The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[GPdemayo]

Atta Boy Tom !!!

Gregory,

Without your Cranial Attitude Dysfunctional (CAD) drawings I couldn't have pulled it off. Or should I say "cut it out"!

Thanks brother.

Chomping at the bit Tom

Hey Chomping.....not to worry, I've been having tons of fun helping, except maybe not so much with the carpet, that was to much like real work!

[ACL1504]

I NEVER want to see any rolled carpet again, never!

[GPdemayo]

I NEVER want to see any rolled carpet again, never!

Roger.....

[ReadingBob]

Woo-hoo!  We have construction!

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Yes, finally it has begun!

Tom

[BandOGuy]

Bob,

Yes, finally it has begun!

Tom

No pressure Tom, but remember.....
God Almighty built the entire earth, in seven, yes seven days.
And with no Diet Pepsi break, either. [size=78%] [/size]

[S&S RR]

Good to see that construction has begun!

[gnatshop]

Heck, I ain't seen no real construction yet - just another one of them old Floridy folks re-livin'
their childhood by sittin' on the floor drawin' pitures and spreadin' out jigsaw puzzle pieces!

Candy and Ralphie ain't the only ones I kinda like and harass unmercilessly!!
To put it correctly, 'ol'e chubby Tommy' is right up there on my favorites list and ain't gonna get
no slack from me!!!
Buck Up - I ain't goin' away anytime soon!!! 

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Yes, finally it has begun!

Tom

No pressure Tom, but remember.....
God Almighty built the entire earth, in seven, yes seven days.
And with no Diet Pepsi break, either.

Hmmm, no Diet Pepsi during the seven day build? He certainly is a far better Man than I! It will take me more than seven days to even consider not drinking a Diet Pepsi during a work session.

Thanks for checking in on the build.

[ACL1504]

Good to see that construction has begun!

John,

Yes, finally! I'll post some pictures soon.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Heck, I ain't seen no real construction yet - just another one of them old Floridy folks re-livin'
their childhood by sittin' on the floor drawin' pitures and spreadin' out jigsaw puzzle pieces!

Candy and Ralphie ain't the only ones I kinda like and harass unmercilessly!!
To put it correctly, 'ol'e chubby Tommy' is right up there on my favorites list and ain't gonna get
no slack from me!!!
Buck Up - I ain't goin' away anytime soon!!! 

Gman,

Good to see you my friend. I would be very hurt if you didn't harrass me for something. I'm happy you liked my jigsaw puzzle. It's coming along slowly.

Until next time.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Okay, I guess "next time" is here.

I realized a small problem with my layout height. I mentioned the lower level was going to start at 30", the middle level would be 40" and the top level would be at 58". I have what I refer to as a reverse lighting valance in the room. My valance is open at the top meaning the lights aren't hidden behind the valance and shine down. My valance allows the light to reflect off the ceiling and this gives me more of an even lighting effect and some would refer to this a ambient light. The bottom of the valance is 72" from the floor. So, if the top level is at 58" this only gives me 14" of play room for my upper level structures. Some of my structures are higher than 14".

To resolve this issue I simple dropped everything 4". My new staging/lower level is now at 26" off the floor. This still gives me room to store stuff under the layout and room to gain access to the ovalix. Problem solved.

Last Saturday was the day I decided to start building the ovalix. In the photo below you can see the blue chalk line at 30" and my new line at 26"!



My supervisors, AKA: Government Workers, thought it would be good to have a photo of the hard worker starting the build. Harder worker is in the next photo.



Above you see me hard at work predrilling holes in the 2x2's to be bolted to the walls. The next photo shows the two "non hardworkers" watching the A&S President hard at work! On the left is the Judge and on the right is Greg DeMayo. You see how hard they are working. And yes, I have a cordless drill but the one I'm using is a hammer drill and is faster for drilling the tapcon holes through the drywall and cinder blocks.

You can also see my lighting valance in the background.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

Fast forward and you can see I've started the benchwork for the ovalix area. It appears to be overkill but it isn't. I'll explain this issue in a post tomorrow.



The Judge was feeling bad for not working so he wanted me to show him doing something productive. Hear he is holding a piece of track in place. It sure looks like work to me! How bout ya'll?



Finally the supervisors left and I was able to really get something done. I thought I would show you two different ways to attach the plywood sections together. One method is to cut a splice and glue it under the two sections. In the photo below I've applied glue to one side and clamped it to the underside of one of the sections.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

The other method I'm using is more stable, at least for the section of the ovalix that holds the runaround/passing track. I screwed a 1x4 brace to the 2x2 which is bolted/tapcon to the wall. I added a 2x2 to the other end of the 1x4.



I then test fitted the lower level base to the benchwork. You can see the right edge of the plywood fits flush to the edge of the 1x4 brace.



I then screwed a piece of 1x4 to the right side of the existing 1x4!



The right base section will sit on this 1x4 and flush to the section on the left and this gives me a solid base for the plywood.

The next photo shows the ovalix portion/section on the 1x4 brace.



Continued tomorrow evening.

[S&S RR]

Tom


Congratulations - looks like real construction to me.  I will be watching your progress.