Its been a while since I have been able to post anything. My schedule for the month of September was hectic and so nothing was done on the layout for a while.

Anyway I had to back up and redo some of the joints on my backdrop. I discovered that the tape did not stick to the smooth surface of the hardboard. I ended up removing three joints and sanding the hardboard surface. That little bit of roughness seemed to do the trick. I repainted the backdrop and clouds.

Reworked joints

A portion of the repainted backdrop

With the backdrop repaired I began working on the benchwork. I used 12" x 14" brackets with 3/4" plywood for the stringers. Because of the shape of the bracket I added blocks at the back of the stringer to provide a little more material for the screws to bit into.

The added material at the end provides the needed thickness for the stringer to attach to the shelf bracket.

The L brackets are placed 16" on center and anchored into the studs and the stringers are added. I added small squares of hardboard at the bottom to make up for the thickness of the hardboard backdrop

I cut the roadbed from 3/4" plywood. Because most of the track is straight I was able to cut strips on my table saw. I cut widths for single and double track. I plotted a few of the more complex shapes full size from my cad drawing, and taped them to the plywood. I use an awl and punched small holes into the plywood about every 1/2". The process worked very well.

I finished with the subroadbed and added a valance to the top. The valance helps give a finished look even without paint.

If you look at the far left I was short one L bracket.

I picked up one L bracket and finished off the subroad bed today. I find that when I can get some blocks of time that the work has progressed fairly quickly. The trick is to find those blocks of time where I can work on the layout.  I still need to install the risers and add the subroadbed.

Until next time take care