Plywood Framing with Ken McCorry
Ken McCorryDescription
One of the many questions Ken McCorry gets about plywood benchwork on his Conrail railroad is how he maintains the strength in the four-foot cantilevers he has on the second deck. He uses three-quarter plywood, cut three inches wide out of four-by-eight-foot sheets, four-foot on each leg. An eighteen-inch radius curve is used for more strength with the plate tied directly into the two-by-six studs that support the outer wall of the building. This plate extends four feet down from the top level of the benchwork into the studs.
Allen Keller goes on to ask Ken what technique he uses for his structures. He has kitbuilt, kitbashed, and scratchbuilt structure varieties on the layout. Ken enjoys kitbashing more than any other technique for building structures on his layout. Walther’s has been a great resource for him to find American industrial structures. Before they came out with their structures, every railroad had a brewery of some sort as that was the only American industrial structure. The material he likes to use is gator foam and large pieces of styrene, which he gets at sign suppliers. For more on building multi-level model train benchwork and how to build sturdy benchwork, visit the Model Railroad Academy archives.
Allen, one of the many questions I get about plywood bench work is how I maintain the strength in four foot cantilevers I have in the second deck. What I use is three-quarter plywood, cut three inches wide, out of a four by eight foot sheet, four foot on each leg. I use an 18 inch radius curve here, which gives me strength. And this plate is tied directly into the two by six studs, to support the outer wall of the building. This plate extends four foot down from the top level of bench work into the stud.
And this is what gives me the strength. What techniques do you use for your structures? You've got kit-built, I see on the ledge, you've got some scratch-built structures, you've got kitbashed, you've got a whole variety of things, but is there something that you particularly enjoy doing about structures? I probably enjoy kitbashing more than anything else. Walthers has been a great source of American industrial structures.
Yes. Before they came out with their structures, everybody's railroad had a Helgin brewery of some sort on it. That was the only American style industrial structure or some of the old Revell kits. Now, what kind of materials do you like to use? I use Gatorfoam.
I've been using that for a number of years, Styrene, large sheets of Styrene, which you can buy at mostly sign suppliers. You can get sheets of Styrene 40 by 72 inches, it's called a hip. And it's a lot easier to build some of the large structures I build. I actually have a couple structures on here that are eight feet long. There's one single building.
Well, let's stop. Let's get you to show us about the Gatorfoam.
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