My benchwork is more or less finnished, ie, all L girders made, legs made etc. Im already to put it together now in more or less kit -form in the layout room. What worries me is making a start on transfering the plan onto the plain ply sheets and cutting them. My layout plan looks quite involved to replicate full size, without waisting alot of ply from goof cuts.
I figured using the cookie cutter method but since alot of my track is hidden with the scenic part going right over the top of the hidden track in some sections, this method will not work.
Shall i deal with the hidden track first? This skirts around the bench, tight to the edges.
From what i see of it at the moment, the only way is to draw out the plan fully on the sheets and cut out the sections and hope for the best, unless theres an easier, less hit and miss way??
I will appreciate any guidance from the folk who have done it.
I made a full size set of templates out of paper. I then cut them into workable sizes, trying to get the joints in good places. I then laid those paper templates on the plywood, moving them around to save wood. I then cut them out on the band saw (used to do it with a jig saw, hand cut the first two). I then set the risers with clamps and started to lay things out. I screwed the risers to the joists so I could move them ( I did have to move them some).
One advantage to this method is when you decide to change things, it is sort of easy.
Since I don’t know what your track plan looks like, it is hard to comment; however, I will anyhow. I put down all of the lower level sections first (the level part of the lowest section). I just cut away what I did not need and used those pieces to make up sections for all of the elevated stuff. I used 3" wide material and simply cut a bunch of straight and curved (18" and 20" radius for me) sections as would fit on the left over plywood (cut one “good” curved piece and keep using it for a template). I then cut these pieces to fit as needed during the installation. I did the same with full sheets of ply (cut a bunch of straight and curved sections) to finish things out. Leftover pieces that are too short for track usage can be turned into rises in many cases.
A powered jig saw (some call them hand held scroll saws) is your best friend. In most cases, the cuts don’t have to be very accurate as the scenery covers up everything but the track work.
Have fun and keep us informed of your progress (pictures help).
Im just off out to get some cheap wall paper or flip chart paper. I think it’l be easier to lay it all out on the floor first before i start shiping in the benchwork. Ive also got to draw in all the easements[xx(]
Here’s another advantage to the computer-based layout design programs - most of them will allow you to print a 1:1 copy of your layout. I used such a printout to create full-sized templates for the foam roadbed. It was/is/will be a simple matter to tape the templates to the foam, cut out the foam roadbed pieces with a knife, and transfer everything to the benchwork like a giant jig-saw puzzle.
The same could be done with plywood and an open-grid layout, but cookie-cutters are a little more complicated because you’re working in 3D.
