12-18-2008, 10:45 PM
Thanks for the kind comments on the benchwork... during the two or so weeks I was putting it together I started getting a little antsy... wanted to get that track down! But I decided that I really wanted to take my time and do as good of a job as I could with my limited woodworking skills... the benchwork is actually a series of 6 benches that were screwed together to create the 1 bench. I decided working on smaller benches gave me more control on keeping things level, etc. In the end I am very pleased with how it came out.
I wanted go around the walls, and in a perfect world the room would have been a few feet wider and few feet longer, but the deck and the pool deck gave my contractor hard boundaries to work with. I resisted the temptation to make it any bigger than I could manage. The isles are a minimum of 24", most are over 30". The front-to-back of each area is no more than 26" from an isle, with the exception of the far left loop because of the "closet" where the sump pump is located, for this area I framed the benchwork to allow for underneath access to the back. Duck unders were a big no-no for me since I have a bad back (yet I still play hockey
)... anyways, I wanted to stay "vertical" as much as possible while working on this thing!
For scenery I am planning on weaving cardboard strips and covering them with plaster cloth and sculptamold. I used this method on a small N-scale layout I built for our fireplace mantel and I really like how it works out. I expect for some of the larger areas I will build supports using left over 1x3's and the left over plywood from the sub-roadbed.
One of the other "features" of my room is it is very well lit. I had my contractor put 5 florescent light troffers in the room (the room is 19 x 14). Originally I asked for 6, but the sump pump closet got in the way and quite frankly that would have been serious overkill! Suffice to say it is like daylight in there! I think it helps for taking pictures which is one other thing I will be doing a lot of during this build as my wife does scrapbooking and she is going to make me a book showing the history of the build as it goes.
Thanks again for the kind comments!! I continue to look forward to seeing everyone elses work as inspiration and motivation as well as sharing my progress with the group.
--Rob.
I wanted go around the walls, and in a perfect world the room would have been a few feet wider and few feet longer, but the deck and the pool deck gave my contractor hard boundaries to work with. I resisted the temptation to make it any bigger than I could manage. The isles are a minimum of 24", most are over 30". The front-to-back of each area is no more than 26" from an isle, with the exception of the far left loop because of the "closet" where the sump pump is located, for this area I framed the benchwork to allow for underneath access to the back. Duck unders were a big no-no for me since I have a bad back (yet I still play hockey
)... anyways, I wanted to stay "vertical" as much as possible while working on this thing!For scenery I am planning on weaving cardboard strips and covering them with plaster cloth and sculptamold. I used this method on a small N-scale layout I built for our fireplace mantel and I really like how it works out. I expect for some of the larger areas I will build supports using left over 1x3's and the left over plywood from the sub-roadbed.
One of the other "features" of my room is it is very well lit. I had my contractor put 5 florescent light troffers in the room (the room is 19 x 14). Originally I asked for 6, but the sump pump closet got in the way and quite frankly that would have been serious overkill! Suffice to say it is like daylight in there! I think it helps for taking pictures which is one other thing I will be doing a lot of during this build as my wife does scrapbooking and she is going to make me a book showing the history of the build as it goes.
Thanks again for the kind comments!! I continue to look forward to seeing everyone elses work as inspiration and motivation as well as sharing my progress with the group.
--Rob.