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Any commercial
products mentioned here are purely bona fide
indications of what I have been using myself.
I have no connection to any manufacturing
companies nor do I profit from listing any
products or brands.
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| Before
the advent of the internet, back in the
1980s and 1990s, the hobby press would
often try to paint an almost educational
image of railway modelling as a hobby, by
praising and stressing the
multifunctionality of it all which led
you to acquiring all kinds of different
skills. And woodworking always got
mentioned. Which is certainly a
valid point. The general tone of both
modelling press and dedicated hobby
websites has changed completely (and for
the better no doubt, leaving behind the
classroom approach), but it is a fact
that even with botched up and aborted
layout projects you usually get to the
stage of becoming - or at least trying
hard to be - a carpenter. In fact I would
tend to think that many a faltering
layout project met its premature fate
during or just after the woodworking
stage. When things don't line up the way
they should. Or that neat small pile of
pieces of plywood turns into a giant 3D
monster once fully assembled. So even if
you'll never get to run trains - chances
are you'll always get to do the
woodworking.
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| Back
in those aforementioned 20th century
days, the common advice from experts and
publications alike was to use start out
with baseboard frame made from solid
timber, such as the classic 1" x
2"). But all this really does is
leave you with extremely heavy
baseboards. The actual goal here
is to have structural integrity: a stable
and secure frame for your layout which
won't warp or come apart at the slightest
mishap. Achieving this requires no timber
framing at all.
A great way
to build sturdy yet still lightweight
frames for a layout or modules is to use
softwood plywood.
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| Plywood is made by bonding
several layers of wood veneer together with glue to form
one piece - which actually makes it stronger than one
single thick layer of wood. For most purposes (including
building a layout or module) plywood made from softwood
is an excellent choice as it's also easily workable (e.g.
with a jig saw) and available at good prices. |
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Plywood
is available in a wide range of
thicknesses, but the thinner ones should
be avoided. I have settled on 10mm
(usually poplar or birch); it's somewhat
stronger than really required but makes
calculations much easier when working out
the dimensions of a framework skeleton. Making sure that all
calculations and measurements are correct
is essential to getting the pieces of
plywood you need cut to the correct shape
and size at your DIY store. That may
sound trivial, but be assured - it is
not.
Depending on
how much cutting of the plywood is needed
to conform to scenery contours,
assembling the individual pieces is a
mess-free job.
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| Rather than using glue and
nails to put the individual pieces of plywood together, I
mostly use only screws in drilled guiding holes with just
a drop of glue here and there for extra strength at
certain joints. |
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Frames need to be perfectly square and flat in order to
provide the structural stability required of a
layout or module base. Depending on the actual
setup and personal preferences, this can be
achieved e.g. by adding internal bracing (left)
or using a mitre clamp during assembly (right);
the first option provides added stability while
the second ensures true right angles. At this stage of construction
even the best quality softwood plywood can
display a slight bend, especially in larger
pieces.
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| This is due to a certain
inherent flexibility of plywood - which is actually a
good thing and allows pieces to be aligned perfectly.
Once the assembly is complete (and assuming a sound
design of the structure) it will all be square and
straight. Regardless
of the shape and size of the final construction, using
good quality plywood and applying care and double-checks
during assembly will result in sturdy layout framework or
modules which are still lightweight enough to be handled
with ease.
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Both
"open top frames" and
"flat top baseboards" can be
built this way; even using plywood to
simply frame a styrofoam core provides
all the benefits mentioned.
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| Once completed, a coat of
paint provides added protection by acting as a seal to
humididty and also adds a touch of class by framing the
layout almost the way a proscenium or theatrical
stage frame does. |
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