Hello again! Being a new member to this hobby I have come across a few problems and have tried to overcome them with respect to time I’m allowed to throw at said problem. However there is one problem that I have yet to overcome and or resolve. The baseboard. Arguably the baseboard is the most important part of the layout building process. Without a strong firm baseboard, your layout simply cannot hold its weight both literally and psychically speaking. I have come to recognize that I have 0 skill in wood working and 0 tools to do so even if I was. I really don’t see a point spending hundreds of dollars on tools that I would only use on this project. And on top of the lack of skill and money to buy the tools, the nearest type of store to buy wood from is about 4-5 hours away which would be hard to get to without spending a day just to get the supplies. In light of this I took to the keyboard and looked for a possible solution- a kit. I have seen tons of videos about laxer cut kits only needing you to tap in a few nails maybe and some wood glue, in the UK that is. I have yet to find any such manufacture here in the USA that makes model railway baseboard kits like our brothers across the pond do. I have spent hours looking and I have gotten no result here sadly. If there really are no baseboard kits here, was is that? Surely by us having a bigger population means we should in theory have a bigger market for that type of stuff, yet I haven’t found any company that does such. Does anyone know where you can get a baseboard kit in the USA? Or maybe know of a person that makes them? Do let me know! Thanks for your time and hopefully some of the manufactures may see this and think about how easy it would be for a noob to get into the hobby when close to everything is readily able to buy without much effort. And I’m NOT saying it should be that way, but I think a lot of people are held off by many things that prevent them getting into the hobby, and a kit as simple as this just adds to the convenience of the noob coming into the hobby. Just a suggestion and maybe I’m totally wrong, who knows. But I do know that several UK stores are out of stock so I do know that there is a market for it, so I’m sure they would have one here in the USA as well.
That's a new idea to me. Most lumber retailers will cut boards and/or plywood to length. As long as you don't want something fancy like round corners, all you need at that point is a hammer or a screwdriver. And legs. But you can put it on sawhorses.
Yes apparently there’s several companies in the UK that laser cut 6mm plywood and make kits out of them, anywhere from micro layouts to full tables. I know the admins here don’t like people posting non US links, but yes there’s several companies that make it easy to do and they ship it to your house as well. A very easy, modern take added to the hobby.
Try these outfits: http://www.miannebenchwork.com/ https://www.sieversbenchwork.com/index.html http://www.benchridge.com/
Another idea. Research and consider ideas. Then perhaps get some small "scraps" at the supply store and build a miniature model similar to what you want. Designers do things like this to get an idea of potential problems. Good luck and stay well.
if you want tp PM me, our club Green Country Model Railroaders just purchased prebuilt modules manufactured in Texas to replace the layout we lost in a forced move. I will be happy to point you to our source. Good luck, Dale Baker
