I had a small concern. One of the issues with
Hopwood has been the packing. This is due to the fact that the structures on the layout stretch up to near the top of the backscene in a lot of places and 50% of the height in others. This means that the usual dodge of pairing the boards in diagonally opposing fashion with the two back scenes going either side thus creating a nearly closed box doesn't work - the roofs of one building will meet the top of the bridge etc. This means that the paired boards are wider apart than I would like. This wouldn't be a problem until loading the car happens. I'd normally load the trestles flat in first with the layout boards on top. This won't work as the top of the 'box' is now pushed against the head lining.... bad. The trestles are therefore loaded at the front crossways behind the seats. With Hopwood's 900mm long boards this is OK, with the longer 1,200mm Board 1 of
Tiley Road, that can't happen.
A small experiment was carried out with one back board clamped in place. The issue was going to be the halfway backscene board on board 3 which would crash though the centre of board 2 with the boards paired. With the
Hopwood pros-arch board deputising for this (albeit half the depth) it was quickly realised that the only thing in the way was 8mm depth of track...phew. I may only need to move it the once, but that once has to work.
Packing a new layout into the car usually works the first time, as one can have a dry run first. Trouble is, remembering how it all went in, particularly with several layouts all going out only once or twice a year each, and all slightly different. In the end I took two or three photos of the loading process.
ReplyDeleteIf not the layout, it's often the ancilliary stuff that takes up more space than anticipated; one of the reasons I went to table top + short plinths to support my layouts a couple of years ago.
Giles
Giles
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Photos defo help cos you never pack the car the same way twice 😂
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