Mianne Customizable Benchwork...

I have Mianne and it's great stuff. They will work with you on your benchwork design. It is really easy to assemble and goes together very quickly. No mess and only a few hand tools needed to assemble. I think it was like a #3 phillips screw driver, rubber mallet and a level. Been a while since I got mine.

Call them and Tim will help you work out your design and answer any questions you might have. There are many happy Mianne users here on the OGR forum and I have not yet seen any negative comments. Only downside is that it may take a while to get your order as this is their busy season.  I would highly recommend it, I think you will like it and will be quite satisfied.

What a terrific response and truly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to give me the download. I definitely will be reaching out to Tim. Again, thanks!

My previous three layouts, all spare-bedroom size, were all built with Mianne benchwork. My current layout platform was custom built by my renovation contractor, so I have a whole lot of Mianne components currently stored away in boxes in my garage. As soon as I find the separate box with all the hardware in it (I have not located it since my move a year ago), I will likely sell most of the framework, aside from enough that I may use for a small tinplate layout in the future.

I really LOVE the product and the ease with which it goes together and comes apart when needed. After several moves over the years, I pat myself on the back for having chosen this benchwork system for those various layouts. Saved me a ton of time and money. Beautifully made and backed by great customer service.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mianne benchwork, I hope it comes soon!   Here's what I'm getting.  The rear shelf is for a small town scene with a trolley track.  The layout is 20 x 12.  The nice thing about this benchwork is you provide the drawing of what you want the layout bench to be, and Tim at Mianne does all the work to figure out the exact parts you need to do the assembly.

Thank you kind sir! Truly appreciate it Allan. I have a huge space in my home.... and I’m excited to get started ... will be sure to post when it all begins. 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mianne benchwork, I hope it comes soon!   Here's what I'm getting.  The rear shelf is for a small town scene with a trolley track.  The layout is 20 x 12.  The nice thing about this benchwork is you provide the drawing of what you want the layout bench to be, and Tim at Mianne does all the work to figure out the exact parts you need to do the assembly.

This is something I would seriously consider. I have the space for it.... how long will it take from when you order until when you receive it John? Thanks for the response. Truly appreciated.

Hard to say, but it's several months.  I'm hoping to get mine soon, it was ordered the first of August.  I was promised before the York show, so he's still got time.

I forgot to mention that you can also easily reconfigure if you want to make changes, or add on later so you don't have to do it all at once, etc. They also have several 'kits' available on their website as well as a catalog that I believe has even more kits in it. Anyway worth a look if you haven't visited there http://www.miannebenchwork.com/. They also have some videos of assembly and other info.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Hard to say, but it's several months.  I'm hoping to get mine soon, it was ordered the first of August.  I was promised before the York show, so he's still got time.

Ok... good to know... so I better get going ...sounds like its a bit of a wait. Again, appreciate the info. Thanks.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mianne benchwork, I hope it comes soon!   Here's what I'm getting.  The rear shelf is for a small town scene with a trolley track.  The layout is 20 x 12.  The nice thing about this benchwork is you provide the drawing of what you want the layout bench to be, and Tim at Mianne does all the work to figure out the exact parts you need to do the assembly.

Oh my, you got the lift gate too!   I've got to figure out a way to use one of those somehow, when I expand.

I'm a sucker for gadgets, and it was actually a functional piece for this design.  Since I have the open center, that's probably where it'll be operated from, gives you access to everything.

rtr12 posted:

I forgot to mention that you can also easily reconfigure if you want to make changes, or add on later so you don't have to do it all at once, etc. They also have several 'kits' available on their website as well as a catalog that I believe has even more kits in it. Anyway worth a look if you haven't visited there http://www.miannebenchwork.com/. They also have some videos of assembly and other info.

Yes I did visit and downloaded his catalog to see my options and get some ne ideas as well. Very impressed. Thanks again!

Here's a link to my layout done with Mianne benchwork, I LOVE it!!!

https://ogrforum.com/...e-benchwork-4?page=1

This great thread has provided useful information and much-appreciated reassuring testimonials for guys like me who have been looking for a "painless," mess-free way to quickly erect quality benchwork for their planned layouts. Thanks, everyone!

Mianne is simply the best.

Delivery:  I ordered at the October York Meet and my benchwork was delivered 2.5 months later.  Probably typical.

You won't regret owning Mianne.

