Mark

Great work, my friend. You are definitely on a roll. I'm checking in on your progress every few days. It's brings back some good memories from when I was building my original benchwork. If I could make a suggestion. Keep building in sections - Stages. You enjoy building benchwork, I can tell, and you will reach a point where you will be very glad to get back to it. In my case I have completed four stages of benchwork and plan to complete the structures and scenery for stages 1 and 2 before moving on to stage 5 of the benchwork. For me it was based on being able to run trains over the first 4 stages while still working on completing the first stages. My last big expansion, Superior Yard provided for rolling stock and locomotive storage while I complete the first three stages of the layout. You will also notice that I'm now building my structures in sections or modules that are like HO scale benchwork stages. I like building benchwork, too.

Thanks, Scott.

I put my new jigsaw through its paces last night. it works well and is much faster and easier to keep to the line than the old one. I bought a Stanley max - which is a mid range tool with a mid range price. I try to keep things pretty precise. You can see all the cross bracing to help keep everything straight and true.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks, John.

Yes - I'm having a great time! I agree with your suggestion. My plan is to get this section and one more - the long section along the back wall - completed at this stage. This is what I am calling my stage 2. I will also get the benchwork down connecting to the hidden trackwork under Tellynott. This will give me an out and back configuration with two branch lines - one of which will have a passing loop. There will be plenty to carry on with in the future, but some decent operations will be possible. I think I will tackle the peninsula on its own (stage 3.1) - it will be a complex animal!

Cheers, Mark.

I don't know if it's my tool or the fool behind it, but I've never had much luck with a jigsaw... Glad to see how well your cuts are coming out!

dave

Now that's just beautiful ... woodwork, benchwork, construction ...



Unfortunately (for me) as soon as I would have completed building something like that I would instantly get a new idea.
My sincere and greatest admiration to you as I know there were alot of plans, drawings, measurements and skills to get to that point.

Dave, (Deemery), let the saw do the work, don't push it. Hold back and just guide it.

Karl. A

Dave - I noticed that all the jigsaws now hove much bigger and more substantial 'feet' than they used too - certainly much bigger than my old Makita one. This bigger surface helps a lot in keeping the cuts square along with following the line. I also bought a packet of far better blades than the one supplied with the jigsaw - again, a good quality sharp blade helps a lot.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks so much, Karl!

I get great new ideas all the time - the real skill is not to follow them all! I've been listening to Thunder Mesa podcasts recently. Both James Powell and Jason Jensen pretty much described what I am working towards as their dream layout. I have to be a bit like a race horse with blinders on if I want to achieve my goals. I find it very encouraging listening to their conversations, as it reinforces in me the choices I have made - both what to build and what not to...

Thanks for following along, cheers, Mark.

That is some very creative, impressive and expertly built bench work.

Very nice work, Mark. The horizontal braces diagonal to the L-girders are unusual but I assume they are a good idea for benchwork that is made to be moved.

Last week I received 6 yards of 1/8" cork sheet to use for roadbed in yards and industrial areas on our club layout. Monday I cut 44' of roadbed using a mat cutter to get the 45 degree shoulder. Our mainline will be conventional 3/16" (5mm) cork.

I use 1/8" roadbed on my home layout for the same reason you do. Twenty-five years ago a vendor at a narrow gauge convention sold me a tube of 1/8" roadbed which I've been using ever since, but I've not seen it since. Now I have to cut my own.

Mike

Thanks very much, Rick.

Rain here today so I should find time to get a bit more done...

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks very much, Mike.

The braces help to keep everything square and keep the L-girders straight. Its probably overkill.

I have one of those mat cutters. unfortunately it is only 2' long. I still think it will make things much easier. Do you cut your strips into two down the centre? I was planning on doing this to line things up with the centre lines of the track marked on the MDF.

Cheers, Mark.

Mark

My vote goes for the braces - you want to keep things square and straight as the temperature and humidity change over the years. This is important for your track work and the scenery when it is installed. The nice clean new wood you are using is going to try to move around a little as it dries, too.

I use L-girder because it handles earthquakes much better that boxed construction.

Bob

Thanks for your engineering background input, John.

I bought a good amount of 90x19 a year or so back in preparation for this project and fillet stacked it with fillets both vertically and horizontally and three strops holding it all together and straight. Of course I have since run out and bought more, although I have kept the straightest pieces aside for making up my L-girder for the long module still to do in stage 2. Drying out over the seasons indoors like this should minimise the timber movement. I'm keen on overkill, myself. Besides, I splashed out and bought a nice little sliding compound mitre saw, so its nice to have some mitres to cut.

PS - we use the Queens English here in NZ - so although my spelling isn't great, all those words like mitre and colour and minimise are deliberate.

Cheers, Mark.

Bob - its because of our Feb 2011 earthquake that my whole layout is now on wheels and completely unattached to any part of the building. This is both to hopefully get through an earthquake with minimal damage, but also so that the modules can be unbolted and wheeled out for relocation - either temporarily or permanently. After our earthquake many of the new house floor slabs were rib raft floors. The bad land was dug out and removed and AP40 brought in to replace it. This was 'wrapped' in cloth (geotextile) and layers of geomesh, with the AP40 compacted in layers and the density checked by an engineer at every stage (some of the floor slabs we worked on were dug out to a depth of 6' 8" - this for a residential one storied house). The floating floor made up of polystyrene pods with a ring foundation and ribs containing steel running both ways between the pods was then poured in concrete. The idea is that the ground can move from side to side and the house 'floats' on the parcel of good land. An added bonus is that a large void can open up underneath and the slab will suspend across it without any sinking. Although I hope to never have to live through another large earthquake again, the idea is that my self contained layout on wheels will act in much the same way as the floating house. At my old house I had half my layout self contained and on wheels and half attached to the walls of the garage. The section on wheels suffered almost no damage. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the section attached to the walls of the house.

Cheers, Mark.