Great work Charlie. I am

Great work Charlie. I am going back to study the photos and read the gazette. I have been thinking about backdrops as well for my future layout. Might as well do the thinking while the space is not available for building yet. I am really looking forward to more articles regarding your layout and op sessions one a month would be ok by me.

Rob in Texas

Very cool!

Just read the whole article. Looks great! I'll have to see it in person! On a big railroad like yours that's great to separate the "world" and make it seem even larger then the layout already is! 

I already have expansion plans for mine.. (just a small peninsula that'll be a yard..) 

Fantastic article.

Its probably a good thing you didnt go with the styrene option, not just for its current price. But more so for safety. Styrene at least where I live, is not recognized as a building material that would meet our local codes and regulations. So its actually a building code violation due to its flamability and produces toxic fumes in case of a fire. My understanding is it also expands and contracts much different the the wood its attached too and manages to come unglued as well unless its well screwed in place but no one wants to see screw heads everywhere on their backdrop and its just more work to smooth over them to hide them. Plus, say that a fire does happen heaven forbid, if the insurance company see's that a non code meterial was used, they could possibly deny a claim.

Great article though. Ive been wanting to see an in depth article on backdrops and this one really nails it.  

Chris with all the styrene

Chris with all the styrene models on the layout do you really think they will be able to determine what it was used for after a fire. If I ever have a fire I am going right outside and write the fire department a quick letter and wait for them.

Rob in Texas

IF that were the case..

then I would argue most peopel with a model railroad is going to have Building Code violations!

Ken L.

Permanent?

Permanently part of the structure is the difference. You can have all the styrene you want so long as it is not part of the structure.

This same situation applies to all the wiring model railroaders do. If you hardwire your layout to a branch circuit then it is part of the structure's electrical and every bit of your railroad will be subject to code. If you plug your layout into a receptacle then it is a consumer device and not subject to building code.

Doubt any of this matters. If you do modify your dwelling such that an inspection is required the inspector is only going to examine the new work. He doesn't have time or incentive to inspect your entire house. Now should you sell your house it is a whole different story. The buyer will hire an inspector who will inspect everything. One assumes the railroad would already be removed if this were the case.

Horace sez

Horace done told me I shouldn't hardwire the backdrop into the house wiring system to avoid code encryptions...

But FWIW the BC&SJ connects to house power only with plugs going into UL approved outlets that were installed by the electrician when the train room was built.

Glad the backdrop construction techniques are of interest to some. If you wanna see what it looks like after a coat of blue paint...

http://s145079212.onlinehome.us/rr/bcsj3/construct140614/index.html

Cheers,

Charlie (I am NOT Horace) Comstock

Hey Charlie,

Speaking of Horace, will he be making the trip to Cleveland next week?!

Ken L

Sigh.

I'm not going to recognize the place if I ever make it back there.

The New Look

Wow, that sure changes the look of the room!  Horace is probably wondering what happened to the rest of the world.

Did you read the clipping

Did you read the clipping from the South Jackson Gazette? It's proof that space is curved...

Horace

Looks real good

Looks real good Charlie.

Rob in Texas

Nope

No, Horace won't be in Cleveland ...

Looks awesome Charlie, great

Looks awesome Charlie, great techniques for many a railroad and different applications too. Question, was the only reason you went with two layers because of the one finished side? I would have assumed that once the wood side was painted the grain would not be an issue, and construction would have been tons easier. 

Steve

Layers...

Steve, I couldn't figure out how to butt-join sheets of 5mm thick backdrop material, especially on curves without the seams being ugly (freakin' obvious). Three layers would have been even better but hey, I was already spending more on the backdrop than I liked.

Laminating two sheets made hiding the edges of the sheets possible. Now the question is, will they stay hidden over time or will spider web cracks start to appear?

So far, so good...

Charlie

Looks good Charlie....

and I think it's great you decided to go with "full height".  In my mind there is nothing much worse looking than backdrops on peninsulas or that split smaller layouts down the middle when you can see over them. Spoils the whole effect.

