Mianne Delivery Time?

Call Tim at Mianne and ask him.

Steve

I bought a kit.  I received it in a few days after I called to ask about the order.  I don't know about a custom order.

I have been trying to settle on a track plan before ordering, as my idea has changed size a couple times. However, Mianne looks to be pretty flexible so maybe I'm putting too much thought into it.

Give em a call and see what they say.

"How long does it generally take Mianne to ship an order? How do delivery times compare for a standard kit and a custom order? Any advice would be greatly appreciated."

I ordered Mianne bench work at October York and I received the custom, two-level, around-the-room 10' x 12' kit in January (nearly three months).  Not surprising since the order crossed the holidays.

In very early March 2020, I ordered 48 four-foot legs,  custom-sized lower I-beams (i.e., cross beams), & 2 custom-sized transformer shelves (to use with Lionel LCCA FasTrack modular kits).  He reviewed & verified my calculations regarding the custom sizes of Mianne components for use with my LCCA kits.

The Mianne items arrived 06/01/2020. 

Call Tim Foley at Mianne.  He will work with you on your order & turn it around as soon as he can.  My understanding is that he does not keep much inventory on hand & creates most orders as they come in.  

Tim is a wonderful guy, extremely knowledgeable, & great to work with.

I think my order took about 3 months as well.  You can send Tim a copy of your plan and he'll determine what you need, I think I had 1 or 2 pieces of wood left over but I think that was because I had to modify the way the layout took shape at the top of the stairs.  The angle of the roof wouldn't allow me to use all the parts he sent.

The Mianne stuff looks fine, goes together easily, and is strong.  I made about a 2" overhang with the plywood top and placed "L-shaped" molding around the edges to cover the raw edge.  I have since put curtain panels around the layout to hide all the junk below.

I had him cut the legs down to 36" high, norm is 48" I believe.  I've had layouts at 48" and for me that's too high to reach the back edges, plus the kneewall height wouldn't allow me to use the plan I designed (would have made it 12" too narrow) and not allowed me to run it at the top of the stairs.

Tim is great to work with. It took a little while to work on the custom plan - back and forth emails but he was responsive.  Finalized plan in early July and it is being delivered today. His estimate of delivery time was accurate. 

Thanks for all the responses. Some of their kits come pretty close to meeting my needs. I hadn’t thought about an overhang. 

Mark, I installed my plywood top to overhang about 2 inches like Bob did.  The layout is under construction, so I haven't decided on what kind of molding or other treatment to use yet.

I ordered from Tim twice and both times I arranged to pick it up at York.  The lead time was about two months.

I was at Lowe's yesterday and the lumber selection was quite depleted.  Bad time to be starting a project I thought.

I think you will be very happy with the Mianne benchwork.  I used it for my standard gauge layout at my old house and kept it so I can set up an O gauge layout at my new(current) house.  I like the idea of the L-shaped trim around the edges and the overhang.  I cut the plywood to end exactly at the edge of the benchwork and I think the overhand with the trim pieces definitely gives it a more polished look.

I did a custom order from Tim about 6 years ago. It's a great product and Tim is a really nice an knowledgeable guy. My experience, and that of a local friend of mine, is that Tim tends to over-promise on turnaround time once orders are placed. Hopefully that has improved, but I'd encourage you to keep realistic expectations. As frustrating as the added wait time was, it was worth the wait. 

John 

I always had reasonable shipping times from Mianne. Tim provides all shipping information so you will know what to expect and when it will arrive. The product is first rate! Consider the liftgate if you can use it. Believe me crawling under the layout can be trouble for aging knees.

Yes, the Mianne Benchwork can be taken apart easily. The bright side of this that I’m sure your wife was considering is that you can reconfigure the layout making it different, smaller or bigger quite easily. If you ever reach a point as I did about a year ago and find that the layout is “finished”, you can tear it down, design a new one and use the same benchwork and rebuild bigger and or smaller but probably better that before!

Several years ago, I took apart a large layout in PA, packed all and redesigned and built a new layout in CA using the same Mianne parts in a totally new configuration.

You are on the right track by choosing Mianne! FWIW my dear wife even suggested that I build my CA layout in our living space! AND, yes I considered the layout “finished” last year so I took it apart and am rebuilding smaller (9’ X 9’) in another part of the room, allowing the “great room” to become a more normal living room, rather than a train room. I have many leftover parts that I used to build a display unit for trains that would not fit on the smaller layout and shipped other parts to my brother in PA to add another 4’ X 8’ section to his layout.

Bottom line, you can’t go wrong with using Mianne Benchwork.

Good luck and great enjoyment with your new layout!

Stan