Yet another Norwegian signing in
#16
Gentlemen ... this is engineered benchwork! An intensely studied economy of materials, used to their utmost advantage for strength and rigidity, totally pre-engineered - all cuts are pre-planned and interlocking to add to the overall solidarity of the construction ... and as if to add insult to injury, a fine finish has been applied for final presentation! This young man has a plan and is methodically pursuing its completion!

Class, a lesson can be learned here! Haste makes waste ... and waste is money better spent on rolling stock! A bit more time spent considering the foundation on which you plan to build your empire might just be time well spent in the long term. Yessir, Young Svein here gets a resounding "A" for the foundation/benchwork part of the project!

Now, for next week's class assignment ...
biL

Lehigh Susquehanna & Western 

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
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#17
Guys, you are making me blush! Thank you for the kind words!

The framework is kind of an experiment for me, I want it to be as lightweight as possible yet sturdy enough to be functional. I have no guaranties yet that it will work as it is supposed to, maybe I need to put some more bracing under the subroadbed to prevent sagging. Time will tell...

Svein
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#18
Svein ...

Had I had my head on a little "straighter" (it was the early '70's!) when I was taking courses like "Engineering Theory for Industrial Designers ID 202a" in the Industrial Design Department at Philadelphia College of Art, I would have focused on the type of economy of materials and interlocking srtuctural members for extremely strong, light weight model railroad benchwork for a few of my class project assignments where it would have been appropriate! [Lost in the ozone again!] Icon_lol

The materials were all there, I just didn't "put it together." 35

As I have some health problems now that preclude my lifting and carrying armloads of dimensional lumber and sheets of 1/2" plywood for the typical "L"-girder and plywood/homosote benchwork I've used for the past 40+ years, you've brought my creative juices to a slow boil! With a little creative thought (geez, I miss that!) and a few sheets of the old stand-by roll of Canary Tracing paper smoothed out over a gridded room floor plan, I'll put some effort into "going to school" on what you've done and with the addition of the ubiquitous 2" foam to the bill of materials, draw something up that does what I want, inexpensively, solidly and in "feather-light" fashion, and arrive with a solid foundation for my new model railroad. Stand back ... you've got me thinkin' there, Buddy!

My design education has taught me to respect the design concepts that come from Scandinavia ... serious, innovative thinkers, you people! Thank you, Svein, for "waking me up" to, as I recently chided young Justin, use my head for more than a hat rack! Worship

You and your work are a welcome addition to this already amazing forum!

Now ... where did I put that roll of Canary Tracing ...

Edit: Corrected a glaring (to me) typo.
biL

Lehigh Susquehanna & Western 

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
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#19
Well, as much as I'd like to take credit for your "creative juices boiling", I must admit that if it weren't for my friend Stein and some sketches made by Iain Rice, I probably wouldn't have come up with this solution for my framework at all.

I have a very limited space for a layout, and to make the most out of it I need to be creative. My first layout was a tabletop layout measuring 105x185cm (about 3'5"x6'1") on wheels, where the top frame could tilt vertically for easy storage (some pics here: http://www.mjf.no/forum/forum_posts.asp?...gg-svein-a). This layout never got finished, I sold the framework to another member on that forum, and started searching for other possibilities.

Knowing I was searching for a space saving and light weight construction, Stein gave me some tips on where to look. I found some sketches in Iain Rice's book "Small, smart and practical track plans" and the MR article "Rocue Bluffs, a Maine seaport", also written by Iain Rice. "Shelf layouts for model railroads" also includes the same concept.

When Stein started to rip out his old benchwork and replace it with sections built in the same manner (somewhat simplified and with 2" foam on top), I decided to give it a try, and so far it is very promising. The first section weighs only 3.2kg (7lbs) as it is now, and it's suprisingly sturdy.

Svein
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