Let there be Benchwork!

CarlSnout, is that Mianne benchwork? I’ve been thinking of ordering some for a layout expansion. It looks good!

Hi Artie,

Negative - this is SIEVERS benchwork:

About | Sievers Benchwork

I tried, unsuccessfully over the course of several weeks, to make contact with the people at Mianne (for whom I know there is substantial positive support among many of the members here).  I'm sure their (Mianne's) stuff is great, but I never heard back from them.  I sent an email to Sievers instead and received a reply within the hour.  It was a fun process to fit their modules to my trackplan.  They helped in the design process; after going back and forth a couple of times we settled on a final plan.  I sent them some money and they sent me a bunch of boxes.

I suffer (?) from a bit of obsessive/compulsive behavior and I know myself well enough to know that it would have taken me a year simply to look at EVERY board available and try to select the best stuff - not to mention all of the cutting, drilling, etc..  The wood Sievers sent is beautiful - clear, straight and smooth; pre-drilled and sent with all of the hardware necessary for assembly.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your expansion project, whichever way you go.

Peace,

Sam

Thanks, Sam, I’ll take a look at Sievers as well. I’m 74, and want to build this quickly!

I used the Mianne benchwork, but the Sievers product looks nice as well.  Mine ended up not looking much like the Mianne after we got through with it, but it's under there.

One thing I liked about Mianne is they actually took my suggested design and did a CAD layout with exact dimensions and an inventory of everything I'd need.  I actually had a bunch of their benchwork that I bought from someone, and they also used those pieces in the plan and saved me a ton of money.  However, I think Tim is very busy, so his response time is fairly slow at times.

It took Mianne about two months to fill my order.  Yes he is very busy with various projects.

About being busy ...

That's proof of success in business, which is a much better situation than being "un-busy" because of lack of orders due to low confidence in the product, systemic quality issues, underlying financial problems, poor customer relations, and so forth.

Let's celebrate Mianne's success, which may be a signal to Tim to "hire more helpers!"

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394

In my initial post above I see that I commented about spending, "...most of the last week assembling new benchwork."  To clarify, the actual assembly required just a couple of days.  I was only able to devote part-time effort, and lost (?) one whole day of work on account of how it was my wife's birthday and she wanted to do something other than watch me put a puzzle together.

I'm happy to join everyone in celebrating Tim's/Mianne's success.  I also rejoice that Sievers is still in the business, was very responsive to my inquiry, and was able to provide a quality product in short order.

Peace,

Sam

ps: gunrunnerjohn: I've been following your effort and progress here in the forums; it has been one of the sources of inspiration from which I draw (and one of the reasons I tried to contact Mianne first).

Sieverts looks like a great product.  I was told here on the Forum, you have to call Tim Foley since he doesn’t answer emails much.  I called twice and Tim answered right away.

Don’t ever think we think you did wrong.  Your Benchwork looks excellent, and I know it is strong.

And it's something special to have an original Howard Fogg.  ( I assume, not a print?)

Yes, the Howard Fogg is an original watercolor, and is one of my treasures.  It was hanging on the wall of my father's den when, on a Christmas morning in (or about) 1962, Santa Claus delivered my first (HO scale) trainset.

Sam

I think it's great that there is enough business to support at least 2 benchwork companies.  Great for the hobby.

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one getting the brush off from Mianne. I keep calling Tim and emailing trying to place an order and get no where. I’ll check out Sievers, waiting for three months is ridiculous.

Your benchwork looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing how your layout progresses, thanks for sharing!

Hey Sam, you could have tied a few gas balloons to the benchwork and brought a cake to the room so your wife would have felt good about your thinking of her while she helped assemble the benchwork!

@c.sam posted:

Hey Sam, you could have tied a few gas balloons to the benchwork and brought a cake to the room so your wife would have felt good about your thinking of her while she helped assemble the benchwork!

That's what I call clear thinking.  I'll try to remember to incorporate such strategy next year, for whichever phase I'm into at that point.  There is plenty of space in that room for two people to work.

C. Samuel (named for my grandfather; he was 'Charles' and I am 'Sam')

@Keith Crook 020419 posted:

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one getting the brush off from Mianne. I keep calling Tim and emailing trying to place an order and get no where. I’ll check out Sievers, waiting for three months is ridiculous.

Your benchwork looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing how your layout progresses, thanks for sharing!

Several emails to Mianne went unanswered, and I called. After chatting with Tim, I faxed an order form in. I assume I'm in the pipeline, but I really have no idea. Tim told me he was 4-6 weeks out. I'll check back in with him then. I'm willing to prod him a bit, but there will come a point when I will stop chasing it all down. It's nice to know there is an alternative--although I have to say--the Mianne benchwork I've seen here is gorgeous, and for a 4 x8 table the fact that it can roll and lock, that I can roll a transformer cart out from under and roll it in, and that it looks pretty, is a huge plus.