Now that I have lived with the one module for a couple of years and am 100% happy with the module's materials and the plan for this Hazel Mine scene, it is time to plan for the layout's next phase. This next phase involves building two more modules, one on either side of the one existing one. However, that means I need some sort of way to hold the modules up and together, i.e. "benchwork". After thinking about it, and deciding to rearrange things in the room where the layout is housed, I came up with this ladder construction design. It consists of two 8-foot I-beams with four perpendicular I-beams to separate them. Each I-beam will be glued and screwed as one stand-alone entity, but the various I-beam sections will be attached to each other with just screws. This will make it possible to dismantle this ladder framework for when a move has to be made. When the framework is built, I will check to see if triangular gussets are necessary to give it the necessary lateral strength, but for now I'll assume it is strong enough as designed. I chose to make the long I-beams 8 feet long, because my plan is to, eventually, have four modules to make up the Hazel Mine scene. Each I-beam will be made out of two 1x4 (top and bottom) and one 1x6 (center "spine"; to prevent sag) stock boards. The modules aren't too heavy, so there is no real need to "over design".
With the "benchwork" of the layout designed, the next step is to figure out how to place the ladder framework high enough in the air for me to work on the layout. Another consideration is our cats; they like to come into the room and "explore". During previous layouts, I used a collection of cabinets that I had built many years ago, upon which I built my layouts. When I started this new layout, I decided that those cabinets were just too bulky and space-consuming, so I moved them into the garage. Later, I came up with the idea of cutting them in half, along their depth. These were 18-inch deep cabinets, so when I cut them in half, I wound up with two 8-inch deep cabinets (accounting for some cutting-blade loss and clean-up). All I had to do was put another back panel on the front half that was cut off. Even though I had done that, the modified cabinets remained in the garage. Until I came up with this new idea for the benchwork, and realized that I could arrange them in such a manner so as to provide ample support for the I-beam ladder frame, and provide for a ton of shelf space for model railroading tools. This CAD drawing shows the arrangement of 6 such 8-inch deep cabinets. Some of the cabinets have fixed shelves (at differing spacings) and some have adjustable shelves. The cabinets span just about the entire width of the room (there are a few inches to spare for storing some tall items next to the layout).
This is what the set-up will look like. The rear I-beam is flush with the backs of the cabinets, and the front I-beam is flush with the front of the two perpendicular cabinets.
This CAD drawing shows three different modules on top of the benchwork. The center one in the diagram represents the one that I have already completed. The other two are the next phase of the layout. The final, fourth, one will be some time in the future.
The final component of this entire set-up is a dedicated workbench for my modeling efforts, shown here in orange. I have been lacking that. I have been using my main office desk, but it turned out to be a real pain constantly having to move the tools in and put away when working on a project. So, a big part of my vision behind this design was to have a space where I can leave an active project sitting on the workbench and not waste a bunch of time gathering, and then later on, putting away, all of the tools. The cabinets will house all of my tools, with the most-often used ones near the workbench surface, and the less-often used ones in the outer cabinets or in the cabinets under the workbench. The workbench surface will be cut to form around the interior of the center two cabinets, so that those cabinets can offer support for the back of the workbench. Also, the workbench surface will then not need to be made skinnier, depth-wise, because it won't jut out into the room. The workbench area is about 46" x 27" (117cm x 68cm).
The (blue) cabinets are set away from the wall by ~12 inches. The modules are 4 feet deep, so the final set-up will have them overhanging by 12 inches in the back and 12 inches in the front. Since the cabinets take up almost the entire width of the room, the space behind the cabinets is used to store household items that don't need to be accessed. The two outer cabinets, on the far left and far right, will only be attached to the other cabinets by two screws at the top, mostly to hold them in position, but that makes it possible to get to the stuff in the back, should the need ever arise. At the very back, near the wall, there will be a little bit of space for some sort of framework to hold up a backdrop. I do want to have a backdrop of some sorts, to make photography a bit more pleasant.
And, after three weeks of "hobby time", I was able to re-arrange everything, get the cabinets attached to one another, and trim the workbench surface such that it slid into the center cabinets. I have not yet bought the materials needed to build the I-beams, so the one module just sits up there temporarily.
The workbench surface is actually a leftover piece of the back of a cabinet, so it was "used" for various purposes over the two decades that I have had it. But, with the price of plywood these days, this is too valuable to not use. The two large holes used to route electrical cords out the back of the cabinet, but now I plan on gluing a small piece of plywood underneath each of them, so that those holes can be used to hold a paint or glue bottle or into which I can put some small parts that otherwise would roll off the surface when I am working on a project. I plan to fill in all of the former screw holes with wood putty, and likely paint the entire surface white to maximize visibility of tiny items on the workbench. Those are all projects that can be done over time. The same goes for moving all of the tools and things out of storage boxes and into these cabinets. But, at least I can start doing some small modeling projects again.
If you look closely at the right and top edges of the workbench surface in the photo above, you'll notice that there is a bit of a gap between it and the adjacent cabinets. These are fantastic places for tiny parts, paint brushes, and small springs to disappear into. To avoid that future frustration, I found some leftover oak strips and cut them to size and glued them to the top of the workbench. They are not glued to the cabinets, so that the whole thing can still be disassembled in the future. But, at least now I can work with some peace of mind. You can also see that the small hole in the workbench surface now has a "bottom" to it. A small paint bottle fits in there perfectly.
I want to keep often-used tools nearby. Tweezers are something I use on nearly every project. Years ago I had come up with this holder for tweezers and and my two "ear polypus" or "alligator clamps". The latter I don't use very often, but they are flat like the tweezers, so they fit. All that this hanger is is a section of leftover 1/4" plywood, to which I glued 1/8" pieces of stripwood to make the various slots. I simply glued this to the back of one of the cabinets on the right-hand side of my workbench.
I will share other storage ideas I come up with and implement, on this page, to give you some ideas.