Flat top

There continues to be good progress on my 'big' railway, with most of the plywood surface now in place.  Installing the plywood is going well, probably better than expected, but it does take time.  I sand the plywood lightly first, then undercoat with a brush to get it right into the grain, then fill any damaged areas, then sand lightly again.  It can now be glued and screwed onto the frame, then the small pieces of plywood that connect it to it's neighbour are installed, all holes filled, including the joints, then all sanded again.

Once all the sheets of ply are installed (leaving one out of the middle for access) I'll give it another coat of undercoat with a roller to provide a nice white surface, ready for the topcoat of green.  Before that though I'll be installing the first oval of track, taking advantage of the white paint to draw the simple trackplan onto the surface.

I'm looking forward very much to laying the track!  And having a really good clean-up, as with all the sanding required the whole space has become very dusty, not something I take kindly to!

Coming along

My new railway is coming along well!  It will be O gauge three-rail and mostly will be based on British prototype, but occasionally other trains may feature!  The base is pretty much finished and I'm really happy with it.  Now the bearers for the table-top are being installed and all being well I hope to attach the first sheet of plywood for the layout surface tomorrow.

Initially the table surface will be left just in undercoat, which will make it easier to mark out where the tracks need to go.  I have been building the straight tracks, which come as a kit- basically sleepers and rails.  It's a fairly slow process, but the results are worth it!  The curves and points come ready made, fortunately.

Very happy with the progress!