Godzilla-Board!

     Having disposed of the "surf-board" benchwork of the first attempt at realizing the T&D, I cast about for the right place to begin anew, and at home. Listening to some of the recent MRR podcasts, I heard someone (Terry Terrance, if I'm not mistaken) muse on the possibility of making your own heavy duty Gatorboard. Since I have the materials readily available, I decided to experiment. The result you see below.

     While it's not proper extruded polystyrene, the foam dollhouse packing that I recycle is tight enough to hold up under a number of modeling situations. The standard thickness is 1 1/8" and the sizes vary greatly. I selected three matched blocks and lined them up to form a 16" x 39" slab.  I cut code 80 chipboard (available and affordable at the art supply store) for the laminate, and spread an even coat of yellow carpenter's glue over the entire surface. Laid flat on the floor, I set my drawing boards on top (to spread the weight evenly) and loaded up my 2 foot stack of MR magazines, plus lots of books, then called it a night and went to bed. Next morning, I did the same for the other side, and tonight my home-made Godzilla-board is ready to go!

     While the surface is sturdy, you could dent it with a knee or elbow. With my drawing board flat on top on top, I actually sat on the pile of magazines with no hint of compression. The whole slab weighs a pound or two, but I suspect it will lighten up a bit as the glue moisture works its way out of the chipboard (which feels slightly cool, as that's where the water went.) It's as flat as my hardwood floor, which is as flat as I need it to be, and perfectly rigid. I plan to use it as the baseboard upon which I will build everything else. No holes or openings are planned, as wiring etc. will be built into successive layers. In the end, I plan to finish the outer surfaces with chipboard, prime heavily with acrylic gesso, and paint in some sort of faux finish to suggest rusty steel.

     But first things first! The slab dictates the dimensions, so my mini-layout now has a specified area. Since I can't model a whole railroad, I'll focus on one scene from the T&D. This is my favorite part of the process, figuring out a track plan, designing the scenery, and fitting it to the narrative. There's room for a few switches, maybe a runaround, and a structure or two. With a layout this small there's no reason not to spike every tie, weather every board, and detail every figure.

     I drool with anticipation =)