Bob Delbridge posted:

Here's a link to my layout done with Mianne benchwork, I LOVE it!!!

https://ogrforum.com/...e-benchwork-4?page=1

This is truly fabulous... do you have any pics with it all done? What did you use for the top? What kind of wood?  Thanks again!

Steve,

I used 1/2" thick plywood or there abouts, the hardware to mount it to the frame comes with your order.

No pics to speak of  as I haven't finished it yet.  I do have all the track down but I'm running trains to see if there's any problems with the track before I start scenery.  It might be another 6-9 months before I make anything permanent.  I stink at scenery so it may be a while!

The frame work is a couple of inches narrower than the actual room size.  I cut the plywood to fit against the walls so there's a slight overhang on front and back.  You tell Mr. Foley what your needs are and he'll make it to suit, he did an excellent job on mine, everything fit perfectly.  I think I had one leg left and that was because I forgot to account for a box that covers some duct work coming from below to the upstairs room.

I decided after 4 HO scale layouts with open-grid track work that I might not even have enough years left to build a model railroad, when I re-started with O gauge18 months ago.  I didn't want to spend 2 years of whatever I had left building the benchwork the way Model Railroader shows.  None of my HO layouts ever actually ran- the track was never smooth enough or electrical work good enough AFTER months and months of work. Then I would move.

I contacted a few of the modular tables people- and basically got an unsatisfactory response, or no response at all from most of them.

So- I called Matt Hewitt in Indianapolis- who will build the tables to your track plan, and deliver them, then set them up.  Viola!! Time to lay track!!  About the same cost, too.        https://www.benchridge.com/

Bob Delbridge posted:

Steve,

I used 1/2" thick plywood or there abouts, the hardware to mount it to the frame comes with your order.

No pics to speak of  as I haven't finished it yet.  I do have all the track down but I'm running trains to see if there's any problems with the track before I start scenery.  It might be another 6-9 months before I make anything permanent.  I stink at scenery so it may be a while!

The frame work is a couple of inches narrower than the actual room size.  I cut the plywood to fit against the walls so there's a slight overhang on front and back.  You tell Mr. Foley what your needs are and he'll make it to suit, he did an excellent job on mine, everything fit perfectly.  I think I had one leg left and that was because I forgot to account for a box that covers some duct work coming from below to the upstairs room.

Thank you Bob! I am looking forward to getting started. This thread has been extremely helpful. Truly appreciate your feedback. Look forward to updates as well. Have a wonderful Sunday.

I used 1/2" sandply (maybe it was sanded ply) from Home Depot. Tim said that was what he used. It's very nice and solid plywood and it's smooth too. About the same price as their birch plywood only it looked better, IMO (more plys as I recall). I had Home Depot cut it into sizes I could manage and they did that at no extra charge. Also helped with getting it in my old station wagon, er, SUV as they say these days. I have some pictures from when I assembled mine, I'll see if I can find and post them, they are here somewhere. Layout is not finished as I intended to add on to it, but after 3-4 years now I still can't decide on a final plan... 

Found the pictures.

This was their 6' x 16' kit. It took me about 8 or 9 hours total, including unpacking, reading the directions, sorting all the parts, going to get the plywood and installing it. Home Depot is fairly close, within 8 miles or so and I went on a weekday so they were not busy. One thing I would probably do differently is make the plywood extend out past the legs and frame. I may still do that when I add on or at least add a piece where no adding on is done. I think it looks good as it is, but I have seen others post theirs with the extra sized top pieces and it looks very nice. Nicer than without, IMO. 

Note: The Mianne benchwork is made center of leg to center of leg (or center of frame to frame). I think they explain that on their website or in the catalog? But the actual kit is I think 1-1/2" or so larger all around (5/8" or so per side). If you are going wall to wall this matters and needs to be taken into account. If you are putting it in the middle of the room it only matters if you want the extra size to cover the legs and frame. Hope I didn't make that too confusing?

Time to finish that puppy Tom!

Indeed it is, I'm way behind on this, like years behind! Just can't seem to figure out what I want to do with the rest of it? 

Just fill the space available with benchwork, it'll come to you.

rtr12 posted:

I used 1/2" sandply (maybe it was sanded ply) from Home Depot. Tim said that was what he used. It's very nice and solid plywood and it's smooth too. About the same price as their birch plywood only it looked better, IMO (more plys as I recall). I had Home Depot cut it into sizes I could manage and they did that at no extra charge. Also helped with getting it in my old station wagon, er, SUV as they say these days. I have some pictures from when I assembled mine, I'll see if I can find and post them, they are here somewhere. Layout is not finished as I intended to add on to it, but after 3-4 years now I still can't decide on a final plan... 

