Milestones are good - they give you a sense of accomplishment as you head toward your goal. For a model railroad, the road can VERY long (but enjoyable). So, any task completed is little boost. A look back a few weeks ago...
As I mentioned in the last post, the final section of the benchwork was tricky I found that having a full-size template of the profile placed on the floor helped me to see how the peninsula fit in the space I had.
It fit well with plenty of space to walk around and in.
I sensed I was not going to have enough 2" foam board to completely fill in the benchwork. Instead of buying another $30 sheet, I decided to fill in the area planned for a mountain (with tunnels and portals for train access) using plywood. The smaller open areas were filled with foam board remnants. Completing all those jigsaw puzzles over the years was good training for this phase!
Painting with earth-colored paint from the mis-mixed paint section of Home Depot (thanks, Mike!) helps to seal the surface and provide a more realistic feel than "the plains of pink."
It became necessary to glue the foam down onto the joists to reduce some of the drum effect of the foam. Combined with Homabed roadbed, this should keep the sound of trains to a reasonable level.
Update: Homabed is no longer available as Cascade Rail Supply has gone out of business. Checkout this YouTube video on how to make your own.