Bullet Train USA Extension Project

[Bernard]

Well this has been in the back of my mind some time about extending the layout. There is an area in the middle of the "U" that I thought I could possibly add a small to.
I needed to check out the measurements and see if it would fit and what problems it might cause. There is a support beam that I have to take into consideration and I don't want to new area to block me from getting to different parts of the layout in case there is a derailments, etc.
Next problem was since I'm by myself this time and with a car, transporting the material is also a consideration.
With all that in account I decided on a small extension, 2'x4'. All the wood can be transported in the car unlike the first time I got all my lumber and needed my wife's truck.
Okay what am I going to do in the new area? Since it is small and therefore it's going to have a smaller radius, the Shinkansen's aren't going to be able to negotiate the curves. So I said, why not do a separate layout with a road that connects the two areas.
Since my main layout has a lot of hills and mountains, I'm going to make this layout flat and simple. Then the thought hit me why not a "Tram Layout" since I already have 2 of the Tomytech Portrams already (Thanks Jeff)
The track plan is simple, 2 ovals to be run DC (with possible future plans to be able to go either DC or DCC with a DTDP switch, I did this on my mountain scene on my layout already)
The idea is to have the Trams run in opposite directs around a city with 3 large buildings.

Here is a list of materials I would need:
2'x4' plywood
1"x3" wood (comes in 4' lengths - for framing and support of the legs) need 7 pieces
2"x2" wood for the legs
2'x8' 1" foamboard (Will cut at Lowes to fit in the car)
4 turnbolts and clamps for leveling the legs
PL-300 (2 tubes for attacking the foamboard to the table top)
wood screws
2 carraige bolts
2 washers
2 wingnuts 

[Bernard]

Here is what I did:
I measured and cut all the wood. The top is the 1/2"x2'x4' plywood so the sides have to be 4' in length, I'll need 2 of them. Next I cut the middle and side framing to 22" in length. I then placed out all the wood on top of the plywood and to make sure it fit and then I marked out where everything will go.

I used carpenters glue and wood screws to put the famework together and pre-drilled all the holes on the top of the plywood. (2nd photo)

With all this assembled I measure the 2"x2" legs and cut them to 40" in length and then drilled out holes on the bottom of each leg to place the adjustable screws to make sure the table is level when it placed next to the existing layout.

[Bernard]

After attaching the legs to the frame work I placed it next to the area it will go and leveled it out to the rest of the layout. Next I spread PL-300 for insulation foam onto the top of the table and place the pre-cut 1" foamboard on top and weighted it with large bottles filled with water. I repeated the process for a 2nd piece to foam to make it 2" in depth to match the 2" foamboard I used in the other part of the layout.

After this sets I will use 2 carriage bolts with a washer and wingnut to attached the new section to the existing sections.

Very Important Question: Since this is a Tram layout and I will be using Flex track w/cork roadbed. Do I use the cord roadbed this time? Will I have to raise the rest of the area inside of the oval (with large pieces of cork) to match the height of the roadbed? Remember the track plan is simple, 2 ovals side by side.

[bc6]

Nice work Bernard, keep us informed.

[disturbman]

Nice idea! And to answer your VIQ I would say: yes, you will need to have the rail at street level not higher. You can however have them on a separate ROW and with grass, ballast or concrete but you really need to have them at street level. That's a common and prototypical feature. Also, you will have to raise the area inside and outside of this new part of your layout. That's wierd to have a city just inside an oval.



Don't forget to finish your other project. ;)

[Bernard]

Here is a video of the extension with the Model motoring controllers:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/S4hEL3ii6hU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/S4hEL3ii6hU</a>

[Bernard]

And the saga continues.
Bill - I'm glad you showed me that video awhile back with the Tram layout, little did I know what would be involved. 

Okay, after a lot of testing between styrene strips and lite weight spackle, I chose Spackle. There were a lot of factors but the biggest one was I liked the end result the best. Spreading the Spackle it time consuming it's like icing a cake but you're trying to keep everything even and smooth. When I did the spreading I also wanted to do the side road that that would be used for the automobiles. I used a putty knife, a straight edged metal ruler and even my wife's cake knife used for icing (which she doesn't know about unless she reads this post but I cleaned it. )

After applying the Spackle and finally satisfied, I knew carving out the grooves for the tram's trucks would be a challenge. I tested various methods on my test track and here is what I tried:
1) I made a jig where I took two razor blades with a slight separation between and tapes them together. My thought was that it would cut the groove and get rid of the excess at the same time. I did work BUT it cut a little too deep and went down to the rail ties. From this test, I found out that I didn't want to do the cutting when the spackle had fully set and harden. The cut at times broke the spackle between the rails the best results came when the Spackle was semi-hard but wouldn't crack during the cutting phase.

