After a lot of investigation, and I mean months, and a great deal of resistance to the idea I became convinced that Walt's approach to building a layout was greatly superior to any other. Walt probably does not remember me as it was a few years ago but he was very patient through a number of emails and a couple of long phone calls helping me see the light. For which I still owe a large debt of gratitude.
Frankly I think if you become familiar with Walt's method you will come away with the same opinion. If you subscribe to SitG take a look back at #83 with the two articles on Ron Brown's layout rebuild. The only drawback to the articles is there is no photo of the frame without the Dibond sheet material on it. If you look back on any number of Charles Bednarik's photo essays you will see pictures of Robert Hekemian's very large and beautiful New Jersey layout http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=23404 build by Walt. Robert's deck mateial pictured is a recycled plastics plywood and whn I talked to him about his plans to build a new layout he too said he would be using Dibond. Walt's approach is extraordinarily simple using rectangular aluminum channel, 8' lengths laddered with as few as 3 cross pieces (ends & center). DiBond, the trademarked name, for a composite sheet good; a sandwich of two thin sheets of AL with a polyethylene core made in various thicknesses, use for the deck. What convinced me was when I actually did some figuring of just how much labor and time I would save building this way. The construction time is fractional to that of a wood setup. I also think it would lend itself very easily to a modular arrangement where two or more layouts could be combined into a larger one because of it's light weight and simple construction. While I might get an argument from Walt, the aluminum channel can be soldered, it does not have to be welded, still providing solid construction. So again the this simplifies construction if you don't happen to be a welder or have easy access to welding equipment. My two sense and admiration for Walt's designs. Thanks again Walt for the help back when. Unfortunately the layout still awaits construction.. Chris Scott Sonoma, CA | | Message: 7 | Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:47:28 -0500 | From: "Walt Swartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Subject: Re: [SSLiveSteam] Rasied Track ideas | To: "Small-scale live steam discussions" | <[email protected]> | Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; | reply-type=original | | | hi, | Over the past 10 plus years, I've built 20 or so PETS | (Portable, Elevated, Track, Systems - or Permanent - - - ). | They are scattered from coast to coast and from North to South. | The oval that used to be used near the pool at Diamond Head | was one of mine. | If you would like to contact me off list, I'd be glad to | share some experiences I've encountered with building them. | First off, if you do not use anodized aluminum (it is | difficult to weld), you should prime and paint 6061 after | fabrication. No, aluminum does not rust. By definition that | only happens to ferrous metals. | Aluminum is easily degraded by salty atmospheres, many weak | acids, most common air pollutants, etc. | My home track has survived 10 years of salty air, tropical | thingies (Andrew, and two this year) and lots of use. I | touched up the paint for the first time last summer. | The Alusuisse material - Dibond - seems to be the best | answer for surface material. A little costly, but it is | light weight, strong, comes in different colors, and is easy | to work with. Ron Brown recently resurfaced his PETS ( I | call it the "Brown Bean" because it is kidney bean shaped) | with Dibond and seems quite happy with it. I have a portable | track here also with Dibond on it, and it is doing great. | Keep your stream up! | Walt | _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
