Here I am, 53 years old, and I am looking for some skirts. Now, before you call my wife (of almost 30 years) and tattle on me, it’s not that kind of skirt. I am starting my first attempt at benchwork. (I am currently running my trains on a piece of the wrong kind of styrofoam on top of a table.) I am looking for options for skirting around the layout. It doesn’t have to be too fancy, but it will be in my office, so it needs to look okay. What have others used?
For use in the lived-in part of the house, I’d go with a solid color matching the room’s general decor, hung as curtain panels from curtain rods hidden by the bottom of the fascia.
Alternative to a solid color would be a multicolor weave, small pattern, nothing flashy or too bright. You want to draw attention away from the skirt, not emphasize it.
In my non-public layout space (garage) I’m using cheap shower curtains, dark blue (the aisleway is supposed to be a river) hanging from lengths of PVC pipe supported by hooks. I cut them approximately in half and installed grommets for hanging loops in the cut-off portion, then trimmed everything to clear the floor by about 10 cm (4 inches) to provide toe space. That way one shower curtain spans about three meters of fascia with a nice, virtually dustproof, plastic shieldthat can be slid aside for easy access to under-layout junk,
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Another confusing request. Normally any sort of fabric (or similar) material hangs down from the edge of the table and is meant to hide all the stuff we accumulate and throw under there.
However, you mention the “wrong kind of styrofoam”. Are you trying to hide this also? If so, then you would be looking at what we’d call a fascia. This would be a strip of thin material that would extend upward to provide a finished look to hide the raw styrofoam edge. The top of the fascia is typically cut to follow the surface contour of the foam terrain. The strip would be painted with some suitable “pleasing” color.
MaxMan: Sorry for the confusion. What I have sitting on my table is beaded, not extruded foam. It is a temporary set up so we could test some things. I am building the benchwork for a new layout which will use extruded foam for a surface and will include a fascia and a backdrop. This new layout will have a skirt thus the question.
Richard,
You might want to look into painters drop cloth. It is a thin canvas material painters place on the floor along the wall that is to be painted. It comes in different size’s, and is a light tan in color. I use the 15ft.x 4ft sections. you can get it at any big box store or paint store.I got mine at the Home Depot, it’s about $12 to $15 dollars for 15ftx4ft section.
Sam
The LION (LIONS are cheep, remember) got is from another building that we tore down. This was the old school building, and part of it, the south lounge was partly below the ground surface and partly above grade level, so the windows were about forty inches tall. I
I simply stapled them to the fascia with a staple gun (well let’s just call it a stapler). (Yes, I know those are not subway trains, but at least those things are gone for now, but they will make a static appearance when I build “Penn Station”.
The nice thing is I can open it up to work on the electrical panels inside.
ROAR
[You do have spare curtains from a surplus school building, do you not?]
Go to Walmart and look at the bedsheets. They come in lots of colors. Twin size is around $5 per sheet. If you have access to a sewing machine you can cut them to length and hem the cut edge.
Dang, now I have to find an old school, with a basement, that is being torn down.
LION prefers the blankets, they are almost as cheap. Sewing hems is the duty of your wife, or here at the monastery, the job was done by the Br. Tailor.
ROAR
If you want to get really fancy there is an alternative. Several years back (August 2005, to be exact) MR ran an article on “the ideal train room”. The author, John Underhill, described how he supported his layout on full partitions that effectively closed in the underside of the layout for a finished appearance. The wall was finished with panneling, with only occasional openings for access underneath. It was quite natty looking. I was so impressed I tried a variation of it on my own pike. Unfortunately I no longer have pictures of it.
My layout sits on top of storage shelves I built to hold the many rubber storage boxes of family “stuff” we have. I used closure panels left over from backyard gazebo frames we have used over the years. After awhile, the frames bend, the roof rips up and gets faded, the screen get trashed, but the removable closure panels that come with the gazebo, which very seldom get used, are in great shape. I fasten them on the top only and let them hang down, like the Lion’s curtains. Works great, hides all of our stuff, and gives things a finished look. You can cut them to length, and they don’t unravel, because of the type of fabric they are made of. For my Christmas train layout that I set up every couple of years in the living room, I use bathroom vanity closure/curtain panels, hung like a curtain. They are brilliant white, cheap, and the right length, as this layout is lower, so the kids can watch the trains.
Mike.
We just used old sheets that my wife had saved for projects. Dyed and cut to size. The Mrs. did the sewing. We then used velcro to hang them.
Being just an old guy with a git 'er done attitude and having done this in the past, I just bought a bolt of thin flat black cloth and hung it to within about 2-3 inches of the floor. (Note* this was on my old layouts, years ago) My current layout is a a shelf type in the ceiling and needs no skirting.
To some, black may seem somber, but it doesn’t drag the eye to the skirting and it becomes invisible to folks real quick. No one dwells on admiring matte black for long. The last thing I want is a gay and pretty train room. It is not part of my home decor. The skirt was used to help cover up stored stuff under the bench work… Like many women’s skirts, it is used to hide a lot of old stuff that isn’t really worth looking at.
Richard
For those who have used sheets and fabric, did you hang them in 4-5 foot sections so you would have easier access underneath?
I use Landscaping Cloth - available in 36" & 48" widths and 50 to 100 feet long. And the stuff weights very little.
The price is only 15.00 to 20.00 a roll - way cheaper than any of the other methods above especially if you need to cover a lot of area (I have used 4 - 100 ft rolls on my current layout so far)!
I attach it with wood clothes pins screwed to the layout which makes taking it down easy and SO COST Effective!
If it gets ruined the bad stuff can be used out in the Garden! Totally recyclable!
BOB H - Clarion, PA