January 9, 2005

The benchwork for the Crystal Creek module is a simple box. The side panels are made out of 4" wide, 3/4"-thick Oak plywood. The top is made from 5/8" MDF (just using what I had left over in the garage). The photo on the right shows the parts that went into making this box. I ripped the side panels from left-overs of a 4x8 sheet. The MDF was left over from my router table project. These boards make this box quite heavy.

Here's the completed box sitting on top of the bookcases. The box was assembled using wood glue only. No screws. Later on I will cover the outside edges with Masonite board and paint that.

January 12, 2005

I use Abracadata's "3D Railroad Concept and Design" as the CAD program for designing my layouts. This software application allows printing the design in 1:1 scale, meaning the design can be printed full-scale. After printing the design, I taped the various pages together and laid them out on the benchwork. This allowed me to verify that the design actually fits on the benchwork, and to get a better feel for the spur lengths. Imaginary operations can also be performed.

After deciding that I liked the design, I bought a roll of cork. I trimmed the cork to about an inch wider on all sides of the module. I wanted to have two small creeks on the layout, so I cut the cork in two places, making sure not to put the creeks where turnouts are going to be.

The next photo shows the cork being glued under the heavy weight of a lot of books. I used yellow carpenter's wood glue.

Here's a close-up of one of the creeks after the glue dried. The cork will be trimmed flush with the module's edges next.

August 21, 2005

Finally some more progress on the module. In this photo I am in the process of gluing the Masonite side panels to the module. Their purpose is just to dress the module up a bit. You are looking at the bottom of the module. In addition to a legion of clamps, there are an assortment of weights being used to press the Masonite board down onto the module. I cut the panels with a 45-degree end cut so that there is only a thin seem between the panels. After some sanding and painting, the module will have a finished look.

I cut a handful of these 3" x 5" (7.6 x 12.7 cm) blocks. These blocks are to be used to hold and guide the wiring neatly under the module. Slightly out of focus, but still legible are the three sets of holes marked "DCC", "12 VDC", and "3 VDC". The wires will be run through the holes and by glancing at the nearest block, we will instantly know for what the wire is intended. I determined the size of the blocks by leaving about 3/4" of space between the wires. The height (3 inches) was restricted by how tall the module is, and still leaving enough space for connecting the various smaller wires to these buses. See the Electronics page of this module for more information.

This photo shows the under side of the module with the five blocks for the wires installed. I placed them such that they would not interfere with holes to be drilled for the track power, installation of the Tortoise switch machines, and other planned animations. The wires you see are track power wires for track already installed.

The last photo here is of the module turned right side up, showing the new "skirt". A couple of coats of paint are all that is left to do.