The benchwork is built for the Model Railroader staff’s N scale Red Oak project. Next comes the tricky task of transferring the track plan to the foam tabletop. Get some tips from Model Railroader Video Plus producer David Popp, including a look at the layout’s styrene backdrop and the wiring channel around the tabletop.
Building the 3 x 7 Red Oak model railroad episode 2
By Angela Cotey | December 19, 2014
| Last updated on November 23, 2020
Transferring the track plan to the benchwork on this N scale model train layout
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good tips from David at Video Plus I have the same situation I need to store my sections and not have wires under it.
Did you use a hot knife to cut the channel for the styrene? Also, would 16" be too tall for your backdrop? (I believe you said yours was 14" tall.)
I bought a 4×8 sheet of styrene at a plastics dealer and as David wrote can be rolled up. The dealer rolled it up into a roll about 10 inches aross and 4feet long. Easy to haul in car.
Jeremy, it's the Olympia Logging layout, an On30 layout. It's a series for MRVP subscribers.
What's the covered layout in the background?
Peter, What am doing is glueing the top sheet to the bottom sheet first. Then making the cut through both pieces together with a jig saw, glueing the main portion down followed by the divider and staging portion of the layout. Notice that the lower sheet in the right front corner is now the surface of the layout after the top is cut away. I took that as meaning the lower piece in the right corner was sliced away and slid to fill the corner of the door (remember the lower piece is 1" smaller on all edges.)
Love the Red Oak layout and am going to try to build it, though, slightly modified. I still have questions about the slot for the vertical backdrop. Cutting the top sheet of foam seems simple, as it's not attached yet and the rear portion can be slid snug against the styrene. However, how do you cut an accurate slot to fit tightly in the bottom sheet, since it is already "glued" to the door? Any help would be appreciated, as this will be my first attempt to build any layout.
Peter Sparaco.
Re: N Scale 3×7 Red Oak, IA Project.
I have used a yardstick since my first layout in the 1970s. However, as i'm not real versed at math, I located my pivot point (I use a round head-screw that did not get a slot at the factory) as my pivot "awl". I also make tangent about 1/4-5/16" outside the located curve arch for a transition curve. I allow about 5-7" each direction from the "meet" point for the transition itself. One other thing I've done over the years is one inch long (by about 1/4" wide) pieces of card stock (from Atlas truck-coupler packages) placed under the outside of the tie end (shiny side up), but not beyond the rail, of the flex track for "banking" (super-elevation) on the curve itself.
I'm a geezer from the old school (hard-shell on 1/2" plywood), but may try the notch idea for hiding track, now that I'm facing the "downsizing" part of my life. I'm also looking forward to learning how to work with insulation board as the Red Oak Route project continues.
Daniel Seward
Morongo Valley, CA.
Sign maker's suppliers (wholesalers/warehouses) are excellent sources of large sheets of styrene and other plastic sheet goods. Many are 4' X 8' and can be cut down with power or even hand tools. Some suppliers might even custom cut the sheet goods to your specifications.
I am lucky as I have a national supplier with a regional office here in Louisville…N. Glantz & Son…and they even deliver.
https://www.nglantz.com/SP/Find-a-Branch
Just check with a sign maker in your neighborhood to find out where they buy their stuff.
Two things: First: A good source of cheap hollow core doors is your local salvage dealer. Habitat for Humanity runs several under the name "Restore", that I have found very cheap. I bought a door the size used for this layout for $7 (U.S.). The local box store want $30 for a new one. A few minor dings do not matter as long as the basic structure of the door is okay. Check their website for the store nearest you.
http://www.habitat.org/restores
Second: If anyone is scared off by the carpentry needed for the benchwork David builds for supporting the door, don't give up! Two alternatives are (A) placing the layout on a folding table as David Popp did with his first Naugatuck layout. See the article in the January 2003 issue of MR, or (B) Attaching fold legs to the bottom of the door as Lou Sassi did with the "N Scale Mohawk Division" in December 1993 issue of MR.
This is great! What is the height of the layout? And what was the width of the styrene?
Hi gang,
Just a couple of quick answers to your questions today:
Layout height: for the Red Oak layout, the track is 46-1/2" above the floor. You can make the layout any height you choose. Since I work on them a lot, I tend to make them rather tall – which also works well for video and photography.
