Whelp, I did it, I built my first benchwork. The only experience I have had in things carpentry related was a project in ninth-grade shop, nearly 40 years ago. I asked my dad for a few points then tackled the project on my own. The objective was to build a small, tabletop layout as part of my build-from-scratch experiment. I had leftover piece of plywood, 2’4”x4’, so that became the top. Here is a photo journal of the build.
Note: Some of the work is overkill for a little layout, but I was prototyping what I will be doing on my permanent layout.
I started by building the legs out of 1x2’s and 1x3’s. They are just glued together.
Next I made little cubes for the bottom of the legs so I could add adjustable feet to level the layout.
That’s the exact way I made my legs, becasue staight and untwisted 2x2’s are nonexistent around here. SHort peices long enough to hold the leg levelers though, I can cut those of otherwise unusable 2x2 stock. I originally had a hardwood floor so I got levellers at Home Depot that have a felt bottom so as not to scratch the floor.
In as much as this is just a learning exercise wih scenery and structures when finished, it will not have a permanent home in the house. I opted to make it something that could be placed on the kitchen table to run. When I build the permanent layout, it will have much longer legs and be free standing.
I think it’s a studied and methodical approach, and a sensible one. If you can at least recycle the surface, minus legs, you have the makings of a decent yard section for a future layout. Nice work.
This is the L-shaped leg approach I have used since day one except using screws only – It is a take-no-prisioners with great benchwork strength. Some articles may show a variation that does not use the L-shaped leg in layout corners.
