UPDATE N Trak Gatorfoam and the Mooers Junction Railroad

tyndalljohn6's picture

Picked up my 4 X 8 X 1/2" sheet of Gatorfoam© today, from Dave Myers http://www.gatorfoam.net/. Pickup is a great luxury for me as he can not ship large sizes, cheaply. I did have the sheet cut in half and with the quality panel saw Dave uses it was perfectly square. With Gatorfoam© I get a true 1/2" thickness, not the ??/32" available at lumber suppliers. This means that the Gatorfoam© I bought today matches exactly the GF from years ago. Also Gatorfoam© is the most accurate sheet goods I have ever seen. The last sheets I worked with that were extremely accurate (corner to corner square and consistent thickness) was FinPly. (an import from Finland) http://fcpcusa.com/

It was great to confirm that my skills were still good to build the frame and have it come out square.

 

    

     Current expansion on the N Scale Mooers Junction Railroad, loosely based on the junction of the North(Canada)/South(NY) Montreal and Plattsburgh Railroad's Junction with West(NY)/East(NY/VT) Ogdensburg  and Lake Champlain Railroad. This information is from the Larry Marnes' Mooers Junction Memories published by The Border Press 37 ClintonStreet Rouses Point NY 12979. My copies were purchased at http://www.yelp.com/biz/cornerstone-drug-and-gift-inc-rouses-point.

     As a member of the Northeast NTrak http://www.nenscale.org/ an NScale group and with the NTRAK Modular Railroading Society, Inc http://www.nenscale.org/ I have been able build a 4 foot corner module that I will be able to use 365 days a year on my layout, unplug, unbolt and take to shows. NTrak standards can be found at http://www.ntrak.org/documents/Manual.pdf. In this blog I will follow my progress in completing the module.

     I am using Gatorfoam© from a model railroader of note, Dave Myers and my Gatorfoam© supplier. http://www.gatorfoam.net/ My whole layout uses 1/2" Gatorfoam©. Mod Podge is used to glue roadbed and track in place. A 4X8X1/2" sheet weighs in just under 10 lbs.

     I will be picking up (Dave can not economically ship this size) a  4X4X1/2" sheet of Gatorfoam©. This will give me assurance that my module meets the 4 X 4 ft requirement and is perfectly square.

Be sure to attend and see NENTrak at the upcoming  events:

Jan 29-31, 2016 Winterfest, Springfield, MA Amherst Railway Society - Big Railroad Hobby Show Big “E” Exposition Center, West Springfield, MA Show Sat 9:00am to 5:00pm - Sun 10:00am to 5:00pm

Feb 13-14, 2016 National Heritage Museum, Lexington,MA

March 19-20, 2016 Great Train Expo, Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA

April 24, 2016 Hooksett Lions Club, Cawley Middle School, Hooksett, NH 

Comments

Framing

I have not worked with gater boards, , I had sag on 3/8 plywood on a modual  24 in cross braces, wished I would have put in  vertical stiffeners under the tracks .  .REGARDS RAY

"Perfectly square"?

Dear ???

 I will be picking up a  4X4X1/2" sheet of Gatorfoam©. This will give me assurance that my module ... is perfectly square.

Assuming any piece of hardware-type sheet material edge/corner is "perfectly square" ex-factory is risky at best. Plywood, Foamcore, GatorFoam, paper, card, styrene, brass, all of these materials must be manually checked before use to avoid confusion and undue stress...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

 

 

tyndalljohn6's picture

Lack of Sagging

Ray

The left hand side of my layout is 21" X 96" X 1/2" Gatorfoam©. . Moved around several times, over the years, and still no sagging across the 21". That section uses cross bracing at only 32". It has been painted, had cork glued, had cork removed and track relocated and still going strong.

John C. Tyndall SR
 
Modeling in N Scale the
Mooers (NY) Junction Railroad
in Manchester NH

 

tyndalljohn6's picture

Good Point Prof

Prof

You make a good point. After a lifetime of construction there are a number of things I do automatically. My reason for using the  4 X 4 was it gives me more of an ability, to get square, over getting a 34" X 72" piece of Gatorfoam© and cutting off the 4 corners. Much easier for me to do it this way, in an apartment, with limited layup area.

John

John C. Tyndall SR
 
Modeling in N Scale the
Mooers (NY) Junction Railroad
in Manchester NH

 


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