To connect all these circuits to the LED's on the front of the helix, we decided to use ribbon cable. The cost is a bit higher, but the professional-look of nicely routed wires is worth it. It actually made installation easier, because we glued the cable to the helix structure using the same glue as mentioned above. The inset shows the cable as it came from Digikey (16-wire). The photo below shows the cables for the LED's in the front that are connected to the detection circuits in the rear of the helix. The cables are nicely routed through the structure of the helix base.


The final photo of the naked helix. All the wires on the front have been prepped. The helix is ready to receive its Masonite board cover.


On November 1st, 2002 we finished installing the Masonite board around the helix. It was a lot of work and took two nights to install, but it is worth it. The helix looks finished, and the room looks a lot nicer now.


The next photo shows the helix from a high vantage point. As you can see we used the vertical stiles of the helix itself to screw the Masonite board to the helix. This worked out really well, and we highly recommend this. It added substantially to the rigidity of the helix (especially on the top rungs on the front side of the helix). The Masonite was set flush to the vertical stiles so that the top edge will blend in with whatever scenery we develop here in the future.


The circumference of the helix was larger than the 8-foot (2.44m) long Masonite board, so we need to add a piece. You are looking at the splice point here. We made the second piece longer than we needed (see the Masonite board in the upper right corner from the Allegheny River area) so that we could have two places where the splice piece could be attached to the helix. Also, you might notice at the bottom of the helix we used the remainder of the board we had to serve as the guard edge for the helix exiting track.


This diagram shows the extra piece we had to cut. The diagram is mostly here for our personal reference.

Here is a better view of this area. A clamp is holding the Masonite board in place because we haven't figured out how to attach the Masonite to the luan board sub-roadbed. The luan board is only 1/4" (0.64cm) thick.


A quick shot from the closet (from the back side of the helix)


It is November 14, 2002 and the helix is officially open for business. We started this project on April 19th - seven months of work, agony, and stress. The end result is worth it, though. The photo below shows an LED lighting up as the first small freight train passes through the corresponding detection circuit.


The helix has now been painted. We first covered all screw heads and seams with joint compound and tape. It worked well on the front fascia boards, but we are not 100% happy with how it turned out on the helix. Oh well, another lesson learned.


Here is the view from the back. We also painted the Masonite board that is not visible from the front of the layout.


This completes the helix project.