Portability
For transportation and storage, the NDM must be able to be broken down into smaller pieces. I chose to use two “coffin” boxes each of which would be easier to handle than one larger box. The NDM base serves as the bottom of one of these boxes. A ¼ inch plywood box consisting of a top and four sides was constructed to fit snugly over the top of the base. It was high enough to accommodate not only the base but also then two vertical towers when dismantled. These are held in place with simple braces to prevent them slopping around in transit.The second “coffin” consists of a complete box with a removable lid. All components of the NDM deck, including the bridge, fit inside this box. The bottom edge of this box is skirted with 1x3 dimensional lumber which protrudes beneath the bottom edge by about 1 inch. This allows the top coffin to sit snugly on top of the base coffin without any lateral movement. The two bolts used to hold each tower inside the base are used to retain the cover of the bottom coffin to the base by simply sliding through holes in the cover and holes in the base. These are secured by cotter pins which pass through holes drilled through each of the bolts (I ground off a flat spot on the bolts just below the head to facilitate the drilling of these holes as it can be difficult to drill a hole through the curved side of a bolt). The second coffin sits atop the base coffin and sits atop a plywood base mounted on industrial casters for rolling in and out of my trailer and as well as train show venues.
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| the base forms the bottom of the lower "coffin"; the vertical towers lie horizontally across the base; picture shows two retaining sleeves that fit over the towers to keep them secure |
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| base packed with the two retaining sleeves in place |
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| a different angle |
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| my "Rube Goldberg" retainer; this and the bolt on the other end are the same 5 inch bolts used to secure the towers to the base; note the bolt has a flat spot ground into the side to facilitate drilling the hole which accepts the cotter pin |
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| the cotter pin in position through the hole in the wood bracket |
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| the "lower coffin" containing the base and the vertical towers, with the lid installed; it is now ready to place the "upper coffin" on top which contains all of the other components |
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| upper coffin sitting atop the lower coffin |
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| interior of upper coffin includes various spacers and markings so all the pieces are placed correctly and in the correct order |
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| one of the wings in the upper coffin |
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| the bridge is now added |
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| the second wing is now added -- this is the last piece |
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| the lid is installed and retained by brass latches at each end |
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| all packed up and ready to go; for transport, is placed on a sheet of plywood with industrial casters to facilitate rolling into and out of the trailer both at home at at shows |
Conclusion
The No Duck Mo has proven to be a success, at least based on the comments I have received from fellow show participants and members of the public. I hope that with the foregoing narrative will be of some assistance to anyone interested in embarking on a No Duck Mo adventure themselves.I am planning on building a version 2 No Duck Mo for my basement layout. When I do this, I shall document and process and post another series of blogs.