Got my plan in XTrkCad…
Got my track laid out on plywood to confirm that it works pretty well…
Starting to jigsaw cut the plywood. Open to advice.
Started with mostly 2x2 or 2x4 sub-sections cut at Home Depot. Trying to decide how best to transfer layout to plywood, cut, and then piece back together.
Thoughts?
Better approach?
– try not to start grades where 2 sheets join.
– don’t run you jigsaw into the cross members of the benchwork.
– be generous with joints where your sections of roadbed come together.
Typically I’ve just used a jigsaw to cut out the plywood sub-roadbed and join sections with carpenters glue and a plywood patch underneath (8" patch (4" for each side) for level, 12" patch for grade change).
I’ve never used cookie-cutter method but the obvious advantage is to minimize joints in the sub-roadbed. I think the preferred approach would be to set the full sheet(s) of plywood on the benchwork, mark the track centerlines; mark and cut along the sub-roadbed width boundaries (centerline + 2" on each side?) and elevate with risers as appropriate.
If transferring the plan to the plywood appears intimidating, draw gridlines on the plywood that scale to your trackplan grid. That way it’s easy to confirm that everything is in the right place.
Transfer your full sized plan to a large sheet of paper, the type that comes on a big roll, or tape together smaller sections. Cut out the subroadbed pattern, tape the paper pattern to the plywood and cut from that. It’s a thousand times easier to change something on the paper than on the plywood itself. If you draw directly on the wood and make a mistake and have to redraw the line, you better hope you don’t cut on the wrong line by mistake!
Just my 28 years experience talking.
Use a roto-zip type saw instead of jig saw. With it you can set the depth to a fraction more than the thickness of the plywood, rather having to have the blade go up and down more than inch deeper than wood.
And as mentioned above, use full 4 x 8 sheets.
By using ¾" thick sheets, you will have vertical easements automatically taken care of for you.