I’ve finished my around the wall “L” bench work frame and literally manhandled my plywood into the small 7 x 11 room (I had to cut one sheet down to 7’ wide).
NOW WHAT!?
I want “cookie cutter” track so I can have depressed scenery.
Should I attach risers, screw on the plywood, draw my track plan and cut around it?
Or should I draw and cut out my sub roadbed first then assemble it on the risers like sectional track? Does the cookie cutter plywood have to be continuously cut from one sheet or can it be in pieces?
I attach my risers with clamps at first until they are about right. I then use screws, knowing I will have to adjust some.
I cut small pieces of plywood about 2 inches wide and at a convienient length (2 to 6 feet)to match the track plan. It is wider of course for double track or yards. These small pieces can be joined by screwing cleats underneath. If a cleat falls on a riser, adjust the heigth. Try to avoid putting cleats where scenery events are to take place.
You can always replace a section of sub bed if needed this way, even after the track is laid. It is best to get it running smoothly before much scenery is in place, be even then, a section can be changed without redoing the whole layout.
You can also add a bridge at a later date by cutting out the sub bed and inserting the bridge.
Keep us posted, with pics if possible. Some of us love to celebrate each others progress.
I always, and I do mean always, map out the entire trackplan with 1" masking tape on the floor, or the carpet. From there, once a suitable type of bench is built above it, I use a plumb to make a series of reference points to the various joists and crossmembers. Between them, I interpolate and place risers according to my calculated gradient at each place. It is absolutely a good idea to use clamps (adds some cost to your layout, yes) for the risers until you can attach pre-cut plywood cookie cutter style and then arrange them all so that your grade is constant and so that you can draw a centreline that closely follows the reference points that you previously plumbed.
Hint: don’t forget to plan for transitions. How will you do them?
I would suggest that you look at How to Build Model Railroad Benchwork, 2nd. Edition by Linn Westcott and Basic Model Railroad Benchwork - The Complete Photo Guide by Jeff Wilson for information on the cookie-cutter method and benchwork construction in general. The Wilson book has a whole section on cookie-cutter construction starting on page 34 and is well illustrated.
I have used this method on my last N scale layout and plan to use it on my new layout which I have just started. On my last layout I layed out the whole track plan on sheets of plywood to be sure everything fit. I tried to cut as much out of solid sheets of plywood as possible. This may have lead to more waste, but it allowed me to minimize the number of joints that had to be joined and also allowed me to create smooth transitions from one elevation level of the track plan to the next. I used “L” girder benchwork construction and 1 x risers to get the tracks to the required elevations. If you use “L” girder construction you can lay the cookie-cutter cut plywood sheets on top of the benchwork joists and then simply push up the elevated portions of the track plan from underneath with appropriately fabricated risers. Hold the risers to the joists with clamps until you have them positioned properly and then fix them in place with screws.
I will ditto both ARTHILL’s and JFinch’s replies to your thread. I will acknowledge that Kalmbach Publishing is primarily concerned with making money but they realize that they can best do that by giving you an incentive to purchase their products. These books cited keep you from charging through this hobby with your eyes closed; reading where others have been is a good way to keep reinventing the wheel.