Constructing a Valance

After recently determining my lighting method, I wanted to move on to the valance.  At about the same time I was testing the lighting, I was also testing valance options for my layout.  I only built one mock-up to ensure that it would meet my criteria.  I ended up using 3/4" thick MDF from Menards.  It appeared that if supported adequately, that I should be able to achieve both of these goals:

First, I wanted a valance to which I could mount drop-ceiling track over the aisle side.  This was important because I didn't want to construct a valance from which light would escape over the top if I were to try securing it to a uniform drop ceiling.  There will not be a drop ceiling over the layout behind the valance, rather I will secure thin plywood or paneling of some kind to match the profile of the benchwork below, which the valance will follow as well.  This will basically serve as a dust barrier and also as a simple way to finish off the inside of the lighted side of the valance.  More than likely this will be painted that same color as the backdrop.  I don't think anyone will spend much time looking at it, so I'm not going to bother with cabinet grade finish work on this aspect.

The other factor in how I chose to construct the valance was my need for long straight sections.  Thin masonite works really well for those flowing aisles on a mountain railroad, but this largely a tangent track operation, so I didn't want to have a fist-fight with some 1/4" thick material to get it straight only to end up with a crappy looking wavy ribbon the next time the humidity changed by 1%.  

I ripped an 11" X 8' section of the MDF and primed the layout facing side with basic white Zinsser primer (being a test piece I only painted the layout-facing side).  Just a safety note here... Evidently MDF is made up of some horrible stuff, so I took care by cutting it outside, while wearing a respirator.  For the same reason, I've decided that on the final application over the layout, I'll prime all sides of it to seal it up and then paint the room-facing side some kind of wall color.  I'd advise doing a couple light coats, too, as MDF is fairly absorbent so you don't bubble up the surface.  My piece took the Zinsser primer really well and doesn't show any signs of swelling after more than two months time.  

To suspend the MDF strips from the ceiling I decided to engineer some simple "L" brackets from quality 1x2's glued and screwed together.  This gave me a good compromise of strength and size, so that they wouldn't interfere too much with how I was mounting the lights behind the valance.  These would then be secured to the floor joists above and the MDF screwed to the face of them.  Since the orientation of my layout room runs parallel with the floor joists, this means that the location of the valance mounts naturally falls between the joists 95% of the time.  This is okay though, as the joists aren't necessarily plumb.  Between the joist I've been cutting a length of 2x8 on which the "L" bracket for the valance will attach.  this allows me to plumb and level everything on both axis to 
ensure a uniform line.  

 14" long "L" bracket constructed of quality 1x2's glued and screwed together.

Bracket attached to 2x8 between joists.  about 10" of the bracket is exposed for attaching

the valance itself, and the lower edge of the valance will likely float below the bottom

of the bracket by an inch or so, depending on where the level-line falls.

 

Several supports ready to accept the valance on the east wall of the layout room.

Benchwork here will only be 8-10" deep, back side of valance will be 14" from

the wall to provide some front-lighting to the scene.

 

I'm going to submit an non-sponsored plug here for a laser level.  The version I purchased is the DeWalt DW088K.  It will throw a vertical and/or horizontal line out to 100' and has a magnet mount that can be screwed to a wall, or a basic camera-style tripod mount that you can use on any tripod.  It has proven indispensable for the valance process, and many of the room building and layout planning steps to this point.  For $160 or so, it is one of the most cost-effective tools I've ever purchased.  

DeWalt DW088K Laser Level.  Building a layout?  Get one... seriously.

 

No, really.  Get one.

With any luck (and an abundance of ambition) I hope to have the valance supports in place by the end of August or early September.  I have a deadline to install some new doors and trim for two bedrooms at the same time for a pending carpet installation, so that may take priority.  In any event, it seems that I should be able to commence benchwork construction by the time we get into fall.  

 A photo I took from March of last year at Union Mills, IN.  CSX was putting together a train of loaded

covered hoppers delivered by the Chesapeake & Indiana.  This scene will be represented on my layout, though the

operator of the line will be my freelanced Indiana Central. 

Dog Days

Summer isn't exactly my favorite time of year.  I'm more of a spring and fall kind of guy, I'll even take the brutal depths of winter over the sweltering heat of summer.  The good news is that after 8 (or more) hours worth of full-force nature at work, I'm drawn to the cool dry air of the basement even more, inspiring me to move forward on my layout journey. 

Room panorama (quick and dirty) showing wall paint applied.  Valance

supports are being installed now - visible hanging from ceiling at top right.

Between the busy work schedule, and the peril-fraught journey of raising children, I've managed to make some more progress since the last post.  My track plan is essentially finalized.  This allowed me to nail down the height of my benchwork, which in some cases will be multi-decked.  Once I reached this point, it seemed like a logical step to get my wall colors applied since I was able to create a demarcation line between sky and room wall color.  

