This week I have mostly been not building baseboards.
I've charged the jigsaw, I've got out the trusty but slightly rusty Workmate. I've been to the back of the shed and retrieved both my first attempt at a 4'x2' effort and the remaining timber and plywood.
And I've stared at it all from lots of different angles.
What I haven't done is started to build the baseboards.
There are three reasons why:
The first is I keep looking at the minute luggage space in our new car, an IQ, and wondering how I could ever get anything to fit. Realistically I think 2'6" x 18" might be the maximum board size that would fit, allowing for some way of stacking the boards. To put how small it is in to context we can no longer use a normal shopping trolley if we want to get the groceries home. Of course I'm not planning to transport the layout that often, if at all, but I know if I don't plan for it the need will arise..
Secondly I need to think about how any layout is going to fit into my home office, both during construction and once built. the real challenge is that I don't have space for both a layout and a workbench. That actually favours a slightly larger baseboard so that it can double as a workbench in the early stage of layout building - which in my case could easily mean at least a couple of years.
Thirdly there is that terrible fear of settling on a final decision and then having to live with it. I've changed my mind about the final form I want the layout to take several times before breakfast today.
This was one of the crazier ideas, with a proscenium arch obscuring much of the view and the track curving out towards a removable fiddle yard placed at the front of the layout for operation so trains seem to appear from "somewhere" rather than just from the stage wings.
Apologies for the poor drawing, I've just changed my mouse and mouse mat and I haven't got used to it yet.
The damp patch?
Reason number four: whilst I was procrastinating one of the dogs cocked his leg on it all.
James,
ReplyDeleteJust a thought but perhaps a quarter scale model built from card would help your planning and provide a better idea of the viewing angles etc,etc ?
Geoff,
ReplyDeleteThat plan was only a "what if" and not a serious option for the current build. However as it happens I have card glue and scalpel to hand because of another little project underway so I might have a go at building a card manque. If it was to be built a "fiddlestick" type fiddle yard extending out from under the baseboard might be an interesting approach.
In retrospect I think it is heavily influenced by Albion Yard's off-stage scenic area, and the concept is worth exploring further.
Meanwhile, however, I am honestly actually making progress on the baseboards for a basic TAoC influenced layout.