'I cut the 2x1 and blew my nose'

Baseboard building. Not for a new layout and not for me, but for grandson 's trainset. He wanted something electric, so for Christmas a cheap forty quid Hornby was bought with included trackmat. His dad then reported that he was using it so much that it would be better on a board. Agreed, but who would build said board? Who do you think? His dad can strip Eurofighters and make them fly again but can't 'do carpentry' .

61" x 47" is too big for the car to get it to him so it needed to be split. It also needed to be robust enough to be dragged around, but light. I decided that a semi-traditional softwood frame would give the strength with an MDF top rather than chipboard. It's a bloody awkward size and needed three 2'x 4' sheets to complete. The softwood is best B&Q banana pine which is still deciding what sort of shape it wants to be. Thus I had to dance about a bit to pick out the best sections for the outer and  the worst for the bracing. The two boards will be bolted together with a brace of 6mm roofing bolts at their final destination. The final cost of just the materials being more than the train set...
We'll see how long this curve lasts.