Skirting material

Good topic Rparmentier.

I took my usual Rube goldberg approach when I bought some green fabric from a fabric store and used thumbtacks to drape it around my layout about 20 years ago:

I might replace it with a brighter green and pleated skirt, which I have seen on this Forum. If I recall correctly, such a skirt is used on  the home or club layout of Peter. Arnold

I have used black landscaping material, the stuff that goes under wood chips and such, and been very happy with it.  I put it up with a staple gun but I am sure there are other options.  Definitely stick with a solid color.   It gives a finished look and directs the eyes up to the action.

jhz563 posted:

I have used black landscaping material, the stuff that goes under wood chips and such, and been very happy with it.  I put it up with a staple gun but I am sure there are other options.  Definitely stick with a solid color.   It gives a finished look and directs the eyes up to the action.

Excellent idea.  

You might want to go with something thick like heavy curtains. It can help stop more sound from escaping from the underside. I use a 35"x70"(ish) pirate flag on one end as it was still kicking around from my teens. The other side is tinted clear plastic in front of the short rolling train shelves. The protective screen cover from a very large screen Mitsubishi DLP. A freebie from trash night (the frame popped off pretty easy) You can usually find these monstrosities for free on CL if you can move it. But asking for a heads up on it hitting a curb would likely work too. 30"x55"(ish) tinted plexi (lexan?) isn't cheap Think "stereo cabinet" for looks. An aluminum C channel under the top edge allows me to slide it out of the way to get at stock. That really traps a lot of noise.

jhz563 posted:

I have used black landscaping material, the stuff that goes under wood chips and such, and been very happy with it.  I put it up with a staple gun but I am sure there are other options.  Definitely stick with a solid color.   It gives a finished look and directs the eyes up to the action.

I too have used this. I bought the really cheap stuff like $3.99 for maybe 300 feet. It is the perfect width for the height of my layout. One thing I like about it is it lets air and light into the underside of the layout and you still can’t see the boxes underneath. 

I've seen some really great skirts on the forum.  The black landscaping stuff is a good idea, and Adriatic's idea of a C channel is outstanding.

Mine is pretty pedestrian compared to most. It's from a fabric store, but hides a lot, wasn't expensive, and I also used a staple gun to tack it up.  

My wife liked this starry blue for the refrigerator/beer room that doesn't match anything.  Had to use a piece of trim to tack it with brads.  Hey, it's her refrigerator, and the whole layout has to go around it to get to the next room.

Jerry

Isn't it fun lifting up those (layout) skirts?

I also used the landscaping cloth.  I attached it to the inside of the fascia I installed on the edge of the layout for a more finished look.  It is inexpensive and works great.  Here are some photos form around the time I installed it.

JerryG posted:

My wife liked this starry blue for the refrigerator/beer room that doesn't match anything.  Had to use a piece of trim to tack it with brads.  Hey, it's her refrigerator, and the whole layout has to go around it to get to the next room.

Jerry

Alas, those of us who are forced to make do with floor layouts don't have the problem of how to skirt the wiring.  But if I did, I'd sure like that star-print cloth that you're using.  Might even make a good backdrop.  Any idea where your wife got it?

Balshis, 

JoAnn's Fabric's in Southington, CT.  It's the next town over from us, but I think it's a national chain.  BIG store, lots of stuff.

Jerry

I just last night installed black foam board as skirting for my layout.  I used extra long thumb tacks with a clear head to hold it in place.  Using the clear thumb tacks  makes it easy to remove a panel/s when I have to get under the layout.  It looks good ... at least to me.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I'll easily remove the panels and paint the wood facia black then reinstall the panels after the paint drys.   Later today, I'll try to get a photo up of what I have done so far. 

I used commercial trade show drapery, it is extremely fire resistant, is available in dozens of colors, comes in many heights, comes with a pocket in the top and is reasonable in price.

It looks better if you buy about 50% extra and pleat it, I just stapled mine to a thin strip of wood, doubling back every 5" or so for the pleats and fasten the sections of strips under the layout with screws through the wood strip.  The drapery is easily parted at the 4ft widths for access underneath.  Please forgive junk, photo was taken under construction.

Chris Sheldon

JerryG posted:

Balshis, 

JoAnn's Fabric's in Southington, CT.  It's the next town over from us, but I think it's a national chain.  BIG store, lots of stuff.

Jerry

Pretty sure we have one around here.  I will check it out.  Thanks!

On my last layout, I bought fabric from Woolworths (yes, that was a while ago) and used velcro to attach it.

Tom 

Here's another vote for the landscaping cloth.  Easy to use, it breathes and is not super expensive.

Fendermain does not use fabric. He has gorgeous beige or white cabinetry beneath his train tables. The woodwork looks as nice as fine kitchen cabinets. 

There are some great ideas here.  The Blueboard Central is skirted with material that was originally the bedspread and curtains from my childhood bedroom over 50 years ago.  My mother saved everything. I used it to keep with the nostalgia that collecting and playing with trains allows me to indulge in. 

The fascia is the baseboard from a 100+ year old home that was torn down across the street from my family home.  My dad dragged it in because he couldn't let anything "go to waste" either.

Northwoods Flyer 

Greg

I'll be going the landscape fabric route very soon. My layout is designed with the floor in the aisles being four feet wide, but only three feet at the fascia, so there is a six inch overhang all the way around. I'm going to add a wood strip to the legs, and use laminated strips of quarter inch plywood to follow the curves. I'll then staple the fabric on, adding pleats.

Yikes Elliot, what a pike!

Chris Sheldon

WALMART

I just used inexpensive felt material, cut into strips, to allow easy access to the bins under the train table.

My layout is built in our basement storage room.  So the area underneath has to be accessible by my wife and kids (it's not just train storage).  I needed something that was durable and functional.  I bought these curtains from Amazon.  They come in a variety of colors and lengths.  Mine are the 36" length.  For curtain rods, I used 1/2" electrical conduit.  Ten foot sections of conduit are $2.50 at Lowe's or Home Depot so that's tough to beat.  They sell stand-offs for the conduit so it's easy to mount (second pic).  The stand-offs are .50 cents or so.

This is what I went with. Already has Velcro attached , just stapled some squares on my frame. My wife is a big fan of it!!