Having completed the construction of the final baseboard for my new 7mm layout, I thought it would be opportune to start a new thread to record its progress. It's going to depict a fictitious location in the late-green/early-blue diesel era. I've yet to come up with a name.
For those of you interested in the construction, the fifteen baseboards were built with birch ply that I ordered online and cut-to-size from Woodshop Direct in Cornwall. The sides, top and bracing are 9mm thick and the legs 12mm. Although it's taken me a few months to put the boards together, it's certainly been a much cheaper option than purchasing ready-made or laser-cut versions - even after accounting for the 1000+ screws, nuts and bolts I consumed during the building.
The layout is located in my house attic. It's a reasonably long space but narrow with limited headroom so a fiddle yard-to-terminus design was the only realistic option. The length of the boards totals 9.5m. I know it sounds a lot but by the time you've accounted for a fiddle yard at one end, a station at the other (each capable of holding a diesel with four Mk1 coaches) and the station throat pointwork, there's not actually an awful lot left for a scenic area. The joys of 7mm modelling!
Anyway, I've included a couple of pictures of the baseboards below. The four at the far end are deliberately lower to accommodate a fiddle yard traverser. If you're wondering why some of the bracing boards are in different positions, it's to ensure sufficient clearance for the point motors. Time will tell if I got that right.
For those of you interested in the construction, the fifteen baseboards were built with birch ply that I ordered online and cut-to-size from Woodshop Direct in Cornwall. The sides, top and bracing are 9mm thick and the legs 12mm. Although it's taken me a few months to put the boards together, it's certainly been a much cheaper option than purchasing ready-made or laser-cut versions - even after accounting for the 1000+ screws, nuts and bolts I consumed during the building.
The layout is located in my house attic. It's a reasonably long space but narrow with limited headroom so a fiddle yard-to-terminus design was the only realistic option. The length of the boards totals 9.5m. I know it sounds a lot but by the time you've accounted for a fiddle yard at one end, a station at the other (each capable of holding a diesel with four Mk1 coaches) and the station throat pointwork, there's not actually an awful lot left for a scenic area. The joys of 7mm modelling!
Anyway, I've included a couple of pictures of the baseboards below. The four at the far end are deliberately lower to accommodate a fiddle yard traverser. If you're wondering why some of the bracing boards are in different positions, it's to ensure sufficient clearance for the point motors. Time will tell if I got that right.