2) Taking a deep flanged car and run it along the Spackled track. This is the same as tracing the line I would have to remove. For me this worked. (See Photo)

3) To remove the tracked groove but the car, I experimented with 3 tooks, and X-acto knife, a "dentist's" pick and a pin. The pin worked best as a final cleaning, it was small enough to pick out the small pieces of Spackle on the inner rail without disrupting the Spackle I wanted to keep.

4) After cutting the grooves, I took a straight edged razor blade and ran it along the tops of the rail heads to get off any access Spackle and then used a rail cleaner.

I did a test run with an old Minitrix train and through trail and error, it finally ran. I then did the ultimate test and put the Tomytech trams on their new home and it worked! (Video to follow at a later date.)
Here are some photos:
 

[Bernard]

Cutting the grooves in the Spackle is to say the least time consuming, you are constantly removing spackle. When everything was running and I was satisfied, I continued with the next step, painting the tram tracks and road. To prep for the paint, I recommend taking some 3-and-1 oil and dip a Qtip in it. With the Qtip, apply the oil on the rail heads this will make it easier to remove the paint after you airbrush the layout. After you finish painting and it drys, you have to remove the paint from the rail heads. I found the easiest way to do this is by using the good ole fingernail and scratch it off. You will have to do some touch up work with the paint because at some point in this process you will slip and remove some of the paint. After that is finish, get some rail cleaner and with a Qtip clean the rails.

When that was finished I set out to make an infield and/or parking area for the surrounding buildings. I'm using black "Creative Foam" and will later paint it, probably black to set it off from the gray areas.
Here are some photos:
The first photo is showing what I used to control the individual Trams. I used a 12v transformer and attached 2 model motoring race car controllers.

And here is a video showing the Portrams in action at this stage of development:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oGkGuXb9-co" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/oGkGuXb9-co</a>

[serenityFan]

The spackle result and the video looks awesome ... 
I am seriously considering going with spackle for my next section.

[quinntopia]

Wow.  Spackle! That's brave! I used spackle on my O Gauge layout years ago just for city streets (no rails or tram line!), and it was a LOT of work getting it smooth and even! Wow! I'm very impressed with your results!  Now I have to rethink this approach for my tram streets!

[Bernard]

Wow.  Spackle! That's brave! I used spackle on my O Gauge layout years ago just for city streets (no rails or tram line!), and it was a LOT of work getting it smooth and even! Wow! I'm very impressed with your results!  Now I have to rethink this approach for my tram streets!

To get it smooth does take a lot of work and I can't tell you how many times I'd get one section smooth and at the same time screw up another. What worked best was a 12" metal ruler and once you start going around the tracks try to stop as little as possible.

I started working on the center. I added trees around the large building and edges on the parking field.

[CaptOblivious]

Spackle is very sandable. To get smooth results, I wouldn't worry too too much about applying it smooth, as I would always take some sand paper or sanding screen and smooth it out after the fact. Much easier on the nerves that way :D

[Mudkip Orange]

I had no idea spackle was so easy to use in a model RR application. Mental note... made.

[Bernard]

I had no idea spackle was so easy to use in a model RR application. Mental note... made.

I liked the results so much I decided to rip up areas in my yard and re-did them with Lite weight Spackle, again the results were superior.

[Shashinka]

Cant wait to see how the sparkle looks.

[Bernard]

Cant wait to see how the sparkle looks.

Aaron - here is what I did. Since I liked the results of the Tram tracks with Spackle I decided to rip up the "creative foam" I used for work areas in the yard and replaced them with Spackle.

The last photo is what it used to look like with the thin foam. You really can't see the difference in the photo.

[Bernard]

Alright, I now have the basic extension finished and the tram are working independently from the rest of the main layout. The question I had before doing the extension was how was I going to connect them? The answer was through a main road. In the photo I have put down a black thin foam sheets and that will later represent roads with an intersection that joins the Tram/City area to the main station. I spread a thin layer of spackle over the foam sheets to give it a texture and after it drys will paint it gray and will add traffic lines/markers.

[Shashinka]

Coming along nicely, Bernard.