Calculating possible weight for the baseboards

I wanted to calculate the weight of my baseboards using insulation and plywood. This was after reading about the weight of another modeller's baseboards made totalling from plywood.

Googling the weight of different thicknesses of plywood, I came up with the following rough calculations for one of the 5ft x 2 ft boards.

• The top of 3mm plywood & insulation - 2.1kg
• The 2 ends of 9mm play (1kg each) -2kg
• The front Facia - 0.3kg
• Back screen (inc. insulation at bottom) - 1.6kg
• Internal sections of insulation - 0.5kg
• Track approximately - 0.5kg

So my best guess at the weight of one of the 5ft x 2ft baseboards without scenery, track etc. will be approximately 7kg (15.5lbs). I've tried to make an allowance in the figures for glue and baseboard dowels. So the 5ft x 2ft baseboards might only weigh the equivalent of 7 bags of sugar or a little more. Size wise still too cumbersome for one person to carry but two people should easily be able to manhandle them. 

One problem rearing its head is the size or rather shape of the final scenic baseboard at the Bodmin, Wenford bridge end of the layout. Question being will it go through a standard door width in the configuration I'm planning? The creation of an 8th scale model of the layout should help me answer this question.

Thoughts on Baseboard Construction

I have mumbled a little, on a couple of blogs, about my thoughts for baseboard construction. The baseboards for Boscarne Junction are going to be relatively large. If I used the plywood and softwood sandwich technique they’d require two people to move them. The basic idea is to build baseboards that I’ll be able to lift and move around when I’m in my 7^th decade.

When visiting York Model Railway show in 2019 I became intrigued with Gordon Gravett’s baseboards for Arran Quay and way he’d sandwiched insulation board between thin plywood. I was not sure about using the same insulation board for the baseboard tops but he had made it work. This method of construction must have created a very light baseboard easy to lift and move/transport.

Many years ago I purchased a number of 2ft x 4ft x 1 inch sheets of insulation board for creating hex terrain for wargaming. There are still eleven sheets left from that project which are taking up space in my shed. My intention is to rather than dispose of these sheets is to make good use of them for Boscarne Junction’s baseboards.

As my insulation board is only 1 inch thick I’ll not be follow Gordon’s methods fully but to borrow his general idea. Hopefully the drawings below will help to explain my intentions better than words.