, things have already changed drastically and could change again.

Here's a few photos of what I have so far:

I may add a couple more tracks in the yard before it's over.  It seems like I have a few large, open areas on the entire layout, not sure if I'll fill them or leave some space to make things appear more distant.  I want to add a couple more buildings/structures to the mill/lumber yard (where the yellow cab truck is located in the 3rd from last photo), not sure what I'm even looking for at the moment.

I've run a couple of small operating sessions and things seem to be working as I had hoped.  I could spend a couple of hours just fiddling in the yard with the SAL 0-6-0 USRA switcher seen in the photo with all the cabeese.

So far no wires to the layout (BPRC) but I may re-connect the motor to the turntable.  My hands have really been bothering me the past several months and it's hard to turn the crank on the TT.  There's also a few turnout throws that are almost beyond my reach, they may get electrified or I may use under the top pull cables.

I need to get to work on designing a charging station for the engines batteries.  Right now I have to remove an engine from the layout and place it on my workbench to charge.  Here's a "charging column" I drew a while back, just haven't pursued it lately:

The wire with the jack would be wound around the spring-loaded wheel and would be pulled out and plugged into the plug on the engine/tender.

Bob Delbridge posted:

I need to get to work on designing a charging station for the engines batteries.  Right now I have to remove an engine from the layout and place it on my workbench to charge.  Here's a "charging column" I drew a while back, just haven't pursued it lately:

The wire with the jack would be wound around the spring-loaded wheel and would be pulled out and plugged into the plug on the engine/tender.

That project would make a nice how-to article for the magazine, Bob. Just document it with diagrams and photos and send it in when you do it. Will get you a couple of hundred bucks for just documenting, step-by-step, what you are doing.

Thanks Allan, I'll keep it in mind!