Aiming for accuracy

A folding baseboard only works if when you unfold it the tracks align properly. Before anyone starts shouting about baseboard alignment devices they read about in MRJ once, forget it, we don't use them as demountable hinges are better. Anyway, I want this thing to fold which precludes the use of dowels, the name for things you are trying to remember.

The hinge/clasp combination seems pretty reliable anyway. All I had to do was set it up properly with the board tops nice and flat from the outset. The best way to do this I figured, was to do all the work joining the boards on a nice flat surface.

In an ideal world, this would be a surface plate as used by engineers but getting something big enough for a layout, even a micro one, would cost a fortune. Fortunately, the next best thing can be found in all house - the kitchen worktop.

It takes real skill to bend an inch thick-slab of melamine covered chipboard enough to be a problem and when we fitted the kitchen, I took pains to make sure this didn't happen for just this sort of occasion.

Anyway, a few minutes work saw everything screwed into place and I can now open and close the board with everything remaining in alignment. I wonder if this is the sort of thing the advertisers are thinking of when they ask "What do you do in your kitchen ? We'll design the perfect one for you.". Something tells me "Building toy trains" didn't figure in the brainstorming meeting, or would make it to the telly advert !