TEMORARY LAYOUT CONSTRUCTION

Your plan sounds like a great one.  But the thousand mile drive leaves something to be desired.....LOL

The drive is part of our bi annual visit to the midwest portion of the fam.  We like to stop halfway and wreck hotel rooms and go out to dinner.  Also Menards is all over that part of the USA.

Sounds like a neat idea- the wrecking hotel rooms part.....

What a great grandpa to go to that effort for the grand kids!

Are the kids going to be setting up and taking down the layout  only when you or an adult are present?  I say this because 3/4" plywood is very heavy.

Will you be using legs?

Consider this.  Build two 4' x 4' frames using 1" x 2" clear lumber with a couple of equally spaced cross braces.  Add a layer of 1/8" lauan plywood to provide structural rigidity.  Overlay this with your extruded polystyrene sheet.  The underside makes it easy to wire the track ans accessories.

For hinges I would not use piano hinge as they are hard to align.  Do you intend to leave the track on the layout when it is stored?  Door hinges would work if you want the track on the outside.  Otherwise the hinge line needs to be above the track.

Do a google search for ideas.

https://www.google.com/search?...mp;bih=898&dpr=1

Jan

Thank you, JAN.  Their dad will be doing the heavy lifting.  My main concern is how to make a folding layout using the piano hinge and saw horses.  The whole idea is to avoid the frame (at least until kids are a little more committed to the hobby.)Thanks for the linky.

I have this Christmas layout sitting on an older version of the table Mark pictured.  It is a sheet of 2" foam with 2x4s under the foam to give support out to the ends.  It has all just sat there since our first daughter got married and vacated the room 3 years ago.  You can see the one brown table leg in the second photograph, lower right beside the Lionel box.

banjoflyer posted:

Drive to the farm with a pocket of cash. Stop at a local Menards and buy 2 of these:

Put them side by side and you'll have a 5' X 8' table. Run the trains with surface wiring. Some wires can go below the table at the joint of the 2 tables.

If the kids lose interest the relatives (or you) will still have 2 nice tables and you'll only be out $120.00.

Win-Win!

Mark

 

I 2nd Jan's suggestion but I think this would be your best bet. Definitely a lot lighter & easier to move around plus, you can get some indoor outdoor carpeting to help deaden sound & hide some wires.

Another idea is using a ping pong table for the base and lay styrofoam sheeting on top of it. Involves minimal cost, the ping table folds up, it has wheels to easily move it plus when/if the grandkids outgrow the trains they might enjoy the physical activity that ping pong provides. 

You can lay a couple of 2x4s across the sawhorses and lay the plywood on them. No frame needed. Also check at Home depot for folding adjustable height sawhorses. Model number SH3801. They are good sawhorses and fold into themselves for easy transport.