Knots, Nuts and Nearly Done!

We were short a few folks tonight but still got more done than I thought we ever wood. Taylor went to be early after a hug from Glue Bob and we got straight to work with Coalfinger Ken and later Mark the Neighbor.


Coalfinger brought in his new fancy Porter Cable drill with the Lowe's flip it bit that is a drill/countersink and a screwdriver bit. I love it! Gotta have it!
I keep running out of screws so I took a picture of the 1 5/8ths drywall screws so that I remember to buy another box. May need more glue, too.
We started the evening buy putting the gurney up on fake legs. It is very sturdy and level. This area of the layout I was saving for myself to build for NMRA A/P points, but I decided to let it go and get it done. 2013 is not far away!
We put some temporary legs on with some handy and cheap clamps. You need clamps! Whenever you think you have enough, you don't, so buy more. Tell all your relatives to buy you clamps for your birthday. One day you'll have enough. My birthday is July 31st, by the way!
With the gurney up on stilts the crew was able to get an idea of what I was seeing in my head. They were quite surprised and gave me the normal "you're stupid" looks. I'm use to it so we moved on. The scenery is very deep and Reverend Rick will understand.
The base block was built with two3' boards. Nice and level with Concrete Keith's sturdy leg system.
With the base done we now started looking at the angle piece. Everything is 30 degrees from the wall. I had to go back upstairs and get more dimensions from the CAD system which took up some time.
INJURY! Our first really good injury happened tonight. It is the first time in the whole history of the group that we've had anything severe. Guess who took the shot! Bob asked me to cut a small block of a 2x4 so that we could use it as a support. Using my trusty hi-powered Dewalt chop saw I cut into what I thought was a clean board. There was a knot imbedded in the wood. It jammed the saw and the blade through the board back at me at the speed of light...and hit me right in the family jewels. I fell to the floor temporarily blinded as the board recocheted off the saw again and struck me just below the ribs. OUCH! I stayed on the floor on all fours unable to talk and then slowly got up and went up stairs to cry. I'm better now but have some very large and black bruises.

Here you can see how the gurney is going to look. It is MUCH bigger than the guys thought but there is still a lot of space in the layout room.

Mark and Bob werestled the poplar contact board into place as Ken and I tried to keep the gurney from moving.

Screws and glue were used at all joints. We don't want anything to move because it won't align with the moving gurney.

Next, we placed the long 8' poplar face board in and supported it with a 64" plywood board. Solid and level! I keep copies of all the detail drawings and notes on a bright yellow clipboard that is easy for the team to find when they need it. The clipboard backing helps keep the drawings from getting damaged and gives you a good writing surface. The bright yellow plastic makes it easier to find than the masonite clipboards.
Once all the supports were in, we finally got tired of tyring to decide how to put the legs in, so Bob grabbed a piece of L-girder and we just screwed one in.

Here is all the supporting benchwork! It's very big and deep, but that is what you need for O scale.
Naturally I just have to put a train on the table. Ken and Mark are tired at 11:30 pm so I'll send them on home.
Wow! I can see the scenery already!
A lot of work went in to this section, but the hard part is still to come. The mobile gurney leg/castor system is going to be tough.
We move the clamps down to give us a smooth surface. The nice poplar wood is pleasant to work with.

Went spent some time talking about the Penoles layout and there are some problems with it from a raffle layout standpoint. It still has merit as a stand alone layout and I will finish the project.

I also showed the team my adobe building model that now has vigas on it. They liked it but I hate the thing. Time to build another one.

Thanks guys for another great evening!