Looking for something

[aferguson]

i need some boards, made of plastic or wood, that are retangular in shape and slot together and can then be easily pulled apart... much like the leafs of a table that you pull apart and slot in to make it longer.

Table leafs would do, but i am hoping to find a less expensive option.

Does anyone know of anything like that? Plastic preferred but wood is fine and not too thick.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

Have you looked at any flooring? Some faux wood flooring comes in panels that lock together like table leaves. Can't say for sure if the dimensions are suitable for what you need, but it may be worth a look.

[aferguson]

hm, that's interesting. That is the sort of thing i am looking for. I was hoping for larger planks but the smaller ones will do. A tad expensive but not too bad i guess. Best option so far, for sure, thanks.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

You might pick it up cheaper at a discount flooring dealer, maybe? Since I assume you won't need it to withstand years of being walked upon a lower quality wood might fit the bill.

[aferguson]

good idea.

I want to make a portion of an escort carrier flight deck out of it. My idea is to make it 5 feet wide by approx 7 feet long and set it up on top of my bed. I have nowhere to store one solid piece that is 5 by 7 feet, so that's why i want it to be able to pull apart, for more easy storage.

35 square feet of flooring is going to cost around $140, so i'd like to reduce it if possible. Whenever i find what i'm looking for it will be a fairly simple matter to paint a dark blue. Then i can set up a few corsairs, hellcats, avengers etc on it, have them with wings folded, or line up on a flight line etc

Eventually i'm going to make the carriers island, which is not really all that big on an escort carrier and i want to make a twin 40mm gun tub to set along the side (hence my post asking if there are any gi joe guns that look like twin bofors).

There are other things i plan to add at some point, like deck handling equipment, two guys with a fire hose. I have a kamikaze that i'm going to hang diving at my bed, so when it's set up that should look pretty cool.

I'm going to hang hooks at either end of my bed so i can pose a plane taking off or landing. Should be fun but i need to find a good way to make a section of carrier deck that is durable. Foam board is not plus it will be a huge section that i can't store easily.

[grunt1]

There are also those garage and/or exercise and/or play room tiles. They are large, interlocking and most can be cut pretty easily. Most appear to be square not rectangle and there is a wide variety of color, thickness and surface options.

http://www.fitness1st.com/Floor-Equipment-Mats.html

[aferguson]

hm....interesting. I wonder if the texture would be too pronounced though?

[Folkwulfe]

Not sure if this fits what you're looking for.......A friend wanted to do the same thing on a table-top (large dining room table) but needed it to be foldable for storage when not displayed. What we found that was close was a bamboo window shade that had bamboo flat segments glued on a flexable cloth backing. No stitching or gaps between the bamboo sections. Stained and coated it looked like the deck wood of US carrier decks. A few pieces of Evergreen plastic "U" channel (small) made the divided segments. When not used, you just rolled it up on the cloth side and it made a neat small package. His display was only 3' X 5' though...not quite as large as you want. We found the blind at a locale Lowe's on-sale....I think he paid around $25.00. To stiffen the entire shade, you could run 1/2" X 2" planks lengthwise underneath while it's sitting on your bed....3 or 4 should do it. Hinge them in the middle and they would be 3 1/2' long when folded. Make any sense?

[aferguson]

hm, interesting idea. I'll have to think upon it. Thanks for the idea.