Benchwork

I built my own for this newest layout and have always built my own in the past.  Being a carpenter, I always had access to bits and pieces of material of one sort or another.  

I used Mianne. I will also be using some more for an expansion to the layout one of these days. I am sold on it, great stuff, fast and easy, moveable and re-configurable.

How long was the Mianne set up and what size?

mike

My original Mianne benchwork was 6'x16'. So far, I've added some shelves and a transformer cart also with an added shelf. I plan to at least double the size with more Mianne benchwork one of these days.

Sorry, I missed a little, the 6'x16' kit took me about 8 hours or so to assemble and have it ready for track. I did not paint the top, just used the bare plywood. This included a trip to Home Depot for the plywood top (3 - 4'x8' sheets) and having them cut it into smaller pieces that I could handle myself. That was probably about 2 hours or a little longer, so the benchwork itself probably took between 5-6 hours to unpack and assemble. It was all really very easy and there was no mess to clean up afterward, except breaking down the packaging ( 3 boxes) for the recycle bin.

  I have done both in 2014 I purchased  Mianne benchwork when I had to build a new layout, really nice. It only took a few hours to assemble by myself and no mess.

  In 2000 I built one by myself using carpentry skills and a published bench work plan. This layout was built using screws 2x4s and 1x3s. The material cost was significant, cleaning up mess was time consuming, and it took quite a few hours of work. This layout worked well for for four years then I moved. I thought moving the layout would be simple, didn't happen. I carefully marked each part for disassembly but when it came time to reassemble it big problems.

  It is hard to compare cost of the Mianne layout with a do it yourself project because the materials for a do it yourself vary so much. You can use saw horses and hollow doors, a used ping pong table etc. to hold down costs but the pre-cut layouts are better engineered and are easier to move.

  One thing I learned is 3/4" plywood is worth the extra cost for sound reduction and to prevent sagging.

  Good luck on your project.

Douglas

I went with Model Railroad Benchwork. I really liked the curved corners. Mine have a 48" radius, so will accommodate O-90 curves.