Phase II - Benchwork (plywood)

Next up was plywood, and here I ran into a problem. My vehicle won't fit an entire 4'x8' sheet. For the middle sections I had the lumber store cut them into 3'x6' pieces which would fit, but for half-circles I wasn't sure how to go about it. Further, I didn't know if I would need to buy one or two sheets to get what I needed. Thankfully, my friend owns a large truck and has a much better brain for this sort of thing.

It turns out that it is possible to fit two 5' diameter half-circles on one sheet of plywood. The first and easiest is below, but it is possible that where they touch there might be a slight overlap of wood.

The second method is this. It guarantees that there won't be any shortage of wood, but it also means that the factory straight cuts are unable to be used. 

I had a paper template to use and so I probably could have figured out the above just by pushing it around, but I am glad my friend provided me proof of concept beforehand. I went with the first arrangement. Because the plywood is being topped by foam, and eventually a fascia board will be added on the outer edge, any minimal loss of wood from overlap isn't a big deal. Being able to utilize the straight rear side is important though.

My friend dropped off the plywood on my driveway and I used my paper template to spray paint the cut lines. A pencil would have worked, but this seemed easier. I cut about 1/16" extra on the curved edges to make sure I didn't short myself. 

You can see how close they came to overlapping. But, it all worked out in the end.

That extra clearance proved to be too much of a good thing, and I had to go back and sand it all off. As a result, some of the plywood edges don't quite reach the edge of the benchwork framing but that is fine. I don't want any of the plywood sticking out over the edge, which would be problematic when installing the fascia in the future.

Then, I applied a layer of wood glue to the top of every joist and around the edges and set the plywood on top. Some 1" long panel nails were added too. My assistant was very eager to help out.

Despite knowing the answer, I tried again to see the largest curve I could fit. And 0-48 diameter curves were still the answer. But they are perfect for the type of equipment I will be running.

Unfortunately, what I didn't realize was how little space I would have inside the track for my scenery. My original plan was for a farm scene but that won't fit. So, I am going with plan B (which requires more thinking...)