Building Benchwork-Part 2

Yesterday I finished up benchwork construction on the Machais part of the layout and worked on attaching a base layer of foam insulation board o the layout. Construction of the wood section of the benchwork took a few hours. The first part of this section of benchwork was a six foot long section that extends into the center of the room. This section will evevntually be part of a larger peninsula with a turnback curve at the end, but for now it is just part of a large loop that represents the mainline around Machais.

I started this section of benchwork with a 6 foot long by 18 inch wide frame of 1x3s and 2x3s. Nothing unusual about the construction, and it went together easily.

However, attaching the legs was complicated as this section had to be mounted an inch below the rest of the layout as it represents part of the Machais River. This should have been simple, except I forgot to get the legs cut down an inch. Because of this, I had to support the frame up on to chunks of scrap foam. In the end, though, the legs attached easily and are stable. 

To save lumber (and time and money), this section of benchwork is attached at one end to the rest of the benchwork and cantilevered out, so the section just built only has legs on one end and is supported by the rest of the layout on the other end. 

I then marked an inch from the top of the board on the other layout section and clamped the new section to the rest of the layout.  It was then screwed together with two screws. This arangement seems a bit flimsy at first, with a potential to get really out of line, but it is actually quite strong an everything is square. With this section attached, all the permanent benchwork for this section of the layout is complete.

With this done, the next thing was to attach a board across the aisle between the newly completed section and the benchwork along the Machais wall. This piece creates a duckunder at the entrance to the Machais area, and is not permanent. It will be removed as soon as work is started on the rest of the peninsula that represents the Calais branch going eastwards toward Calais itself. The piece is only thre now as a continuos run is at the moment the only way to get anything resembling the actual operation of Machais when only Machais is currently bieng modelled 

This piece was very problematic in finding the right size for it. It was first cut a foot to long, and then when it was cut to what I thought was the right length, it turned out to be a few inches to long. It was finally cut down to the right size, in the end. At least it was never cut to short, which wouldhave made things really difficult. It had to be attached one inch higher than the new section to match the rest of the layout, but this was not a problem in the end. 

I next layed sheets of foam board on the top of the benchwork to provide a first rough base for track and scenery. This was quite easy and was really just a matter of cutting pieces of foam to size for most of the layout, except on the newest section of benchwork. Here, I first attached a base layer that represents the Machais River. I next attached a layer of foam that was specially cut to also cover the duckunder section. This section was an inch above the benchwork in that section and I supported it on the other section of foam and on top of the legs. It was saging in one corner though, so I used a scrap of foam to support the main sheet of foam in that corner. I then screwed those sheets together and to the benchwork. 

This is how the corner section and the duckunder section looked after the foam was attached. The corner in the front is where the extra support was attached. The foam board is all one inch thick.

This is the joint between what will eventually be dry land and an inlet off the Machais river, which is in the foreground. The whole lower foam rea will eventually be mudflats.

The two narrow foam pieces are the causeway where the Calais branch will cross the river. The edges of the causeway will be carved down into slopes and covered with stone chunks. At the gap between the two causeway sections there will eventually be a small wooden pile trestle. The causeway is not yet attached to the foam or in it's final location.

This is a view looking down what will be the Machais river towards the town of Machais, which will be in the far corner. 

This layer of foam allows tracklaying to begin, so that is the next phase of construction in Machais. I hope to start work on tracklaying tonight and will post about ti soon.