30 Minutes a Day

My new policy is to go to the basement for no less than 30 minutes a day. I've found that if I don't make model trains a priority, I will never have anything finished. So from now on I will go to the basement each day. You can get a lot of work done in this fashion and all the modelers that I know that are high producers go play every day. Besides, it makes me more tolerable to be around.

Tonight, we fix the inner radius slat.

My first chore is to take the clamps off of yesterday's project and check the work. Very nice! Now, using a hand saw I'll cut off the "tail".

I cut a 2x4 square of Masonite 1/8" thick into 3" strips. I put glue on one of the side plates and countersunk two (not three) holes into the Masonite. Using two 1 1/4" drywall screws, I anchored the slat. Then I applied wood glue to the base and the other slats and moved the Masonite into place. It bends perfectly to the form! I drill and anchor the other end and then clamp the slat to the base to give a good contact for gluing.

Using the hand saw, I trim off the tail and will let it dry overnight.

Tomorrow I'll cut out the top plate and glue it to the waffle base that we just made in order to complete the first Section. Now that the glue has dried it is amazingly strong and light weight.