In Part 1 I said that one of my criteria for this switching layout is that, when stored, it must not occupy a lot of floor space. I have come up with a plan that will occupy an area along one of the 11 foot walls in the den and, when stored, will protrude into the room a distance of no further than 15 inches.
In the following drawing, the various colours depict:
- yellow - hinged countertop
- blue - front edge of cabinetry (affixed to the front will be standard kitchen cabinet doors)
- pink - the layout top (to be made of solid pink foam insulation board, 1 1/2 inches thick
- light brown - the wood supporting structure underneath the pink foam insulation board
- dark brown disks - 2 inch nylon garage door rollers that will be mounted in 2 inch x 3 inch (nominal) dimensional lumber
- blue disk (barely visible in the top-right vicinity of the structure) - wheels that will be mounted in several locations along the top front of the front edge of the cabinetry; the layout will rest on these wheels when deployed to prevent sagging of the 11 foot long layout top.
- orange-brown - 2 inch x 2 inch (nominal) dimensional lumber to be mounted on 3/4 inch plywood fastened to the walls on each end of the room. This will serve as guides within which the nylon garage door rollers will travel when raising and lowering the layout.
- scale model buildings are depicted in various colours.
This is a short video showing how the layout will be raised and lowered: