# Toy train showcase, almost finished



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I'm building a toy train showcase for my father in law. I guess they're not actually toys but they are electric train set engines put out to be collectables from a major rail company that has 20 different brands all under one main brand (21 in all, I guess they're the GM of the rail industry). He paid around $3000 for all 21 engines so I really hope this showcase STAYS on the wall. My plan is to attach the back REALLY WELL as in a LOT of nails, and then screw through the plywood back into the wall, hitting studs in 4 places. Please tell me now if this isn't a good idea.

I made it to hold two engines per shelf, each sitting on a piece of HO track, and the main name engine will sit alone in the center on the top shelf. 11 shelves in all. The top shelf has boards slanting backwards toward the rear to create a centered position for the main name engine. I figure he might later have a brass plate made with whatever info pertaining to the engines on it and these boards will be a good place to display that. Since there was an odd amount of engines this was the only thing I could think of to keep the top shelf from looking like it had a bunch of wasted space. Cutting the back angle was fun. They were 69 degrees and the other end had 21 degree angles. My miter saw will not do a 69 degree angle. So I left it centered at 90 and put the 21 degree cut ends against the fence and _gently_ dropped the blade into each board. It worked and I only had to make three to get two good ones. LOL

A large sheet of plexiglass will slide in from the right side between the face frame and the main carcass of the unit. I routed a slot in the bottom and top boards to serve as a track for this. The unit is made from poplar wood with two coats of early American Minwax stain on it to darken it up almost like walnut. Tomorrow it will get a coat of polyurethane. I still need to cut the lauan back and I will put maroon felt on that to make a nice backing visible behind the trains. Right now, it's fully assembled and stained. 

This thing has several mistakes I made, being as I'm only a novice wood worker, but I think I covered them pretty well. For one thing, it was supposed to have a top piece of face frame to go with the side pieces but I forgot to allow for this when I cut the sides so I had to rethink my whole top piece to try to achieve the trim look I wanted. Originally the very top board was going to round over like it appears now, with cove trim below this. Instead I cut the cove into the top board and then made rounded over crown molding for the top. This retained the trim look I wanted and compensated for the mistake in my measuring. As a bonus, I think it looks better without the top face frame after all. So it was a happy mistake, but sure wasn't the only one. But overall, I'm satisfied with how it is turning out and I learned what NOT to do for next time. 

I've learned a lot on this. It was my first experience with dadoes for shelving. My first project using poplar. My first display case also so I got to figure how to make the plexiglass install (still have to cut it to fit). My first experience gluing and clamping a face frame where I relied on the glue only to hold it, it worked and I actually got the edges lined up near flawlessly. Light sanding afterwards took care of a very slight inconsistency in the alignment. I've had a lot of firsts in this project. Next time I'll be more prepared.

Overall dimensions are about 32" wide x 48" tall so you get an idea of its size. 

I'm absolutely loving the way the stain shows off white grain lines in this wood. Some of it was a little unpredictable. I think the board on the top shelf that's slanted came out a little dark. Also the bottom of the right face frame was dark also. I think maybe I over applied the stain on both areas, but otherwise I love the white lines showing in the wood. I'll definitely do this stain/wood combo again on other projects.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Here you can better see what I did to the top shelf with the angled boards. Also you can see my crown molding fix for my short measuring mistake.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Close up of the crown molding from the viewing side. Top shelf was routed using a cove bit, then crown molding was made with a round over bit.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

For the bottom shelf I used a large ogee bit. I hope my choices of profiles was ok to do, mixing like I did. I like it. I tried to take inspiration from furniture I have here at home. The makers of it used a mix of bits there also, having crown differing from bottom boards. I was making this on a budget and had to choose from bits I already owned. I actually did buy a bit to work with though, a 1/8 straight bit to make the slot for the plexiglass. Had to have that. Nothing else would work.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

One thing I didn't show you that I'm wholly ashamed of was all the nail marks going up the sides to hold the shelves in. A couple of my pictures barely show it. My dadoes weren't all that good so glue alone wouldn't hold it. I had to shoot no less than 2 nails per shelf per side, so I have 20 nail marks up each side. Not only that but the nail gun was a nail/staple combo which left a mark that looks like _ instead of just a . only. I HATE HATE HATE THIS. I learned my lesson and have switched guns now. I'll make better dadoes next time also so maybe nails won't be needed. But as said earlier, I'm a novice, so maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Having no one to teach me wood working except the internet and magazines means stuff like this happens until I learn to keep it from happening.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Hey, this morning the stain looks different. I guess it had time to dry out more? The dark spots have evened out with the rest of it now. Awesome! It's also not at black looking as it had been. More of the rich brown that early American stain normally looks when on pine, but this is poplar. That's fine but I sort of liked that weathered wood look I had when it was wet.


----------



## wood_chucker (Oct 18, 2012)

Duane Bledsoe said:


> One thing I didn't show you that I'm wholly ashamed of was all the nail marks going up the sides to hold the shelves in. A couple of my pictures barely show it. My dadoes weren't all that good so glue alone wouldn't hold it. I had to shoot no less than 2 nails per shelf per side, so I have 20 nail marks up each side. Not only that but the nail gun was a nail/staple combo which left a mark that looks like _ instead of just a . only. I HATE HATE HATE THIS. I learned my lesson and have switched guns now. I'll make better dadoes next time also so maybe nails won't be needed. But as said earlier, I'm a novice, so maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Having no one to teach me wood working except the internet and magazines means stuff like this happens until I learn to keep it from happening.


Same thing happend to me when I built my easel for wfc a couple weeks ago. I sprayed my pieces before I assembled them thinking it would be easier but I guess I got some poly in my rabbets and dados and the glue wouldn't adhere. So I had to nail them I also only had a crown stapler and was very upset about the marks it left. Its all good though Its just a learning experience.


----------



## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Nice display cabinet/shelf. 

My only comment though is your use of nails. Nails are for building houses, not shelving. Counter sunk screws would be a much better choice. I like course threaded drywall screws and buy them in boxes of 500. Over time nails will come loose and fail to hold.

Glue and screw....


----------



## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

I officially politely demand a picture of the thing when it's full of trains! I have a lifetime supply of them sitting in boxes in my attic (though none as expensive at that!), all kinds of gauges, and I've often thought of lining walls with shelves in one of our spare rooms have at least give them room to sit on. So I'd love to see the finished product, in full use!


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I'll post a pic of it once he fills it with the engines. In the mean time here are some more pics of the finished product.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I made the back using lauan plywood covered with maroon felt.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

The plexiglass front slides in from the right side between the face frame and the cabinet itself. There are routed grooves for it to slide in on the top and bottom.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Plexiglass front fully closed. These pics really do this NO JUSTICE. I'm using my cell phone and then emailing them so I can use an iPad to post them here. Up close and in person this cabinet looks much better than these hazy pics show.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Here is a porch lamp post I made for my sister from the left over poplar used in making the train showcase. I added a light socket to a votive candle lantern and used this as my light. It looks like it's painted black but that's actually a dark blue.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Close up of the lantern.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

The front door opens on this lantern to put candles in, but now it's to change the light bulb. I used a 3/4" plumbing coupler as the candle stick, and a 1 1/2" plumbing drain pipe cap cut down to make a candle base. These conceal the socket assembly and give it a country look. Plumbing pipes can be just the right colors for this kind of work. I shaped the coupler fitting to look like a slightly melted candle using my random orbital sander and a 220 grit disc. Was easy as pie and came out great. I also used it to sand off the lettering, seams, rough spots, and glossy finish the fittings had. Both pieces now look almost exactly like they were cast from plaster, just like ceramics look before being baked. I liked the flat look so I left it. Was going to paint them but even the colors are right so I'm calling it finished. The pipe is made to hold hot water, and the bulb is only a 15 watt bulb so it doesn't make enough heat to hurt the PVC at all. Doesn't directly contact it anyway.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

And it works!


