Hi all,
I am about to purchase materials for baseboard construction - but thought I would check with all the experts on here for advice on my plans prior to spending. Please help where you can.

Location - Indoors (dedicated room) with good temperature control.
Mobility - Semi-permanent (not intending to exhibit at this stage - but may later so an option). On trestles.
Size - 2 x 5ft by 3ft boards (i.e. 10ft by 3ft).

Question 1: I was thinking of going with PSE 21mm x 44mm. Is this good enough? Is 18mm x 69mm better or worse?

Question 2: Is 9mm Plywood a good option for the top? Other suggestions?

Question 3: I was intending to have an internal bracing every 300mm in both directions (i.e. 3 braces on the 3ft side and 5 braces along the 5ft side. Is this sensible?

Any feedback welcome please.

Thanks in advance.

I have a 10 x 3 layout with a dedicated room, and I use 9 mm ply but I do recomend if you do get ply to paint it, nothing like added protection.

I used 60 x 40 studding from Wickes for my cross members and frame, only bought the studding because of the price.

Good luck with your build.

Sounds OK to me.

I use 9mm ply, 2"x1" PAR metric equiv and a good coat of varnish on everything, both sides and edges.

Don't forget to drill cable holes in the battens - a lot easier to do before attaching to the ply!

Dave G

Question 1.
I've used 21mm x 44mm and find it is fine for outside frames and cross braces.

Question 2.
I've used 9mm sundeala board and, if treated as per instructions, have found it doesn't warp and is a lot easier to work with than ply i.e. you can push track pins in with ease (although a pair of pliers is better ) and it has a certain amount of sound deadening quality despite the fact that whatever we use for baseboards we are creating, in effect, a drum which will resonate.

Question 3.
Your spacing of the bracing sounds OK but don't permanently fix them until you have checked where points will be on your track plan.

I did the same as Daveg, but used MDF instead of ply, because I had a few sheets left over. They were 4ft x 2ft sheets and I used a ladder frame on 1ft centres. As Mick says, don't fasten the cross braces in until you work out where the point motors go. I painted both sides with MDF primer to seal the surface. You can mix some brown acrylic in with the primer to tone it down.

It all sounds good to me but please remember 3 feet is a wide baseboard and if anything goes wrong (breakdown, derailment etc.) ye law of sod dictates it will always be on the other side!

Seriously, make sure you can always reach all parts easily when running trains.

I would go for the 18mm x 69mm - you don't need strength (unless you are going to walk on it) but you do need stiffness which the greater depth will give you (quite a bit) more of.

Of course, personally I would go for a different technology.........

Cheers  Jon 

I agree with all that's been said except the idea of using Sundeala as it's too soft and will sag over time, even with a 12" spacing. I note that you say you are not planning to exhibit yet but may in the future. If you do , you will find that 5ft X 3ft boards are too big to transport easily. I feel that you would be better limiting your board width to 2ft and length to 4ft. I don't know how this will suit the available space, but some time now thinking about it now will save grief later.

Depends really how you intent to transport it, but like Steve says it needs thinking about now.

When I built mine it was always with a transit van in mind, and using a sack-barrow (which I already have) to move it around, so I built the boards 6'x3'. With 2' high back and end boards it all bolts together into a 6x3x2 wardrobe-sized box that goes through a standard house doorway on the barrow and I can assemble on my own into the 12'x3' layout


Paul

I have found that 22x44 (2"x 1" planed) isn't deep enough for baseboards much over 3' in any direction. Much prefer at least 3" deep these days - 75mm - to prevent sagging, which will occurr even with cross-bracing. Box type all ply construction using, say, 6mm ply, is quite good and fairly lightweight. It can always be braced in the corner joints with small section softwood - either pinned or glued.

Sundela as a baseboard surface is a myth that just keeps going. Soft, saggy, fibreous material with no structural strength at all and not stable enough to be reliable as a top surface. Well, not the type I have encountered in the past.

Izzy

For the layout I've just started, I'm using three 2by4s, 18mm thick chipboards, solid enough yet not too heavy.
Eventually I plan to build a small frame so the 3 boards can be stacked on top of each-other to fit in the back of my car.

Although not directly relevant here, the current edition of Model Railway Journal (No. 239) has a good article by Gordon Gravett concerning planning a new exhibition layout where he goes in to detail about designing-in how to move the small layout (less than 8ft x 2ft) by car and get it into the exhibition venue. The focus is on weight reduction whilst retaining portability. Although planned as an 0 gauge layout the design work is equally applicable to N. The track plan is an interesting shunting layout using 4 points and a single slip. This would translate to N very well using a 4ft x 9 inch footprint. Worth a look in WHSmith's browsing section before purchase.

The edition also has an extensive article on St. Ruth - an excellent 2mm/ft layout based on Penzance in the diesel hydraulic era.

I can't understand the adverse comments regarding sundeala as I've been using it for 25 years now with no ill effects such as sagging
True - all my layouts have been constructed for indoor use, but that's what the OP stated.

Quote from: newportnobby on May 27, 2015, 01:53:22 PM
I can't understand the adverse comments regarding sundeala as I've been using it for 25 years now with no ill effects such as sagging

What about the Sundeala - has that sagged? 

Cheers Jon 

Quote from: PostModN66 on May 27, 2015, 01:58:19 PM

Quote from: newportnobby on May 27, 2015, 01:53:22 PM
I can't understand the adverse comments regarding sundeala as I've been using it for 25 years now with no ill effects such as sagging

What about the Sundeala - has that sagged? 

Cheers Jon 

That's my point, Jon. I have sagged considerably in the last 25 years but the sundeala hasn't