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Using Wooden Doors To Support A Layout
Ricky is planning his first HO layout and seeks guidance from readers:
“Am I on the right track (excuse the pun!)? I plan to use a couple of plain 3ft wide wooden doors as the foundation for my layout, but I am not sure if I am doing the right thing. I’ll use 3/8 inch dowel to join them and use wire harnesses at the joints. I thought this would be better than using plywood as with ply might need bracing diagonally which would make it even heavier. My plan is to apply cork or foam sheets on top to provide the height. Would this work, or is there a better way to do it?”
6 Responses to Using Wooden Doors To Support A Layout
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You’re right on track (loved your pun). Lots of modelers use doors for their platform. Dowels will provide plenty of strength for joining the doors together. Foam and/or cork will be fine for your sub-surface. You can dig down into it to make rivers, gullies, and other low spots. Good luck, and have fun!
One thing to consider is whether your layout will ever be moved. If so, then doors plus track and scenery and wiring (etc) may be a very heavy option !
A plywood base on a wooden frame will be much lighter, and will enable easy access for installing and maintaining (and modifying) things like wiring and points mechanisms.
You say you are using two 3 foot doors. If these are end to end, fine, but if side by side, you will need a cutout in the middle for an operator’s space, not to mention installing track and scenery in the middle. If required, you can disguise an operator’s space with mountains or buildings and a sky backdrop.
What your are doing will work just fine. If your going to use ridged foam talk to your local building supply dealer. for the correct glue. Some glues will dissolve the foam. you can also use the same glue to glue your road bed to the foam.
I used some light weight internal doors with great success as part of my OO layout, 6 ft 6 X 2′ 6″ or thereabouts. They had a lightweight timber frame around the periphery with ply facing and cardboard honeycomb between the ply layers, as both a fiddle yard base and a scenic exchange siding scene they were very good, but they were very light. Be careful to keep the track above surface level on underlay or similar as the ply says a few mm just enough to make a hump where the doors join.
I say again it was good because it was light, lighter than conventional cross pieces and Sundela board.
However an outside door would be a complete nightmare as part of an indoor layout, I would use one outside thiugh, well seasoned with country creosote (Waste tractor engine oil)
I have built three railroads, one in N scale and two in HO scale. All three were done using hollow core doors. They are very inexpensive and light weight. I also pinned them together with wooden dowels and I used “suit case latches” that I purchased at Home Depot. I live in a condo and have limited space but I can take them apart and store each door under my bed out of sight. Where they join I made a hill and also used some fencing to hide the joint. Worked very well. Just have fun and enjoy the hobby. Nothing is right or wrong. If you like it, that’s all that matters.
I was always told that if your planning on making a nice layout. Do the job right the first time and you’ll end up with less problems down the road. I built the frame work first then screwed my plywood (or partical board, which is cheaper than plywood), then added my foam board on top for depth.