This evening I will start building a Z-gauge ‘teaching layout’ at our local club. The first task will be to build a baseboard. I’ve created a brief ‘how to’ guide that I’ve copied/pasted below in case it’s helpful to anyone here. (Any comments/suggestions to improve it are also welcome.) Building a baseboard Introduction Baseboards are a staple of railway modelling. A strong, level surface is the best way of getting your layout off to a good start. Materials Materials required are a sheet of plywood, pine or plywood strips for sides/cross braces, screws, a power drill with screwdriver attachment and PVA glue. 9mm hardwood ply is the default for home layouts. 6mm hardwood ply can also be used where weight is a factor but will require more/stronger battens. Birch ply is more expensive but stronger and finer than hardwood ply, so represents a fine alternative if budget is less of a concern. MDF should not really be used - it is less strong, harder to drill/hammer into and prone to disintegrating if it gets wet. The depth of the sides and cross braces depends on the type of point motors used. For example, Cobalt point motors require a 10cm baseboard depth to protect them - servos and seep motors will require less. Pine is commonly used. However, if you can get 9mm plywood strips cut for you then these are even stronger. I regularly use www.woodsheets.com for my boards and strips - it’s more expensive but saves a lot of time, and is much cheaper than buying baseboard kits. Screws should be designed to match the width and depth of sides and cross braces. Builders PVA is good. Deluxe Materials SpeedBond is even better providing a good working time, fast curing time and being super strong. Although it’s more expensive a large bottle goes a very long way. Construction I always start by building a box frame around the underside of the baseboard. This gives a basic rigid structure that can be enhanced later. Cut the sides to length, run glue along the tops, clamp or hold them in position, then screw every 20-30cm or so. You will be amazed how rigid this makes the board - essentially it gives it the same structural properties around the edges as the depth of the battens. It will then become weaker towards the middle of the board, which is why we subsequently add cross braces. You can either add cross braces now or later. Ideally you’d lay track, drill holes for wires and point motors and add the cross braces later around these so as to avoid battens being in the wrong place. Where this isn’t possible (or difficult to do in situ) then you want to create a series of box frames under the layout about 50cm square, using the same method as for the sides. Try to place the battens so that they won’t get in the way of point motors later (this takes some planning, including remembering that everything changes its rotation when you are working on the board upside down!) It is good practice to drill decent-sized holes in cross braces at suitable points so that you can run wires through them later. This provides a stable anchor point for the wires and keeps everything neat and tidy. If you think that you will want raised sides (including for example ones cut to match hill profiles once you’ve built them) then you can add these later by gluing and screwing them to the outside of box frame. Legs Legs can be made from 3x2 pine battens or 25mm birch ply, then bolted to the sides nestling up against the top (wing nuts are good if you think you might want to remove them at any point). Trestles represent a very good alternative, particularly the Stanley height adjustable plastic ones. Two pieces of 3x2 between them will result in a strong, stable base that can take an incredible amount of weight. I use bungees attached to drawer handles that have been screwed to the baseboard to hold the baseboard tight to the 2x2 lengths every metre or so. Joining baseboards together This is a complex area probably requiring its own guide. However, a range of helpful fittings is available at www.stationroadbaseboards.co.uk to get you started. Painting Painting is not essential. However, I generally use outdoor undercoat such as Dulux Weathershield, which ensures that baseboards will last even if they get wet or are stored in a damp environment such as a garage or shed. Some people favour using white underneath the board to assist with identifying wires that are run under the board - I tend to use standard dark grey.

Posted by Dom at 2024-11-01 10:28:55 UTC