Michael

The Learning Curve

Charlie,

Getting that first slice of RevolutionPly in place was somewhat of a challenge...However, now that there is 48 feet in place,and painted blue. It makes the entire railroad look so much different. From what I heard at the May and June ops session it sounded like everyone liked the progress. 

It has been a real learning curve for me having never been involved in the construction of a model railroad such as your's. Thanks for letting me come over and help where/when I can.

Cheers,

Well actually, yes Rob in TX

After a fire, what will they see when they come to investigate the burned out mess? Big blobs of melted styrene from long sheets of styrene, instead of the small blobs that were once a model structure everywhere. Im not the one that came up with any of this though, so dont blame me, This was discussed a few years back pretty heavily on this forum and I recall the Modelrailroadforums.com forums also had a good discussion on it. I just brought it up for discussion.

1 questions

Charlie,

great article to begin with. My question is however about the cable duct that you'd installed in one corner. In the two pictures in the article where it is visible, I can see no sign of a pull cable at or in the duct. Especially considering the bend on the upper end of the duct, how will you put in new cables when the scenery is complete without a pull cable (if there is really none). And would it not be better to put in a couple of wires in right now just in case ?

One more point: does the duct really stop ABOVE the benchwork (not clearly visible in any picture) ?

Keep up your good work and greetings to Horace,

Martin Monreal, Mitterteich, Germany

new Well actually, yes Rob

new

Well actually, yes Rob in TX

After a fire, what will they see when they come to investigate the burned out mess? Big blobs of melted styrene from long sheets of styrene, instead of the small blobs that were once a model structure everywhere. Im not the one that came up with any of this though, so dont blame me, This was discussed a few years back pretty heavily on this forum and I recall the Modelrailroadforums.com forums also had a good discussion on it. I just brought it up for discussion.

Chris.

No blame intended Chris and I did not mean for it to sound harsh that was not my intent either. I was merely trying to point out that things placed in the home but not part of the home itself in nearly all instances and would not be considered part of the structure and then subject to the codes for home construction. Also items installed prior to the codified ordinances in question are not subject to them but grandfathered in in most cases. A simple test would be when the family moves out will that particular item be removed or remain part of the house. In nearly all instances our layouts are not part of the structure. Any attachment to the walls etc is much like an attachment of a bookcase to prevent it from  tipping over while in use.

Sorry I was unable to convey my thoughts in the manner in which I intended.

Rob in Texas

Charlie, That was a really

Charlie,

That was a really great article and very well written.  I hope that everyone appreciated yur sense of humor!  I look forward to reading more on your progress.

Regards

Jack in Utah

1 answers

Hi Martin,

You asked a question (or was it two?) about the PVC conduit I installed behind where a corner will be coved.

1) There is a twisted pair of 20ga wires (doorbell wire in this country) in there now that is used by the fast clocks.

2) I just shoved the 20ga twisted pair through starting from the top (where the bends are). It took less than 30 seconds to shove them through. It would probably have been much harder to shove them from the bottom up...

3) The bottom of the conduit penetrates the plywood roadbed surface and protrudes an inch or so underneath. Total conduit length is less than 5' and the conduit inside diameter is huge compared to the wires I'll put in it.

4) I'll be needing to run some modular (6-conductor) voice grade phone wire through the conduit. That stuff has no stiffness to it so I'll shove a length of 14ga ground wire liberated from some extra romex (2 + gnd house wiring) I have laying around through, tape the modular wire to the end of it, then pull the phone wire through by pulling on the ground wire. I don't expect any problems.

Hope this answers your questions,

Charlie

and in the unlkely event...

that the copper wire pull doesn't work out, there's always a fish tape

Charlie

One other thing you might want to do early on is pull several lengths of heavy nylon cord through your conduit before running any of your wires. You will need one length of cord for every cable you plan on pulling. The cords are smaller in diameter than your cables and take up less space they also have the advantage of not cutting insulation. I have seen electricians do this where ever wire is to be pulled through assembled conduit and it works very well. It also has the advantage of having your first or second set of wires useable if there is going to be a delay on the next circuits.

Hope it helps, also do not forget to tie off the ends of your cord so that all of it does not get pulled through with the first set of cables.

Rob in Texas