Finalizing the track plan, and subsequently the benchwork depth allowed me to also determine the location of my valance.  This will be the last tedious step before I can finally move on to the benchwork, and as I've mentioned in my previous post - that will be the stage where it finally starts to feel like a hobby.  This is pretty much uncharted territory for me.  I had layouts (maybe "train set" is more appropriate) as a kid, but years of inspiration and observation are now culminating in my own vision coming to life, it's a very exciting thing.  I would hope to encourage anyone else out there who feels overwhelmed by the beginning stages to press on, as progress begets progress - this coming from a Major League Procrastinator!

Sometime soon, I hope to create a decent track-plan to share.  Up until this point I've pretty much been using the old-school graph paper method.  I'll also try to explain my valance construction method in detail.  

 

Whoa, Baby!

It's been a busy couple of months around the house here.  My wife and I greeted our second boy into the world on March 21st, so things have been in high gear since then.  Fortunately, thanks to a well-tempered baby and an accommodating wife, some progress has still been made on room prep and planning for the layout.  Our ever-helpful four year old has also been spending a lot of time in the basement with me trying to push me along.  He may be more excited and impatient than me when it comes to getting some track down - it's adorable and terrifying all at the same time... the kid is exactly like me!

My four-year-old son offers input and planning advice

during the track-planning stage.

I've actually been able to make more progress than I'd thought possible and have pretty much nailed down the track plan as well as the mounting locations for all of my valance.  Additionally, I removed the temporary lighting setup I'd had since "ground-breaking" in 2014 and wired up all of the permanent plugs needed for when I transition the layout lighting into place as I construct the valance.  After the valance is complete, I will finally be at the benchwork stage, which is really when it starts to feel like a hobby, I hope.  

Anyway, just wanted to let anyone out there who might be listening know that I am alive and well, and moving forward, more to come soon! 

Backdrop Blues

I'd like to thank the person who decided we should be able to buy smaller 7oz. paint cups to test our eyes on a larger section of wall than those massively unreliable paint swatches.  If I were forced to decide on a color based on the sample card, I surely would have been disappointed once I put it on the wall.  On something as visible and "in-your-face" as a backdrop, I feel it is one of the most important elements of layout design to select a color that is minimally offensive.  Color preference can be a subjective thing, but I think that if you keep the shade comfortably within the margins of subtlety you should be safe.  With that in mind, I plucked about 46 swatches off the wall at Menards to take home to begin my selection process.  Spending maybe an hour one evening, I whittled the pile down into six colors that I thought would be decent for my backdrop.  For about $3 each, I was able to bring home five of the colors I'd selected (one she couldn't mix properly because the ratio of tint to base was so small that one drop would have been too much). 

Dutch Boy paint samples from Menards.  At a little over 7oz. these provide

a great (and affordable) way to test backdrop colors on a good sized section of wall.

 I separated the wall into five sections about 16" wide on which to place the colors side by side, separated by a 3/4" masking tape line, then I started to apply the colors.  It's amazing to me that when I chose the colors, I thought all of them would be really close contenders.  It became obvious on at least two of them within 10 seconds of rolling on the color that they would not be my selection.  

Several colors applied to the wall.

 

After all the colors had dried I was able to step back and consider how I felt about them.  I posed some structures and cars in front of them... moved them around... moved them again.  I wasn't in a hurry either, so I tried to just spend a few minutes standing in front of them every day when I happened to be in the basement.  

 

 I quickly narrowed my options to the two colors above the salmon-colored Potash 

covered hopper.  The photo probably doesn't really show the true color here, but

it's pretty close.

 In the midst of this I also started engineering a valance and then also invited a few local modeler friends over to seek their opinions on the valance and the colors.  They agreed that the three colors to the right were all flawed in one way or another.  Too purple, too green, too blue...

 

For those interested in the technical details the colors (all Dutch Boy Platinum Eggshell) 

from left to right are:

136-2DB - Erie Skies

137-1DB - Arielle

237-2DB - Fresh Air

134-2DB - Vandy Blue

137-2DB - Blue Crab Claw

 

As a group we were split down the middle on the left two colors.  My personal preference is the far left "Erie Skies" color.  When I stand in front of the second from the left "Arielle" it almost looks like there is no color, especially if i were to lose the white stripes and other colors for reference.  I feel like it may appear as if the wall weren't painted at all... which I suppose could be desirable in some respects.  But as I sit here typing this and look out the window, the sky appears a deeper shade of blue than any of the colors on the wall.  Still I think the subtle approach is best and I will arrive at a decision on one or the other color soon.

 

So, the moral of the story is this:  If you are in the same position of trying to pick a color, do NOT pick one in the store looking at one square inch of sample card.  If I had done that, I likely would have picked one of the colors to the right, which when applied full size on the wall pretty much looked like Hell... Blue Hell.  It doesn't have to be full-on analysis paralysis, but take the time to pick a few and spend the ten bucks on samples first just to be sure.  I would also urge you to err on the lighter side, as these (or most, really) colors appear substantially darker when applied to a larger area.

