I've been amassing materials for a while now, and yesterday I started construction on an NTrak module. I carefully measured the plywood top. It is exactly 24x48. Measured the diagonals, it's square. Cut the 1x4s the exact lengths. I predrilled some pilot holes, then set the sides on the underside of the top and ran some screws in, making sure that the sides were square to the top. I attached one end, then pushed the frame around to get it square. Diagonals are equal. But for some reason, it doesn't look perfect! One edge is set back a little on one end. It's all held together with screws right now. I was going to make some alignment marks to back-up the screw holes, disassemble it a bit and glue it. Now I'm not sure. I can still pull it all off and try again at this point. Is this common? I don't have the ideal set of woodworking tools. I'd dearly love to have the saws and stuff we had in wood shop in school. But I've been very meticulous - it should look perfect! And it doesn't. What now? Putty and paint? Tear it up and try again?
Unless there is something wrong that will impede what your ultimate goal is, then I say move forward. It sounds like to me, whatever imperfection there is with the benchwork will be long forgotton once you get the trains and scenary going. Go have some fun and don't let the fact that every little detaill is not perfect ruin the experience.
*** Ignore this post, I missed the fact that this was an Ntrak module *** Could be that your framing boards (1x4s?) aren't exactly true. It's hard to find lumber that is perfectly straight. I always buy the "premium" grade 1x4s, and even then, you have to check them carefully. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Throw a layer of 1/2" pink foam on top of the plywood, put a nice facia around the outside, you'll never notice the "gap".
Since this is an NTRAK module, it's pretty important that there isn't any overlap along the 2 2 ft. sides, since that's where it needs to clamp to the next modules.....but if the overlap you mention is along one of the 4 ft sides, I wouldn't worry about it......maybe just split the difference and put half the overlap on each side. Is it possible one of the boards is tipped slightly when you mounted it? That would make the top overlap (or not reach depending on which way it's tipped).
Your possible solutions depend entirely on the tools you do have available, and whether or not its an end (i.e., 2' side) that's wonky. If its not an end, then you can ignore it, putty it, put a new fascia on it, etc. If its one of the ends, then it depends on how out of whack it is. If its only an 1/8" or less, AND the end is square (in the sense of being vertical across most of its face, then don't worry about it. On the other hand, if the end is NOT vertical, then you should rework it. Vertical misalignment presents the biggest problems at a setup. As far as determining how to rework it, if you can pull the offending pieces, set them down on a flat surface (kitchen counter will probably do the trick for you), and see if the pieces rock or have a cup or bow. If not, then the piece is flat, so all you'll need to do is reassemble, working a bit more studiously to insure that everything's lined up correctly. If it isn't a flat piece, simply make a replacement(s), insuring that the workpieces are flat. Oh, and ask around, you may have some casual friends or aquaintances who are woodworkers, and have the useful tools. (Truthfully, you can build an NTrak module with nothing more than a handsaw, a hammer, and nails and a tape measure. It's just easier with a greater variety of tools available to ya, especially since cutting a 4' straight line rip with a handsaw is a very rare skill these days. Easy with a circular saw though....)
A really handy tool for building modules is a carpenters' square. They are not very expensive, but a carpenters' square (this is a big square - 2' on the thin end and 1' or 18" on the fat end) will make it easy to tell if your framework is really, really square, both horizontally and vertically. If the frame is square, I wouldn't worry much about how the top lines up on the frame, but getting the frame perfectly square is the key to having a module that works well and doesn't present setup problems. John C.
Thanks for the input so far, guys. I know the wood is flat; I paid top dollar for clear fir and it sat under the guest bed for a couple months to stabilize. I do have a framing square somewhere out in the garage. I don't know why I didn't think about it. I was using a plastic drafting triangle to square the sides to the top and a combination square to check things. But the big question has remained unanswered: has this happened to anyone else? I am worried about cosmetics, who knows how many times this thing will get set up in an NTrak layout in its lifetime, and how many people will see it and snicker!
Yes, it happens at some point to everyone.......you still haven't mentioned which edge is off though. I don't know how your club does their setups......but mine uses a skirt along the front edge and you have a backboard on the other 4 ft. side.....noone will ever see a small overlap on those sides. And around here, your carpentry skills take a backseat to modeling skills......as long as the module fits properly with the other modules. Problems at setup will be what will get you snickered at....once it's in the layout, noone will notice. I have one module that went the other way and one edge of the top came up short to the frame (but it clamps up fine at setups)... I notice, but noone else seems to. My first module was made with lumber out of the dumpster at work....I had maybe $5 in the module (before scenery) but it won best scene from the club that year.....noone noticed it was made out of junk lumber.....they just noticed what was on top of the lumber.
One of the long sides had the gap. I dug out the framing square yesterday and messed around with it a bit. Somehow, one of the long frame pieces grew about 1/32". Things look pretty good now. The mating ends are exactly 48" apart now, at the plywood and at the bottom, and square. The tricky part will be recreating it after I pull in apart to glue it. I'm thinking I may drill some new screw holes to use for that part, so there's no pull on the old ones if they decide to follow the old paths and skew things. I'm pretty sure when I build module #2 it will go easier. Yes, I'm building a pair and then I'll work up some ends to bolt on to make a self-contained packing crate.
