Decision made, 5mm foamboard purchased - time to start cutting! As many will appreciate, foamboard is extremely light (good) and somewhat flexible (bad!) so using it for baseboards tends to indicate it needs bracing... Design parameters were for the boards to be 750mm x 300mm, the sides to be 100mm deep, with the baseboard top at 75mm. Using 5mm board this left 20mm below the bed for (simple) electronics, signal and point actuating mechanisms.

Each board would have 3 supporting cross-members at 187.5mm centres - made from foamboard (I can add diagonal bracing if it becomes neccessary). Rightangle 'knees' would ensure square-ness.

The 'subframe' was made first (this is the 'west' fiddleyard) and when dry the baseboard was inserted -

A view of the 'basement'! One advantage over boxfiles - somewhere to put the wire-runs so they'll be available when the gremlins strike....

Baseboard ends were made from 6mm ply, attached to the boards with 25mm square softwood to aid rigidity. 'Foam2Foam' and fastgrab PVA where used at the relevant interfaces. Accurate registration of the endplates was achieved by the use of 8mm brass dowels (used to be available through 'Red Dog' baseboards - anyone know whats happened to the firm 'cos I need some more!) and the boards will be retained in place with cupboard overlatches.

Having 'proved' the technique on the west fiddleyard the scenic baseboards were cut and the (simple) trackplan drawn out.

Looking from the west - the quarry line is on the left (no,it's not a runround loop- just digit error!). In reality this continued as a 'single track' all the way to Corsham station. However I felt this would be a 'pointless' (get it??) exercise, so merged it with the 'Up Main' just before Potley Lane Bridge (the east end of the scenic section). At this point I'd like to thank Rich Brummitt for passing on several examples of pointwork, one of which fitted the bill exactly. I will of course need to make the trap point that protects the main line.

Both scenic boards were then framed as above.

View from the halfway point of the scenic boards

with a view of the 'West fiddleyard'. The gap at the opposite end will allow for longer cassettes - I've still got a 'King' and 14 in mind!

Views down the length of the scenic section taken from the two 'civil engineering' areas (Potley Lane Bridge and Box East Portal).

Lastly a 'compare & contrast' image showing old and new. I certainly think the new format is better suited to this project...

Next job is to run a test on the insulating properties of the card that sheathes the foam.... Hopefully this will be successful and I'll be able to build the track ladders' in situ. If not I'm going to have to trace out the track centres and use some ply....

Regs

Ian