I hate cork road bed

[der5997]

rsn48 Rick: I've been to the pics of your layout room and checked out the 3 boxes of AMI on the back shelf. Nice work on the backdrop, looks quite like the Okanagan! Got me intrigued by the homemade brackets, what is MDF? (or am I being more than usually dumb?) How do you support them from the wall?

[der5997]

rsn48 Rick: I've been to the pics of your layout room and checked out the 3 boxes of AMI on the back shelf. Nice work on the backdrop, looks quite like the Okanagan! Got me intrigued by the homemade brackets, what is MDF? (or am I being more than usually dumb?) How do you support them from the wall?

[Anonymous]

"MDF" is Medium Density Fiberboard - it's a hard wood product - I believe it is made out of ground up wood, along with some kind of binder (glue) and it is pressed into sheets.

You can buy it in 4x8 sheets in many thicknesses - 1/2", 3/4", 1".

The stuff is wonderful to work with sometimes - no splinters, cuts like butter with a good sabersaw or a tablesaw, doesn't split easily, and has a nice smooth surface (no wood grain).

On the downside, it is HEAVY. Also, it doesn't like water. If you get it too wet too often, the glue will deteriorate, and the wood will fall apart. But, that would only be a concern in a bathroom or outside. I don't think the scenery applications of water/plaster etc. would be enough to cause problems, esp. as it seems to be used in that case as a sub-benchwork assembly.

Rob

[Anonymous]

"MDF" is Medium Density Fiberboard - it's a hard wood product - I believe it is made out of ground up wood, along with some kind of binder (glue) and it is pressed into sheets.

You can buy it in 4x8 sheets in many thicknesses - 1/2", 3/4", 1".

The stuff is wonderful to work with sometimes - no splinters, cuts like butter with a good sabersaw or a tablesaw, doesn't split easily, and has a nice smooth surface (no wood grain).

On the downside, it is HEAVY. Also, it doesn't like water. If you get it too wet too often, the glue will deteriorate, and the wood will fall apart. But, that would only be a concern in a bathroom or outside. I don't think the scenery applications of water/plaster etc. would be enough to cause problems, esp. as it seems to be used in that case as a sub-benchwork assembly.

Rob

[der5997]

Rob: MDF sounds like the stuff many items of furniture are made from these days. I've probably several brackets worth lurking in the basement already! I agree that water shouldn't be an issue as the brackets won't get wet unless there is a major "fault" in the layout "geology"! I would think that the extra wieght is a concern for mounting MDF brackets. Rick, "How do you support them from the wall?"

[der5997]

Rob: MDF sounds like the stuff many items of furniture are made from these days. I've probably several brackets worth lurking in the basement already! I agree that water shouldn't be an issue as the brackets won't get wet unless there is a major "fault" in the layout "geology"! I would think that the extra wieght is a concern for mounting MDF brackets. Rick, "How do you support them from the wall?"

[Anonymous]

It is probally just the brand of cork road bed you chose. Check with your local hobby shop. see where they get there cork roadbed from.

[Anonymous]

It is probally just the brand of cork road bed you chose. Check with your local hobby shop. see where they get there cork roadbed from.

[Anonymous]

Let me add a little to using the paint brush for spreading ballast,turn that brush around
and tap the railheads after your first ballast spreading. The vibration just settles in the ballast almost perfectly. The outside edge even becomes fairly well defined. Now just use your bru***o GENTLY clean off the tops of the ties and get those outside edges just the way you want them.Mist with soapy water,this pretty well locks everything in place and let the white glue flow!

[Anonymous]

Let me add a little to using the paint brush for spreading ballast,turn that brush around
and tap the railheads after your first ballast spreading. The vibration just settles in the ballast almost perfectly. The outside edge even becomes fairly well defined. Now just use your bru***o GENTLY clean off the tops of the ties and get those outside edges just the way you want them.Mist with soapy water,this pretty well locks everything in place and let the white glue flow!

[cp1057]

I had problems finding cork pieces at building supply places in my area, even the much-lauded big box stores. I ended up using 12" cork tiles from Wal-Mart. It works well for small yard areas and the thickness happened to match the sections of cork roadbed I already had on hand.

I have tried laying track directly on extruded foam, 2 problems I had: no sound deadening and it was difficult to get track to stay put when laying curves. Other than that it was okay as I was modeling a branchline with very low roadbed profile.

Charles
Hillsburgh On

[cp1057]

I had problems finding cork pieces at building supply places in my area, even the much-lauded big box stores. I ended up using 12" cork tiles from Wal-Mart. It works well for small yard areas and the thickness happened to match the sections of cork roadbed I already had on hand.

I have tried laying track directly on extruded foam, 2 problems I had: no sound deadening and it was difficult to get track to stay put when laying curves. Other than that it was okay as I was modeling a branchline with very low roadbed profile.

Charles
Hillsburgh On