I needed a way to join together the new prototype corner scenic baseboards kindly gifted to me by Tim Horn so that the boards are tightly held together and located by pattern makers’ dowels. I decided that using small removable pin hinges would be a suitable and quick method of achieving this aim.

Most split hinges were far too big being 3” in size for use on domestic doors. After much searching I discovered 1.5” steel split hinges and pins for use in the theatre industry for scenery doors and panels. These were supplied by Stage Depot and cost 76p each with the pins costing an extra 46p each. The pins were far too long for what I needed and so I cut them down to size using my Dremel cutting disk. The hinges were fitted to the boards by temporarily bolting the boards together then fitting the hinges to the boards, ensuring that there was a slight tension when the pin was fitted to prevent a gap appearing at the board join. The pin should be a tight fit when the boards are joined together.

Using these hinges allowed for 90 degree connection on the corner boards as well as when joining inline boards.

The board shown below with the bolt is so that the hinge can be easily removed to allow a spur to the existing Die Keinnamebahn layout be fitted off that board in the future.