 

 

Lighting Considerations

For the last couple months I've been busy painting the walls in the workroom as well as finishing up some other projects around the house.  Last week I finally had a chance to start thinking about what color "sky" I'd like to apply to the layout room, which I will discuss in another post soon.  Recently, I was also able to make a decision about how I'd like to light the layout, which I felt was an important step before trying to choose a backdrop color.  In short, basic 4' double-bulb fluorescent shop lights spaced a foot or less apart will light the layout.  I plant to set them roughly 4-5 inches out from the fascia to allow adequate side-on light to the layout itself.  Most of my track will be set back 6 or more inches from the edge of the benchwork, and there will be roughly 27" of vertical separation between the bulbs and the layout surface.  I want to avoid the top-down effect of having lights directly over the benchwork.  My layout will represent mid-October where sunlight in north-central Indiana is fairly low-angle all day long. A rigid valance dropping down 10-12" from the ceiling will shield the majority of the light from the viewer, creating the "shadow-box" sort of effect that I prefer.  I was able to mock-up this plan with an 8' module placed on some shelf brackets in the workroom where my staging yard will be located.

Mock-up of layout at appropriate height with basic valance.  This allowed me to test various

Lighting techniques as well as specific bulbs to determine what looked "right" to my eye.

 Once I set up the module and a basic valance I was able to check some different lighting options.  I have read a lot about LED lighting and believe that it is probably the best option for the future, however right now the cost is still a downside for me.  My best option for being able to move forward without breaking the bank was going to be either fluorescent tubes or CFL bulbs spaced closely.  So I acquired the materials to test both options.  I pulled enough 12-2 wire from my panel to the layout room to power a small town, so some quick math confirmed that I wouldn't exceed code limits of electrical load on my lighting.  This was an important consideration from step one when I was pulling wire a year ago before drywall.  30 to 40 fixtures is a whole lot of amperage, so I feel it pays to provide a little bit of over-kill in the planning and construction phase.  Below is my very biased, non-scientific testing and decision-making process:

Test one consisted of two basic 4' shop light fixtures using T8 bulbs.  I placed the fixtures basically end-to-end behind the valance set as far forward as possible.  I bought three types of Phillips 32W T8 bulbs from Home Depot:

Daylight Deluxe: 2,850 Lumens - CRI 75 - Color Temp 6500K

Natural Light: 2,850 Lumens - CRI 82 - Color Temp 5000K

Neutral: 2,875 Lumens - CRI 84 - Color Temp 3500K

To start with, I placed both bulbs into the fixtures to get an idea of their overall appearance.  I very quickly decided that the Daylight Deluxe was far too blue, the Natural Light was pretty good (but "flat" sort of gray-ish) and that the Neutral was great at bringing out the warm colors (red, orange, yellow) but cast an overall orange-ish hue (which was expected).  

Natural Light bulbs on the left, Daylight Deluxe on the right.  Note the very obvious

blue light cast by the Daylight Deluxe... yeeek.

 

Natural Light bulbs on the left, Neutral bulbs on the right.  The yellows of the CNW GP40

and the ex-Chessie covered hopper stand out much better, even the Tuscan of the Conrail covered hopper

seems to look better, bringing out the slight red tint. The orange tint is very obvious against the 

wall though, and seems to kill the blue and green colors. 

 

 

I felt like the Daylight Deluxe option was off the table.  The blue was too extreme for my taste.  I wondered if combing the Natural Light and Neutral bulbs in the fixtures (one of each per fixture) would produce a "best of both worlds" result... so I tried it out.

Combining the Natural Light and Neutral bulbs actually gave me the effect that was most pleasing 

to my eye.

I was pleased that it seemed to have the desired effect of bringing out all the colors, while backing off the familiar orange cast of the "warmer" bulb.  At this point I was pretty sure I would end up using this method.  I still had to try out the CFL option, though so I built up a test set-up on the back of the test valance, and took down the fluorescent fixtures.

I placed a ceiling box on the framework of the valance, a cheap plastic socket and wired between the sockets, spacing them about 16" apart. 

 

CFL bulbs placed behind the valance.

I used Utilitech 18W (75W equivalent) bulbs from Lowe's.  These advertise 5000K Daylight color with 1200 Lumens.  

Lighting provided by the four CFL bulbs.

 

Overall, the light provided by the CFL option wasn't too bad, but the intensity was lacking.  I thought that stepping up to the 100W equivalent bulbs I had might help this, and it may have but I ran into another problem.  I didn't take photos to show it, but the major issue with the 100W eq's wasn't so much the light, but the aesthetics.  The 100W eq's are so long, that when combined with the depth of the box and socket along with the deeper base of the bulb, the lit portion of the bulb was already over the edge of the benchwork, producing a strong top-lit effect that I was trying to avoid.  It was a little bit evident on the 75W eq's as well.  Turning the bulbs vertical may have alleviated this, but then the bottom of the bulb was close to protruding from the bottom of the valance, which wasn't gonna work either.  At this point I scrapped the CFL option.  Difficulty of wiring a hundred-some-odd of these sockets around the room was also a factor.  I had initially thought that it may be a slightly cheaper option than the T8 fixtures, but this turned out to be false as well.  Not by a huge margin, so the basis of my decision could be made solely on what I thought looked best.  Subsequently I settled on the combined T8 bulb method. 

With the lighting question answered, I could turn my attention to the backdrop and valance.