Found the pictures.

This was their 6' x 16' kit. It took me about 8 or 9 hours total, including unpacking, reading the directions, sorting all the parts, going to get the plywood and installing it. Home Depot is fairly close, within 8 miles or so and I went on a weekday so they were not busy. One thing I would probably do differently is make the plywood extend out past the legs and frame. I may still do that when I add on or at least add a piece where no adding on is done. I think it looks good as it is, but I have seen others post theirs with the extra sized top pieces and it looks very nice. Nicer than without, IMO. 

Note: The Mianne benchwork is made center of leg to center of leg (or center of frame to frame). I think they explain that on their website or in the catalog? But the actual kit is I think 1-1/2" or so larger all around (5/8" or so per side). If you are going wall to wall this matters and needs to be taken into account. If you are putting it in the middle of the room it only matters if you want the extra size to cover the legs and frame. Hope I didn't make that too confusing?

This is fabulous!! Giving me things to definitely think about for sure.

And with the bottom cross members you can make shelves to lay across them.  I had some 1x8 and 1x10 pine boards which I used to make shelving.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Just fill the space available with benchwork, it'll come to you.

I'm beginning to think that just might be the way to go! 

If you've been looking at it for three years, it's definitely the way to go!

Steve, to add a little to Bob's great idea above about shelves below the benchwork, here's a simple example of one way to customize the Mianne benchwork.

After talking to Tim a couple of times about what I was wanting to do, I decided to add some extra holes in the legs for more shelves later on.  You can see the extra holes (middle ones) in the second picture in my post above. I think they were 12" below the upper holes as I recall. He just added those in for me when he was putting together my order after we had talked about it.

Shortly after I got the benchwork assembled, I ordered the extra cross braces and parts for the extra shelves. I also ordered one of Mianne's transformer carts at that time. I'll see if I can find another picture of the added shelves for you. 

Found a couple of pics, shelves and transformer cart.

GRJ, according to the dates on the pictures I've been digging up it's a tad over 4 years...I better get on that pretty soon!

Looks like I have to come over and crack the whip!

I just looked at posts in the link I provided.

 I talked to Tim in November 2017, the order was finalized in January 2018, and delivery was in March 2018.  So 5 months from initial contact to boxes on the front porch for my 12x30 layout.  If you think about all they put into that’s not bad.

By that schedule, I should be seeing boxes in the next couple of weeks, I hope that works out.

I'm a really big fan of Mianne Benchwork! When moving from PA to CA four years ago, I took apart my benchwork, packed it up and put it on the moving truck. Re-designing for my new space was fun and the rest is history. Having a layout in the home living space involved staining the benchwork, trimming down the legs 4", etc. Here are a few pictures:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Looks like I have to come over and crack the whip!

That trip could easily be sidetracked with electronics, Diptrace, PCB, o'scope (I'd go get one!), etc. lessons!  Hmmm...those things could have possibly already added somewhat to the delay! 

(Also, see pics above from Strangtrain, very nice and more shelf space too!!)

Strangtrain, I was hoping you would post pictures of your finished Mianne, I think it really looks nice. I almost mentioned it here earlier. Thanks for posting.

I like the shelves, I'll have to consider something like that for mine.  Great place to store extra rolling stock.

When fully assembled with plywood on top, this benchwork is rock-solid. What I appreciated the most about this product is the fact that I was able to keep my finished train room clean during assembly. No sawdust to vacuum out of the carpeting and no running back and forth to the garage to cut boards (other than the plywood and homesite top). Also, if you want to add to your benchwork, just tell Tim what you want and he will make it. It isn't cheap, but you get what you pay for. 

John

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mianne benchwork, I hope it comes soon!   Here's what I'm getting.  The rear shelf is for a small town scene with a trolley track.  The layout is 20 x 12.  The nice thing about this benchwork is you provide the drawing of what you want the layout bench to be, and Tim at Mianne does all the work to figure out the exact parts you need to do the assembly.

GRJ,

Looks like you have a nice healthy amount of space.  Are you going to share your track plan with us, or is it still in progress?

The track plan is still in major flux.  I'm probably going to switch to Gargraves track and Ross switches for the final plan, but I think I'll toss a loop or two temporarily of the Fastrack I have to tinker around with different scenarios.  I have some ideas, but I need to see how they work.  I tried to make the benchwork so I could reach everything and just use as much of the available space as possible.