Friday 20 January 2023

We build baseboards

 I have mentioned on many occasions that I make my baseboards out of 5mm foam core. Well, this time is no different, except that I videoed the whole process. I got my usual four sheets of white A1 foam core from Hobbycraft for £10. I then went to my local art gallery/art supplies shop to get a couple of sheets of black foam core. I like this for the basics of the boards as it is much denser than the white and is very much tougher. The only issue is that the art gallery wanted £12.50 per sheet! I did ask how much their white was and the answer was £8.50 - a sheet! I will continue to go to Hobbycraft where their service is great and they know me by name.

OK, so I had all the board that I needed. Then I had to make sure that I had a plentiful supply of hot glue sticks and 2" double sided tape. To outline the process, I cut the white into 3" strips along with a few black one. The top of the boards and the outside of the supporting bars will be black and the rest will be white. When laminated using three sheets and the double sided tape, the resulting girders are very strong. Anyway, I have created a stop frame video of the process. I am sorry that the beginning is dark but I was still getting to understand the process. My nice Olympus mirrorless camera takes up to 999 frames  at your choice of delay and when finished melds them all together into a video - very clever.


Here is the baseboard in position. I have used the legs from the previous layout.



Here is the view from the left hand side where you can see the white extension for the staging.


I have printed out the Anyrail layout in full size and run along the centre of all of the rails with a pounce wheel.  Following that I am outlining them using a white marker. Here are the pounce wheel and the marker.


and here is the board with some of the track centres highlighted.


Next up, I have some DCC Concepts trackbed to go down and, then, when the LHS gets their act together and gets some switches in stock, I will lay the track. As I am waiting for the switches, I will probably put the DCC bus and a 5v bus (for structure lighting) under the board ready.



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