Adding an update to my progress.

     Got the majority of my roadbed down. All of my mainline, sidings, staging, and some spurs. 

     I started by sanding all of the shine off the foam and putting a light coat of brown interior paint on it. I hate the pink color and it helps me later on when I begin to carve the terrain. (The pink shows through so I know exactly where I am carving.)

I started on my benchwork. After looking at several styles I settled on L girder cantelivered on the wall.

My material list was:

2 sheets 3/4 4x8 plywood (Only used 1 1/2 sheets)

8 8' 2x2's

2 3/4" cabinet screws

15ga x 1 1/4" pin nails

Wood Glue

I attached 1 1/2 x 3/4 furring strips to the wall studs with 3 cabinet screws. The horizontal supports are 3/4 x 3 x 22" ply attached to the furring strips with 4 pin nails. I then used the 2x2 cut at 45 degrees to brace the horizontal braces. They are attached to the furring strip with a cabinet screw and pin nailed in an x patern to the horizontal brace. The L girders are all 3" plywood strips glued and pin nailed.

I was a little bit hesitant about using the plywood and light construction. The benchwork turned out bomb proof. There is absolitely no vertical or horizontal movement. I can put all my weight on it and it doesn't even creak. I could have easily gotten away with using 2 1/2 instead of 3" plywood strips.

I have a worksite table saw, miter saw, pin nailer and air compressor so it made for quick work. Even if I didn't have these I would highly reccommend renting them for 24 hours to do benchwork.

Thanks for reading

Steve

I got my plan back early. I struggled making my own track plan with my last layout so I decided to have someone with a lot more experience design one for me. I am glad I did. Several of the industries on here are placeholders and not final. I'll probly tweak a couple of things here and there but this is pretty how it will be.

Moderator's note: made photo in-line, click on it for the larger version. 

Just finished up patching the walls and painting the room. Looking forward to starting on the benchwork.

 I'm not really using a chainsaw. I stared pulling the structures and details off the layout for reuse. This cleared up a section that was ready to be torn out. There was some sawing and pounding. My wife came down and asked me if I was sad. I said no this was a good thing. She left and came back a little while later to remind me to take a break I was getting frustrated.

     I am starting my second layout and wanted to blog my progress.  I had fun practicing on my old layout but got to a point where I don't want to put any more effort into it.  I've read list upon list of mistakes people make with their layouts and I have made everyone of them. I am glad I did.  It allowed me to learn how to fix them, and get better with my skills. I know what I like and don't like, what works for me and what doesn't.