Decorative table legs or front side of bench work?

How about this??

Very nice Gilly!

Gilly, Is that a commercially available product?

It is MDF cut with a water jet. This turned out to be a one-off by an eBay seller. The base was originally designed for a 7x11 island layout. I adapted it to my attic layout. The finish is the faux concrete paint over a similar colored primer.

This is very do-able. Make Luan templates, take your time and it can be cut out with a saber saw. TrainWorx should be able to build a similar base for you. Be prepared, it will likely be expensive.

Garrett,

Ingenerio No1 (Alex ) made his to look like cabinetry doors. Some are access doors and others are not. (Hidden Pass Junction RR)

TWTrainworx definitely makes them for various layouts.

Finding a local CNC guy to make them up will be a crap shoot. if he's not busy, he may make them at a fair price, but most guys try to keep their machines running.

Thanks everyone for responding.  I have been studying antique radios and phonograph consoles and thought it would be very interesting to incorporate similar designs into the benchwork.  Wondering what ornate designs are out there for inspiration.

Look at the shapes of pre-war accessories, art-deco items and architecture, steel structures, speaker cabinet fronts and the phono/radio console speakers and grilles from the '40's - '50's.

Gilly's are a blend of a pre-war bridge and a HellGate bridge. Same as TWTrainworx, but they also have a different looking set. More '50's.

If you like a vintage look, you might consider treadle sewing machine bases. I have used them for various tables and they are sturdy and have a lot of character. They are readily available since there were tons made and they last a long time. It's very easily to disassemble the wood parts and repaint the legs. I usually separate them to give 2 halves that can be separated a wide as I need. Could be a low cost, unusual  option for you.

Bob

that is an interesting idea!  thanks for suggesting

Snagged this from the Dunham Studios Design thread. This looks like T1-11 siding to me...

Garrett76 posted:

Thanks everyone for responding.  I have been studying antique radios and phonograph consoles and thought it would be very interesting to incorporate similar designs into the benchwork.  Wondering what ornate designs are out there for inspiration.

For the layout we're building, we'll be finishing the front with bead-board.  In general, I want to recreate the feel of an old-time small railroad station.  My personal inspiration comes from the late TCA President Al Ruocchio's layout:

Our colors will be different, and where Al went for an angled effect on the corners, ours will be rounded to follow the curves.  We'll see...

I look forward to seeing others' ideas.

Steven J. Serenska

Steven,

image failure. I , too, would like to see it.

Try some scenery fronts with a kick board at the base...

Gilly@N&W posted:

It is MDF cut with a water jet. This turned out to be a one-off by an eBay seller. The base was originally designed for a 7x11 island layout. I adapted it to my attic layout. The finish is the faux concrete paint over a similar colored primer.

This is very do-able. Make Luan templates, take your time and it can be cut out with a saber saw. TrainWorx should be able to build a similar base for you. Be prepared, it will likely be expensive.

Thanks for the info. I'm sure it's not inexpensive, but man it looks great!!

JDaddy, your idea looks really nice too!! Some very cool ideas being posted. 

Moonman posted:

Steven,

image failure. I , too, would like to see it.

Strange, it was there after I pasted it.  Here it is uploaded as a file:

I also edited the original post to add the image as a file versus pasting it.  Perhaps it will now persist on the page.

Steven J. Serenska

Garrett,

As Carl mentioned, above, here are the doors I made for my layout.

The doors are at the front of the layout, and are made out of MDF and cut 2x4's for the hinged edge. I used black curtains, which my wife Judy made, elsewhere. The easily removable curtains are hung on simple curtains rods.

Good luck.

Alex

Another idea.  Click on the link.