Well, not really in the building, more the designing, and certainly not one that can’t be overcome. I finally spent a couple of hours being semi-productive in the layout room on layout building, instead of working on other model projects or thinking about layout building. I spent my evening using a new tool (more on that in a minute) to cut cork roadbed and 1/4″ EVA PolyFoam Sheet (See here) which I am planning on using as the base of my roads to bring them almost to track level So I can then build the surface with my usual road material of choice, drywall compound.
So, on to my mistake. I discovered that I haven’t left enough space in the closet staging for Track 2 to clear the shelf brackets that hold the closet shelf in place. My measuring and estimating was wrong. I’m about 1/2″ short of the clearance I probably really should have. I need the shelf to stay for the storage it provides in the closet, but also need to have at least two working tracks on either end of the traverser for a locomotive to get off and let the traverser slide in and out for it to run around cars.
A diesel locomotive just clears, but the caboose smokestack and cupola foul the shelf bracket.
Once upon a time, this kind of discovery would have been met with a river of four letter words and anger. Tonight, it was met with an odd sense of relief that I’d finally found something I’d gotten wrong. The first phases of layout building have gone so well, that I’d found myself looking at the layout and wondering where I’d made a mistake that was going to cause me grief. I’m sure there are others out there to find as I inch closer to laying track and wiring and such, but this is one that is relatively easily fixed. I’ll need to get alternate brackets for the shelf, and install them, not a big deal, will take half an hour to fix once I get the right sized brackets. In the meantime I can keep fiddling around with track and such and getting ready to lay it on the traversers. I could probably do that anytime, but I’m waiting until my friend Dan who is building my switches is done, So I can adjust alignments if needed before I commit to fastening any track in place.
As for the other part of my evening, my new tool.
A new tool, this may be my new favourite cutting tool!
A few weeks ago I used one of Michael’s regular string of 50% or 55% off a single item coupons to buy a hand-held rotary cutter. It was in with the leather and fabric working stuff, but it’s perfect for using with a long metal straight edge for cutting lengthy materials such as the cork or foam sheets I was trimming tonight. I’ve never gotten as nice and straight cuts as easily on large materials with any other knife I’ve owned. With the coupon it was around $10 Canadian, an absolute steal now that I’ve used it!
Edit: The Rotary Cutter is sold under the “ArtMinds” by Michaels, as a leather cutter, packaging is below:
As winter starts to close in, a shot of a jordan spreader hiding behind a snow drift in Sault Ste Marie Ontario.
The Tomb of the Unkown Soldier at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa Ontario. An unknown son of Canada from World War 1, whose remains were returned and interred in 2000 as part of the memorial.
Lest We Forget. Time and mother nature have worn away the letters in the stone on the Cenotaph in Lindsay Ontario.
The Weeping Woman looks down across the plain at the Vimy Ridge Memorial in Vimy France.
The Parade of Veterans during the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 2007. There are none left who lived through World War 1, and those who fought and lived through World War 2 are now elderly. We must not forget the losses of their generations, lest we repeat the mistakes that lead to so much death and destruction.
Musings on my Model Railroading Addiction 