Yardstick marks: Thomas and others are correct. You have to put the first hole in the stick 1/2" up from the bottom. So all subsequent marks are now a 1/2" off. If you want a 14" radius, you need to use the 14-1/2" hole instead.
Styrene: I bought the styrene for both the Olympia and Red Oak layouts from Midland Plastics outside of Milwaukee. Most major cities have one or more plastics dealers, so check the Internet. This stuff can be rolled pretty tightly, so they might ship it to you UPS if you ask. The height of the styrene before being sunk into the foam is 14" tall. Because of the curve, the styrene is a tad longer than the 80" door.
Spiral easements: I used a trick on this layout that I learned from my N scale home layout, and that is to lead into the two main curves on the layout with Peco curved tunouts. The radius on the curved turnout is shallower than the minimums on the layout, so it makes a very nice natural spiral easement effect without needing to lay one out. They are not hard to do (flextrack automatically makes them for you), and we'll cover laying spiral easements on MR Video Plus later in 2015.
Printouts vs. pencils: Use whatever works for you to layout the track. A friend of mine printed his entire basement layout 1:1 from a CAD file once, and it worked great (but cost a lot in paper and printer ink). This is a small layout, and if you are really stuck, draw a 12" grid on top of the foam first. That will help greatly in getting all of the track on the plan in place. Yes, we should really do a full video one day soon on layout out track plans on layouts. I did that for one of the early Virginian video blogs (maybe part 3), so if you're stuck, check that out. Even though it's HO scale, it will show you the technique.
Thanks for chiming in on the Red Oak! Enjoy the rest of the show, there's plenty more to come!
David
He used a hole at the 14.5" mark = 14 inches.
Garry Potter, The ruler starts at the 1/2" mark and to get the 14" radius, the hole is at the 14 1/2" mark.
Ash Bence of Victoria Australia
I think what a beaut layout Neil & David so simple.
I will have to modify my layout that I am building in n guage
Not doing spiral easements?
The idea of a slot around the parameter of the layout for the wire was excellent. I think will redo my layout sitting on a plastic chest of drawers like this. It will be so much easier to convert the "Man Cave" back into a bed room.
Isn't your first Radius curve 13 1/2" since your awl started at the 1/2" mark ? and the pencil is at the 14" mark?
One can also use the RTS program, formerly available from Atlas, to print out full-size track templates.
Being handicapped, I'm really looking forward to seeing the wiring installed in the foam and around the perimeter – great idea, David! This looks very doable for me. Thanks for the inspiration!
I designed my track plan using Railmodeller. To transfer the plan to the layout, I printed out a full-size version (1:1) and placed this full-size version on top of the benchwork. (Actually, the full-size version is a bunch of 8-and-1/2" by 11" sheets carefully placed and taped together.) Then I laid the track (Kato) directly on top of the full-size version. By the way, I love the Red Oak Model RR and N-scale in general.
As an N-scale modeler I'm enjoying this project more than some others. As a result some questions and comments.
1. I had good luck laying track based on a track plan from a simple CAD program, in my case AnyRail. Once I'd decided on the plan I printed it out full size, taped it together using the alignment marks, then laid it out on my foam. The next step was to use that awl to punch a series of marks through the center line. Worked great.
2. A question for David about the track center distances he choose. At one point he mentioned 7/8" and that he'd opened that up to 1 1/8". That seems close to me. NMRA Standard S-7, Track Centers, http://nmra.org/sites/default/files/standards/sandrp/pdf/s-8.pdf, says that the 1 1/8" is ok on a tangent, but it's really close to the minimum. Comments?
David
You should add the facia after you fix any electrical problems. I agree with the others about this layout. I might try building this after I complete my current layout.
@ 6:30 Hi Steve. Lol
I know it is early in the series but I hope you show a list of the track plan with track part numbers. I want to start buying turnouts and such.
I still don't really understand much about how to transfer track plans to the layout. I understand how to do curves but I felt it kinda left you hanging on the rest. Hope am not the only one you feels so. I would of been nice to see the whole thing done at one time. Maybe an idea for a how to at a later time? I know it's hand holding but I see lots of track plans and always wondered how you transfer them to the layout.
Also how did you attach the door to the bench work? Did you just secure the door to the bench work via the other edges of the door since that part isn't hollow