Hmnnnn.....

236 reads and not one comment of encouragement and/or criticism? Actually I was expecting criticism since I never can seem to get my benchwork as pretty as some I see online! Anyway, started laying some track today. Will post some more as I get further along.

Michael

Fret Not

Don't be discouraged. The read to comment ratio seems to vary widely. One of my threads has over 5000 reads with just a few comments. I have nothing to offer about your benchwork other than to say I wish I were as far along.

Chin Up

Michael,

Many of us are just jealous, I'm still trying to get some paint on the walls of my layout room. The bench work looks good. 

The only thing I noticed is the plywood track boards. Are you using 1/2 inch plywood for your Track Base?  I have had trouble with 1/2 inch sagging, if I just use one layer.  My strips were only about 3 inches wide that caused my problems.

Regards,

John

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You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. Al Capone

Can't see your work

I don't know why, but all I can see is part of a picture )about 1/2 inch across the screen and blank below.

Next picture only shows a red X.  

I'm using windows xp but can't view your pictures....

Double deck?

Alan, I see on your sig it's says double deck. I don't envy folks building that! I envy the length of the run it gives them but as long as it has taken me to get this far on my single deck , spare room sized layout, I can't imagine doing a double deck. My dream would be to have either a large single deck or maybe even a double deck of some type but my dream is also to be able to afford to have someone build the benchwork and lay and wire the track for me where I could wile away my days running trains and building scenery!

Michael

I just dragged the pics into the post with Firefox

Maybe that's why some folks can't see the pics. I tried the "simplified" image posting instructions Joe posted up but I'll be danged if they were simple to me.  I got nowhere fast so in frustration I gave up and just used the drag trick you can do with Firefox.

Michael

Nice benchwork

I suspect you're right about the photos - using "View Image" gets you the entire base64 image code as a URL, which some web browsers might have difficulty handling.

Yes 1/2 inch

Yes it's 1/2 inch plywood. I've never had problems in the past when I've used it, I hope my track record, pun intended! holds up. Honestly, I've always felt 3/4 inch was overkill. I tried for twenty minutes to post pics with the image icon and never could get it to work the way the instructions said. I used the drag option in frustration.

Michael

1/2 inch

Sorry, I meant to say all I can view is the top 1/2 inch of a picture....

Another shot at posting pics

I'm going to try the "right" way again....  

Now I can see it !

Thanks for reposting. It looks great so far. Keep us posted on your progress.

Like it!

How far apart are the risers?

Galen (Ocaliecreek on MRH) brought a time saver switching puzzle with full on scenery built on a 2 x 4 section to one of our modular club meetings a few years ago that really "opened" my eyes.  The layout was extremely light weight with a 1 x 4 perimeter frame and 1/8 inch luan plywood for sub roadbed!  There was no flex what so ever because he had cross members made of 1 x 2 lumber set on 12 inch centers.  The secret to keeping plywood or dimensional lumber from sagging is to know how close you need to have your supports placed.  You can keep any wood including even 1/8 inch luan door skin from sagging if your support structure is placed correctly.  How many people have built layouts on a hollow core door without any sagging problems?

So I'm lazy about painting....pink walls.....

This room used to be my ten year old daughters room. It's the smaller of the two spares we have and it wasn't long before she moved on to the "bigger" room and dear old Dad got relegated to the smaller one. I've thought several times about painting over the pink but I've just never gotten around to it. When the N scale layouts were in here, the fascia backdrops and lighting valances so dominate the room that  you really don't notice the pink. It will be the same once the HO layout gets a little more complete. That being said, today I did find myself contemplating buying enough blue paint to do the whole room when I buy backdrop paint. Of course now, it will be a little harder to do with all the benchwork in place but maybe I will at least cover all the pink that shows anyway.

On sale at Walthers....

If I remember correctly they have a multi-scale Round Tuit.  According to the description it seems extremely versatile.  Can be used in numerous areas around the house in addition to helping with the model railroad.  It would seem that if you got a Round Tuit then painting over the pink would be much easier......

"April Love"

I still remember the paint chip color name to this day!  It's what my daughter picked. Sounded like some type of blue movie actresses name to me then and still does today!

Just to illustrate my point....

Here is a pic the room with the former N scale layout in place... 

Plywood

When using any plywood for roadbed insure the grain of the majority of the layers is as parallel with the track.  I had a bad experience where I didn't follow this and had 1/2 inch sags in the center of a 16 inch span in some areas and others that had no sag.

Looks good from what I can see in the pictures.

Terry