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Originally I had roughed out this light from wood for the top.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I had it working too but decided I didn't like it as well. It left the bulb fully exposed. It wasn't until after I had assembled it that I figured out how to add glass to it. I may make some more in the future from wood and add glass but I really like how the one I made came out using the metal candle lantern.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I may as well show you some more gifts I made. This is a trophy display for my brother. He got an award for a high bowling game. He bowled a 290 (has since bowled a 300, no higher score can be done without a handicap) and this was given to him to show it. I made a lighted display for it.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

I fixed it to hold a multi color changing LED light and it shines down through the top into the crystal and shows off the etching inside it.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

The stained top is removable to turn it on and off, but it can also be done without removing it using a small screwdriver. It turns different colors but I just happened to only photo it with the blue for these pics.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

This is the first Christmas I turned out more than one handmade gift for people and it was lots of fun but very tiring. I didn't start it until after Thanksgiving and I made 5 gifts in all. I will definitely do this again but start sooner next time. Here's the oak plaque I'm currently working on for mom. It will hold a set of measuring spoons and hang on the wall in the kitchen using keyhole slots I routed into the back. It has since been stained but not yet polyurethaned. I'm still looking for something to write onto the plaque above the spoons so it's not so plain looking.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

And last but not least, a Mr. and Mrs. Snowmen set for my wife's mother. Made from a simple 1x12 and a 2x8 base, and then hand painted. The buttons on the front are wooden and hot glued on. My wife crocheted the scarves and hat band and bow for them. All this stuff I've made is mostly country woodcraft kind of things. I know it's not fine furniture destined to become family heirlooms (maybe the train showcase could) but I'm proud to call this my work. Two years ago I didn't have the skills to do this kind of work and since getting into woodworking I'm getting better all the time. I can only go up from here. Thought you all might enjoy seeing some of the things I've made. By the way, none of this was from patterns or plans. We've made our own designs for everything. I prefer working that way. Seems creativity just flows when I do things that way, but sometimes mistakes and unforeseen disasters also flow with it. LOL


----------



## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Well you have definitely been busy. All these projects look fantastic. Kind of makes me wish I was on your Christmas list. Great work.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Well here's one more. This is for mom. I bought an oak board and shaped it to this style to make a plaque from it. My parents have oak cabinets in their kitchen so I wanted it to match. It will get gold cup hooks installed to hang a set of measuring spoons from in mom's kitchen. I routed keyhole slots in the back to hang it on the wall flush. I hand painted the sunflowers as best I could. Never did any sort of painting beyond what's good enough for a barn, haha, but I think I did pretty good overall. I cheated though, I looked at other paintings of sunflowers online to get ideas. Otherwise, all these designs are ours. I wanted to make gifts that really were from US this year.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Here are the spoons that will go on the plaque. I had to buy these, no way around it.


----------



## Tman1 (Jan 14, 2013)

Very nice work. I just have two concerns:


1- I agree with the nail issue. If you are going to attach it to the wall by the back, you really need something better than nails holding the back to the cabinet. Like you said, it is holding $3000 worth of collectibles, plus you put a lot of work into the cabinet. Do you really want to have any doubt about whether or not the cabinet will pull away from the back?

2- From some of your earlier posts, I think you said the back is 1/4" thick. Now, I wouldn't be concerned about this (or the nails) if you weren't using the back to hold it to the wall. Once again, it will be vulnerable to being pulled away from the wall, either by the screws tearing through the holes, or by the back simply breaking. 

I don't think anything would happen just from hanging on the wall. But, if something unexpected happened, the attachment of the back to the wall and the rest of the cabinet would be the two weak links. 

Since the cabinet is done, you may want to consider adding hardwood strips behind the cabinet where you are screwing into the wall and screw them into the frame of the cabinet. You will have to consider whether or not you like the aesthetic effect, or add trim to hide the strips. You may also be able to take advantage of the blocks at the top. If they are well connected to the frame, you could screw through them into studs. This would make for a much more structurally sound attachment method.


