I am working on a sectional layout that is in rather large pieces. This is good and bad. Good in a sense that there is very few seems, but bad because it makes the benchwork a little more flexible. My preference would be to use grout for dirt over large areas around my roundhouse. But due to the flexibility of the table it seems like grout would crack. Is there anything that would work best? I am looking for a realistic look as I would get from grout.
This might seem obvious, but you need to stiffen that benchwork. Flexible benchwork is never good. Not only will you cause havoc down the road with scenery, but track will eventually separate from the roadbed, the roadbed will separate from the base material, and ad nauseum. Flexible benchwork leads to excessive movement during temperature and humidity changes; all of the above are caused by it. Not to mention the problems you will encounter if you have to move or disassemble the layout. This situation also begs the question: How heavy is some of your equipment? I am assuming that you're modeling HO as that's where you posted your query. However, a nice heavy brass American loco could have it's running characteristics impacted by flexible benchwork. Don't confuse flexible benchwork with benchwork that is both lightweight and stiff. The latter is highly desirable; the former makes me want to run away screaming. David
I've used 1x3 and 1x4 framework, 1/4" plywood for subroadbed, and stacked styrofoam for the scenery on my 2.5' x 10.5' N layout. The whole thing weighs about 75 pounds with everything but trains and power supplies, and is plenty stiff. I recently moved it in the back of my pickup truck from Florida to California, got here, unloaded the layout, and had trains running in a couple of hours.
Benchwork :thumbs_up:That's the ticket! I'm an electrical engineer, not a carpenter, so I used Sievers Benchwork, topped with 2" expanded foam insulation, and capped with 3/16" foamboard. Having moved several times since returning to the States from Germany in 2000, I design around 20" x 30" Sievers modules; usually 'grouping' them into rectangles of four (either 40" x 60" or 30" x 80") overall. Never weighed a completed group after applying the foam, but each is very stiff and I would be surprised if it weighed 40 pounds (not counting legs or underneath cabinet support), as I eschew plywood altogether. David
