Page 9 - January February 2008

had been routed, the assembly only took minutes and was also fixed to the frame, held in place by a couple of dowels.
We decided that two of the modules (numbers 1 and 5) would have four legs (Figs 5 & 6). These weighed in at around 12 lb without sky boards. The remaining six modules would have two legs each. One problem was found when we started making the four­legged module; this was that we could not use dowels on both sets of legs, as they would not be able to fold flat. So the wider set was provided with a 6 mm plywood spreader fixed to the bottom edges, and a groove was made in the underside of the foam for it to fit into. The groove was made with the aid of a Surform plane, which did the job nicely without making too much mess. Figure 7 is a photo of the underside of the first completed four­legged module, showing all components in place.
One of the final jobs was to fit two cupboard catches to clip the legs in the closed position for transportation. The other was to add timber fillets to allow for the fixing of the clips for holding the modules firmly together.
Sky boards. We calculated that at 12" wide, using 10" above the baseboards and 2" below, eight can be cut from one sheet of plywood, leaving spare off­cuts.
Fig 5
Fig 7
Fig 6
At this stage we realised that both the leg boxes and the legs would have to be made fairly accurately, and that probably mak­ ing jigs for both items might be a great advantage. However, it was decided that with careful cutting and drilling, the box assembly would be no problem. Accompanying you will see a photo of a Leg Box Kit (Fig 4).
Legs were the next in line, and the size of 44 × 18 mm was chosen for being sturdy enough but not too heavy. The length of the module at just under 1 m determined the length and thus the finished height (Fig 5). If extra height was desired it was decided that we would then design up­lifters of some sort to get us up to the desired new height.
At first we thought that the spreaders/stabilisers between the legs would be made of the same material as the legs, but changed our minds to dowels, as we decided that it is a lot easier to drill a round hole than a square one, and also the dowel would be much lighter.
We carefully worked out the size of the parts for the leg boxes, and dimensional drawings were made. Soon kits of parts were cut and assembled to make up the first four boxes to be fitted to our first frame.
Group member Keith Gladwell had the facility to route the grooves in the legs; we marked and drilled them with the aid of a jig. At this stage an engineer suggested to us that it would be good practice to strip drill the groove with a smaller drill to extend the life of our cutter and make a smoother finish. So once each leg
Number 4: Electrics
The fourth problem was the electrics; after discussion it was thought that the transformer could very easily be built in under the scenery, as could a DCC and/or DC controller, providing that the insulation and ventilation were carefully considered. Electrical connection between boards was to be 25­way “D” connectors.
So at this stage we thought we had all the bases more or less covered, so to speak. Having solved the immediate envisaged problems, we were well under way. We had no doubt we would find other problems to solve, but at this stage it was a case of so far so good. So much for the theory; the real task was the nitty gritty.
Having made the eight modules, setting up proved quite easy provided that the right order is kept to. Boards are clearly numbered from 1 to 8, so it is really no surprise that we start with #1 and #2. Split boards apart and lay them both on their backs. The first thing that you do with #1 is that you grab the dowel spreader and pull it out, releasing the cupboard clips, pull right out and then push legs into sockets.
Repeat with other legs, pick up module, tipping forward as you go and it is then standing up. Then do the same with #2 and offer up the dowels to #1, push straight in and fasten catches. Repeat with boards #3 and #4. At this stage you treat #5 and #6 the same as #1 and #2, but also clip #5 onto the rear of #4 with a spring clamp, (obtained from a “Pound Shop”), continue as before, clipping #6 and #8, and then clip #8 to #1. Two of us got the modules from the garage and put them all together in 10 minutes. Once the plugs are fitted it shouldn’t take a lot longer to join up the electrics. Our target time will be 15 minutes!
We were expecting a little wobble, but once erected, found that there was nothing that we couldn’t cope with. At the moment the track plan is still under discussion, but we have started with a couple of running loops in order to get things moving. Hopefully we will have it up and running in November, having only just launched the idea in April.
february 2008 9