----------



## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Those are good looking gifts. Insure everyone will love them. The lantern is cool. Can't wait to see all the trains loaded.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Ok I am sweating the back being attached well enough also. I attached it to the back with 60 one inch brad nails, 10 up each side (20 total), 3 per shelf (30 total), and 5 each in the top and bottom boards (10 total, for 60 in all). But after reading the replies here I went back and added 16 drywall screws also, 5 up each side and 2 each in three different shelves. Now I feel more confident that the screws will hold the back to the cabinet. 

I feel it's too late to alter the cabinet by adding more wood to hold it to the wall though. I could add strips inside it but they'd show and mess up the look of it, and adding them in back will set the cabinet off the wall by however thick they are which I also don't like. Hitting those slanted wood blocks at the top will really mess up the look there so I just don't want to try that. So I believe I'm just going to have to rely on the screws through the back to hold it to the wall. I'm going to use panhead screws with washers to keep them from pulling through. Where I'll place them inside the cabinet, they won't show, they'll be concealed behind the trains inside. I'm using black screws and washers so they don't stand out a lot. This way they will look a bit better but they won't show anyway. This was my original plan to start with. Maybe I should use a few more than I first planned. Right now I'm planning 6 screws in all, two near each of the three shelves I added the drywall screws to.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Mom's gift fully finished. Apparently when I posted the freshly painted plaque I had forgotten that I had previously shown the unfinished version.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Well, due to the fact I didn't want to be installing this on Christmas Eve with family coming in and out, we went up today and presented the wooden gifts We made for the in laws. They both loved them. The train display cabinet was what the interest centered around though so I am posting a few pics here of it FULL OF TRAINS, as was requested. Enjoy!


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

He still needs to obtain two more engines. He's found one online, but still looking for the other. Has to wait until after Christmas though, the wife said so. :laughing:


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

He was tickled pink with it but is just barely tall enough to reach the top shelf to place the trains on. He plans to get track later for all of them to sit on, some kind that has gravel with them to appear more realistic. He also has a bunch of lapel pins of each rail company brand and he plans to drill small holes in the top angled boards on the top shelf to display all those as well. I did not plan the width of this case to hold anything but the engines. The patches and lapel pins, I never knew of those until today. It turns out I had yet another happy accident, as there was exactly enough room on each shelf to hold the engines and their patches. The top shelf engine had no extra room for its patch but it happened to be shaped differently so he was able to place it in front of the engine and not hide it excessively. The angled boards on the top shelf (that create the centered position for the top engine) will turn out to be perfect for all the lapel pins to fit. He has 20 of those, so 10 on each side for a perfect fit. Now how lucky was all that? Anyway, he's very happy with it.


----------



## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

First chance I had to see the finished product....veeeery nice! That would look good in a house whether trains are your hobby or not.


----------



## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Thank you. This is the most involved I've gotten in woodworking since I started. Not just on this project but the whole Christmas in general. I had 5 projects of various sizes going on at once. The train display cabinet was the biggest though. I'm still just a novice woodworker but I sure learned a lot on these. I learn more by doing than reading about it but I seem to do more reading than doing mostly.


----------



## Wema826 (Jul 22, 2012)

Your display case is sweet looking! As I was reading your posts about the nail gun you used, I have the same type of stapler / nailer. I found that If I have to use a nail and it will show I will dial the PSI back to where the gun will not bury the nail head in the wood. leave it about an 1/8" proud. then use a nail set to set the nail. That way you dont end up with the - mark and get the . instead:thumbsup:

Keep up the good work! The lamp and the spoon display rock too!


----------



## Art Rafael (Apr 17, 2013)

That is a very nice train rack. I'm sure that he will be very proud of it as you should be. It is a trophy in itself. I'm with Johnnie52. Screws would be better.

Ralph


----------

