I like the idea of using one or two levels of foam on top of my plywood base so I can carve rivers and whatever into the foam to reduce and raise the scenery level. What type of foam board do I use? Do I just go to Home Depot and buy any foam board used as insulation used in the wall of a house? So I use Liqid Nails for Projects (foam friendly) to glue to foam to the plywood and foam board to foam board, do I also use the liquid nails to qlue the track to the cork and the cork to the track or can I nail the track to the cork and qlue the cork to the track?
I must say the thing I like about installing the cork to the plywood and the track to the cork is that I can nail it down and if I do not like it remove the nails. The thing I am most concerned about is gluing the cork to the foam and gluing the track to the cork, if I decide that I want to adjust anything by the time I get the track off the cork it will probably be ruined. If I am wrong in my thinking please advise.
Thanks and best regards!
Rod
I use two-inch-thick extruded styrofoam insulation. I get it at Home Depot. It's the pink stuff, Owens-Corning, I think. If your supplier sells Dow, it's going to be blue, but it's the same stuff.
You can glue foam to plywood, roadbed to foam and track to roadbed, all with Liquid Nails for Projects. That's what I use. I use the WS foam roadbed instead of cork, but that's an individual choice.
If you use 2-inch foam and support it every 16-18 inches, you don't need a solid plywood underlay at all. The foam is stiff enough and strong enough to support a layout without plywood. You will not be able to climb on it, but you can't climb on foam-over-plywood either, because you'll crush the foam.
If you want to "experiment" with a track plan, try this: Take a bunch of paper clips and straighten them out into a U-shape. With 2-inch foam and WS foam roadbed, you can push these U-shaped pins through the mounting holes in the track, through the roadbed and into the foam. This will hold pretty well, even with flex-track if you don't have too tight a radius. I've got some track on my layout that's been pinned like this for a year and a half while I've worked down at the other end.
I've had to take up glued-down track a few times. With the above-specified materials, I can stick a putty knife under the tracks and lift them up. The track is still in good shape and quite re-useable if you're careful. The roadbed is shot, but so what? Cork might hold up better than foam, but I don't have any experience with that.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi Rod, there are quite a few threads on the use of foam so search for them and you will get a lot of other ideas as well.
Get either the blue foam board or the pink, don't use the white bead foam as it is not nearly as easy to carve IMO. It is fine to use some of the white bead foam to bulk out mountains and things. For this I use scrap waste foam packaging rather than use expensive foam board. If you are using the thin sheets (1" and under) they have a plastic film which you should peel off.
Liquid nails for projects foam compatible will work fine for this. I like to put it on thin and use one of those sawtooth trowels to get good coverage. It can take an age to dry so thinner the better.
It also works fine for cork-foam bonds. Just don't put it on too thick and then if you need to move things it is not hard to slide a putty knife into the join and get it apart. I also used it applied very thin for the track to cork bond. You can also use adhesive caulk for this. Again the key is a very thin coat, you don't want it oozing up between the ties. I just run a bead down the center line and then spread it to a very thin layer with a putty knife. It is not hard to slide the knife under and break the bond later, even well after it has dried.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
To add a couple of things.:
I get most of my styrofoam from dumpsters around construction sites. In Minnesota they use it a lot for foundation work.
I have used the blue and the pink, but I have also used the green and the yellow. The green is harder to find around here, but is more ridgid and carves easier. The batch I found was used under a poured concrete floor in a garage.
Thanks to all who responded.
Regards,