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okay thx for the help there my next question is what to build this on. some poeple tell me i should build it on foam seeting on top of plywood while others say i shoudl just build into the plywood which is better.
You probably need to tell us just a little more about your plans for the layout. Permanent? Moveable? How do you plan on supporting it? I know you originally mentioned 4'x8', yet the plan you show appears to be 3'x8'. If you could sacrifice another foot of length you could build it on a hollow core wood door. They are stiff yet very light. Mine is on a wood door, which (at least tempoprarily) rests on a dinette tabletop. I do have a 3/4" sheet of foam on top of the door, but I needed that because i planned on having some elevation changes. Regards Ed
Okay sry about not posting very frequently it is just hard when you have problems with internet so the only times i can post is the few times at school. to answer more about the layout itself it is movable i've built it on locking rollers that allow it to be moved acroos the floor. in addition the lags can fold up to allow it to be transported should i wish to take it to a convention. and sry about saying that it was 4X8 that is just something that popped into my mind it is just 3X8
Okay, sounds like you already have the benchwork built. I'm assuming it has a plywood top and your question now is whether to lay the track directly on the plywood, or whether to add a layer of foam on top of the plywood? There's no right answer. You can go ahead and put your roadbed (for the sake of argument I'll assume you're going to use cork roadbed under the track) directly on the plywood. The only major drawback is that you can't have any scenery lower than the level of the track (without cutting the table/frame - but I'll assume that you've built it flat). You can, of course, build up hills and elevation changes above the tabletop. Putting a layer of foam on top of the plywood (commonly 1" or 2" thick) would allow you to carve out some contours below the level of the track, say for streams, ditches, or just to provide some roll to the terrain. Either way would work, and there are layouts built with both methods. The foam layer gives you a bit more flexibility with scenery, but adds a cost and another step. Hope that helps some. Regards Ed .
Okay you've hit it dead on the marker it is built flat but I think I want to try and eliminate as many complications as possible so I think it would be better to go without putting down foam cause this is supposed to be set in Texas Flat Land. you Know Sand and very few green areas. Also incidently i'm headed to the Great Train Expo on March 1st VIP so i'll get some info there
Nothing wrong with building it right on the plywood. There have been many layouts done like that over the years. But even the flat parts of Texas have some variation in elevation, even if it's just a dry arroyo. But you can do some very slightbuilding up in some areas to give a slight illusion of some elevation change. Best regards Ed
