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Early Views and Construction Details

These panorama views aren't terribly easy to do! Here's the back.  Click on them to expand.	Here's the front...
Here's the left side...	And here's the right side.
Construction details:
This is the wooden frame for the layout, 3/8 inch plywood with 1x3 framing, and 1x2 bracing.	This is the lower level of trackwork, at the front is the yard, directly behind is the mainline (oNeTrak compatible), and then loop with reversing loop.  You can just see the reversing-loop controller.  the end of the track under the bag is the start of the helix up to the second layer.
This is the construction of the helix.  This is built with foam core.  It was constructed from a long triangle and two circles of foam-core.  The triangle had a slope of 4 percent in this case.  Every 2 inches, vertical partial-thickness cuts were made in the triangle to allow it to be bent.  The circles were laid onto the triangle, attached with long pins, starting at the bottom and working to the top.  The lower portion of the triangle is inside the upper portion, so the upper circle is slightly larger than the bottom. Then hot glue was applied and the pins removed.  Track-bed and track was then laid.  This makes a remarkedly solid structure.
Here is an overview of the bottom layer of the layout.  The helix is evident at one end.  Note the two holes for acessing the helix, and the reversing loop on the left.