Not much posting lately, but I have been doing a lot of model railroading work. Mostly still research, but the emphasis of the research has shifted from prototype to actual model railroading. Specifically, how have others before me built steel mills on their layouts.
There are a few "celebrity" names in regards to steel mill modeling. The late Dean Freytag is probably one of the better known names to those model railroaders who have any interest in steel or heavy industrial modeling. He has been featured in Model Railroader and is also author to a couple of "bible" books on steel and heavy industrial modeling. Both of these books are still available but neither is cheap and I have not yet sprung for either one.
Jeff Borne is author of a pair of DVDs titled Superdetailing a Walthers Blast Furnace. I just picked up both these DVD's and they are a wealth of information. Too bad I don't actually have a Walthers Blast Furnace kit since it has been discontinued, but the DVD's are still valuable for the scratchbuilder too.
Bernard Kempinski has authored several books on model railroading, the one on steel mills I have already mentioned in a previous post. His book is probably the most recent of all the other publications listed.
Anyway, the title of this blog is Construction Report #1, so more on that.
I decided a couple weeks ago that I needed to get out from behind the computer and into the basement. The basement needs a lot of prep work before I fill it with layout. That doesn't mean I can't get started on building stuff. Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine has had a lot of discussion recently on the TOMA (The One Module Approach) method to building a layout. Several months ago I started building a small module on an 18" x 7' hollow core door just to get started building something. I didn't get very deep into that project and in hindsight I believe the main reason was because it had no relevance to what I wanted to build for a layout.
TOMA proposes that a layout be built in separate modular phases, each module being built as close to completion as possible before moving on to the next. The TOMA modules are not necessarily templated modules such as N-Trak or Free-Mo, although they certainly could be. I've kind of been visualizing building my layout this way from the earliest conceptual stages, not realizing that MRH had already defined TOMA.
I purchased two 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" birch plywood from Home Depot. Each sheet is just under $50. The sheets weigh over 70 lbs each, so I had them rip the two sheets right down the middle long ways so that I could handle them by myself.
Even a 2' x 8' sheet of 3/4" birch plywood was somewhat difficult for me to get into the basement by myself. I then ripped each section into 4" x 8' boards (actually about 3 59/64" after cutting waste), which netted me 10 4" x 8' boards and two 3 3/4" x 8' boards for a single 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.
Before I started cutting lumber though, I had to do some basement prep work even for that. I realized that my 10" table saw draws 14.7 amps, and it was plugged into my only outlet into the work area which is a shared receptacle on a 15 amp circuit. I had one completely empty 20 amp circuit left in my breaker box, so I wired up a couple 20 amp outlets mounted to the ceiling above the work area. Now when my table saw runs I can be assured it won't cause any electrical problems throughout the house. I also added some additional LED shop lights above the work area.
Now I have some lumber to begin building benchwork on my first TOMA module. My intent is to build this first module as a free standing module and not attached to the basement wall. That will make it mobile enough that I can move it easily if necessary.
I will post some construction photos in a follow up post to this one.
Cheers
There are a few "celebrity" names in regards to steel mill modeling. The late Dean Freytag is probably one of the better known names to those model railroaders who have any interest in steel or heavy industrial modeling. He has been featured in Model Railroader and is also author to a couple of "bible" books on steel and heavy industrial modeling. Both of these books are still available but neither is cheap and I have not yet sprung for either one.
Bernard Kempinski has authored several books on model railroading, the one on steel mills I have already mentioned in a previous post. His book is probably the most recent of all the other publications listed.
Anyway, the title of this blog is Construction Report #1, so more on that.
I decided a couple weeks ago that I needed to get out from behind the computer and into the basement. The basement needs a lot of prep work before I fill it with layout. That doesn't mean I can't get started on building stuff. Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine has had a lot of discussion recently on the TOMA (The One Module Approach) method to building a layout. Several months ago I started building a small module on an 18" x 7' hollow core door just to get started building something. I didn't get very deep into that project and in hindsight I believe the main reason was because it had no relevance to what I wanted to build for a layout.
TOMA proposes that a layout be built in separate modular phases, each module being built as close to completion as possible before moving on to the next. The TOMA modules are not necessarily templated modules such as N-Trak or Free-Mo, although they certainly could be. I've kind of been visualizing building my layout this way from the earliest conceptual stages, not realizing that MRH had already defined TOMA.
I purchased two 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" birch plywood from Home Depot. Each sheet is just under $50. The sheets weigh over 70 lbs each, so I had them rip the two sheets right down the middle long ways so that I could handle them by myself.
Even a 2' x 8' sheet of 3/4" birch plywood was somewhat difficult for me to get into the basement by myself. I then ripped each section into 4" x 8' boards (actually about 3 59/64" after cutting waste), which netted me 10 4" x 8' boards and two 3 3/4" x 8' boards for a single 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.
Before I started cutting lumber though, I had to do some basement prep work even for that. I realized that my 10" table saw draws 14.7 amps, and it was plugged into my only outlet into the work area which is a shared receptacle on a 15 amp circuit. I had one completely empty 20 amp circuit left in my breaker box, so I wired up a couple 20 amp outlets mounted to the ceiling above the work area. Now when my table saw runs I can be assured it won't cause any electrical problems throughout the house. I also added some additional LED shop lights above the work area.
Now I have some lumber to begin building benchwork on my first TOMA module. My intent is to build this first module as a free standing module and not attached to the basement wall. That will make it mobile enough that I can move it easily if necessary.
I will post some construction photos in a follow up post to this one.
Cheers
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI've got the "Cyclopedia of Industrial Modeling" if you'd like to evaluate your "need" for it.
Tim