Working on the Dixie Central Again!

Finally!  My daughter Taylor and I attacked the layout with a vengeance today!  While this is for my MMR Certificates, I don't think the judges will mind if I get a little help from a six year old.  Frankly, they should give me more points!

 I swore I'd never buy a mini-van.  Never swear or you will get punished.  Now I own a mini-van.  There is one good thing about it though.  You can put a 4x8 foot sheet of foam in it!

 The 2" foam just barely fit, but I did bring it home with my knees crammed under the dashboard.

 I've got one sheet of extruded 2" and three sheets of the 3/4" purple foam.

 My daughter helped me prep the room by putting all the C-clamps away.  I use them to hold the sections together.

 Here are the four sections laying in the basement floor.

 

 We laid the 2" foam on the floor, placed a section of the layout on top and Taylor took a Sharpee marker and drew the profile on the foam.

 She is being very careful and precise, unlike her father.

 We drew the profiles of two of the modules for their base 2" of foam.

 I first cut the inner circle with a serrated edge knife.  That hurt my wrist (which has been broken several times) so I switched to an Avalon hot knife.

 Taylor and I both cut on the foam to remove the extra.  Notice the broken edge on the bottom.  It didn't quite break as I thought it would.

 To glue the foam to the sectional benchwork I used Loctite's PL 300 adhesive for foam.  Last time I used Liquid Nails for Projects and the stuff is too firm and doesn't adhere well.
 

 This is before I broke off the outer cut.

 To bring my work up to my level I use a small card table.  

 Taylor has the camera now and is doing an amazing job for six years old.  She shot the rest of the pix.  Here I'm preparing to glue the foam to the section #2.

First, we test fit the foam just to make sure it fits.  I cut these upside down, so I wanted to make sure the were a match when turned over.

 I used a caulk gun to spread a bead of adhesive on each rib making sure I got close to the front and back radiuses.  Radii?  Radius's?  Curves.

 The caulk gun makes quick work of the adhesive and the PL300 applies MUCH better than the Liquid Nails.

 I carefully place the foam and push down all around.

 Ok, somebody used up all the camera memory taking silly pictures.

 The piece I broke off will be glued in place and held tight with toothpicks for 48 hours.

 I turned the section upside down on the floor and placed a heavier section on top of it to compress the glue joints.  We'll leave it for 48 hours. 

 The next section is now on the operating table...

 More glue...still on the first cartridge.

 Careful placement and compression...

 Removing the card table.

And the other section is turned upside down and weighted. 

What fun!  Taylor and I have a great time together building the layout.  I had no idea she could take good pictures without any real training.  We'll have to get her a better camera and take some classes.  I love it when I don't have to take the pix.