Lower Level is Finished!

I decided I needed to finish this level or I would be distracted by many other things and may not get it done for months. I mean I only had the last few feet to finish.

So, over the last few days, I measured and marked and re-measured and re-marked, cut and screwed until I had all but the last 14 inches done. That last bit was something else.

As you can see in the photo, there are some sunken areas. That will be water in the finished layout. There is also a river in the background section. For each of these areas, I wanted to have support for the water area, so I usually kept the part I cut out and used it for the base, supported by cuts in the joists.

Not so this last part as I had to design some benchwork first to support everything, then install some joists with cutouts, then find some pieces of plywood that would fit or could be cut to fit. The last piece took four tries before I was satisfied.

But it's done. Now I get get onto some other things before returning to the layout and won't be worried about not having reached a good stopping point.

Next up will be turnouts (made with Fast Tracks jigs) and small structures. But first I have to re-arrange some small cabinets so I have room to work on them :)