N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 9 - Upper Carrom Gets Platforms

Documenting my journey into model railways.

The layout has undergone some pretty big changes of late, none bigger than it getting some platforms and more importantly working out where the logical place for the station is.

The original plan was to have it on the left side of the layout, but things got cramped real fast and so I decided to flip the script and move the station to the right.  It makes logical sense to just have one road going into the interior of loop 1 and then out via a large 3 track spanning bridge adding even more visual interest.

How to make a custom shaped N Gauge Platform for your model railway

1. Grab acouple of sheets of A4 copier paper and lay it over the track. 
   
   
2. Run your finger over the track embossing the location of the rails on the paper and then trace those embossed lines with a marker to make the next step easier.
   
   
3. Draw parrallel lines approx 4mm outside of the track.  This represents the edge of your platform.  Cut out the shape of your platform and test for clearance on your layout.
   
   
4. Draw a line in the middle of your shape which is a known length, say 50mm.  This is your scale line.  Scan or photograph this shape and put it on your computer.
    
   
5. Import the image into Sketchup and draw a line over the top of your scale line.  Use the tape measure tool to measure this line and input the known length of your scale line.  This will rescale the image to match the real world scale line.  Delete this line as you no longer need it.
    
6. Trace around the edge of your paper shape using the straight line and two point curve tools until you have created a filled shape.  Flip this shape in the Z axis or you will end up creating a mirror image of your platform shape.  Ask me how I know...
   
   
7. Extrude this shape up about 2mm to form your platform surface. 
   
   
8. Use the offset tool to create a matching shape 2mm in from your outer line to form an inner filled shape.  Extrude this shape up 10mm.  Save as an STL and send to your slicer of choice for printing
   

Obligatory Running Video

This weeks video shows off some of the lighting I have been adding to the layout and in particular the little 5v USB power distribution block I bought from AliExpress for some stupidly low price.  Lighting is an involved process and I will be going into this in much more depth in future episodes.