Davetown Boardwalk

[DaveInTheHat]

A little background on how this idea came about....
Whenever I'm building a diorama or anything else for that matter, I keep a small box on my bench to put "stuff" in. Things like leftover pieces of wood, metal, plastic, painted paper, leftover parts or anything else that I think I might use later. Once and a while I use some. When I'm finished with the project the little box gets dumped into a bigger box that I keep on a shelf with the other junk that I've been hording.

Along with this stuff I have a box of leftover kit parts and HO scale junk. Some of it I've sorted through and picked out what I can use and have it stored in empty prescription bottles. (finally found a good use for them). Then I have this other box of "stuff". It's full of things that I've found over the years. Pieces "stuff" or odd things that I think I might be able to use for something. My wife has developed a keen eye for "stuff" that she thinks I could use and usually just puts it on my workbench. Some of it is really odd that I never would probably never use. But, for the most part she leaves me with some really good "stuff" and I have used a lot of it in my dioramas.

So, I was looking for some stuff that I could use for "junk" to put behind "Tuxedo Dave's Chainsaw Sharpening" and I started wondering what I'm going to do with all this really weird "stuff". If I threw it all out I probably wouldn't even miss it. Am I the only one that does this?

Then I was at work and I found a piece of MDF 3/4" thick, about 5 inches wide and 4 feet long in the scrap bin. The idea hit me. I'm going to build a boardwalk and use up a whole mess of this weird crap that I've been saving.
I figure just about anything goes on a boardwalk. Actually, the stranger the better. I'll be able to use up a lot of the odd pieces of wood that I've been saving too.

My plan is to build the boardwalk in two, 2 foot sections to make it easier to work with. Once the base is finished I can start adding stores. Since I'm only going to be building store fronts they should be fairly quick to build. I'll be able to make these one at a time to take a little break from bigger projects. I'm looking forward to getting started on something. The first store is going to be French Fries. I have a list with about 50 ideas on it.

Here's what I've built so far....

I glued down some foam with wood glue



I chopped at it with a utility knife and some really course sandpaper from a floor sanding belt. I tried to carve some rocks out of the foam and gave it a coat of latex paint.



The rocks I tried to carve didn't look like rocks so I used super glue and stuck on some real rocks and added a section of black top. This will be the beginning of the boardwalk.



A coat of thinned out Elmer's Glue and some genuine sand from the Atlantic Ocean.



It took a couple layers of sand to get it to look right. I ended up using the glue straight from the bottle and dumping on a lot of sand and letting it sit overnight.



I got some pieces of lattice and cut up a whole bunch of wood. I did the best I could to keep the wood that I'm going to use for the decking the same thickness.





A quick trip through a pan of ink and alcohol got the wood a decent color of gray.



I got the pilings laid out on a scale 10 foot square grid.



Now I can add bracing and get the beams in place for the decking. I think that is going to be the hardest part of the whole thing. Gluing down about 1500 pieces for the deck is going to get boring.

[GPdemayo]

This looks to be a fun build Dave.....I'll be following along. 

[S&S RR]

Great project Dave.  I will be following along.

[Slim Jerkins]

I'll be following along as well. I'm working on a boardwalk too Dave. Lots of lighting opportunities (my reason for doing it in the first place  )

-slim

[gnatshop]

I'll be following along as well. I'm working on a boardwalk too Dave. Lots of lighting opportunities (my reason for doing it in the first place  )  -slim   

Understandable!!  You just want to highlight the hot chicks roamin' down the boardwalk!!! 

[DaveInTheHat]

When I put my workbench together in my room I went to a lot of trouble to get it real as level as possible. If only for the reason to keep xacto knives from rolling off and sticking in my leg. I'm glad I did because there isn't anything to measure off of on this diorama base to get the beam straight. I started at the back left side and got that beam straight and level on the x axis. Then did the same thing to the middle beam and kept the y axis level as I worked my way to the other end. Same process for the front. This was really difficult to keep every thing lined up and in place because the pilings are crooked and not straight in the foam base. When I moved one spot it threw another one out of place. Took some time and slow un-clamping, gluing, and re-clamping.



After I got the first beams in place I lined up a second beam on the opposite side of the pilings. The main reason I did this was to give more surface area to glue the decking to.





The beams came out level but since the pilings are out of whack I clamped a piece of wood across the front beam to pull it into alignment.



I cut cross pieces all the same length and glued them in to force the middle and back sections straight. That worked out ok. So now the hard part is done.



I added beams under the long beams in the opposite direction to add a little more stability and strength to the whole structure. Then I put in cross braces just for visual appearance.



\

After all the glue dried I used sanding block with 100 grit paper across the top to knock off any excess glue and smooth out any high spots.
Next is the decking. I haven't decided if I'm going to go with a 90 degree pattern, a 45 degree, or something else. I'll have to sleep on that.

[bparrish]

Dave....

Great model.  Cool tips on getting things done.

Forty five degree deck cuts would look cool as it is out of the ordinary.  Either would look great.

Cool stuff
Bob

[Chet]

That is looking great. Waiting to see the finished product. A very interesting build.

I spent 6 years in the Navy and lived in Florida for a while and had interest at one time to build a port scene, but being that I chose to model where I live in Montana, that ain't gonna happen.

[Slim Jerkins]

...
Next is the decking. I haven't decided if I'm going to go with a 90 degree pattern, a 45 degree, or something else. I'll have to sleep on that.

Check out some pictures on Shorpy. I've collected a bunch of the old board walk pictures. Most have the boards at 90 degrees. However, I've seen one shot where the boards do something like this \\\\\IIIIIII======IIIIII///////.  I think the boards running parallel to the length of the boardwalk (IIIII) were done so to form a lane for the rolling chairs.

-slim

[BandOGuy]

Only boardwalk I'm familiar with has its two "narrow ends" deck strips laid at 90 degree angles to the shoreline.
In the "wider sections" fronting the commercial buildings, the decking runs _ _ _ l l l / / / ll \ \ \ l l l _ _ _ as seen from above. Experience is from Ocean City, NJ. Many of those deck strips sag due to the frequent assault by a Massive dinosaur we all know and love. Don't think that pattern would fit on your framework as shown, either the pattern or the dinosaur.

[ACL1504]

Dave,

Looks great and I'll be watching as well.

Tom

[DaveInTheHat]

I looked at a bunch of pictures on the Shorpy and did a Google search. Seems like the old way was mostly 90 degrees. Then it changed to 45. Then the newer boardwalks are in a "V" pattern. Since I can't decide which one I like, I think I'm going to go with 90 degrees for the first section then maybe switch to 45 on the next section. I'll see what happens after I get a couple boards glued down.

[ollevon]

 Very very nice Dave, I think what ever way you decide to do the planking it's going to look fantastic, as your work always is.
  Sam

[DaveInTheHat]

I decided to make the boards 90 degrees at the transition from the blacktop because it just didn't look right at 45 degrees. I'll have to do some work in this area to make it level. The rest of the boards are at 45 degrees. I was going to go with the "V" pattern, but I thought it might look way off center after I add the store fronts.



I did about 2" of boards at a time. It seemed like it took a really long time to lay all the boards down.



I used big toenail clippers that have a straight cut to trim the ends of the boards. The overall structure is super strong now. The boards are pretty flat too. I'm happy with the way it's turning out so far.

[S&S RR]

Looking good!  That is a lot of boards to cut and glue in place.