Glad I tested first

[Medina1128]

Another way to make ditches/canyons is light tan spray paint. Not only do the solvents in the paint eat the foam, but now you have your base color. I would make sure to ventilate the room while doing this. I use a oscillating fan that blows toward a box fan mounted in front of a basement window. You can see the particulates drift across the room and go out the window. CAUTION: BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IF YOU HAVE A GAS WATER HEATER OR FURNACE IN THE ROOM!!

[AltoonaRailroader]

Ok, so I got my "blue dessert" going on ...

When I first saw your opening line, I thought it had something to do with blueberry ice cream or something!

DOH!!!!

[loathar]

Run paint thinner in the ditch and make your own canyon......

Sounds like a potential new product. "Ditches in Minutes" Wonder if we'll see it in WS's next catalog?

[stokesda]

Ok, so I got my "blue dessert" going on ...

When I first saw your opening line, I thought it had something to do with blueberry ice cream or something!

[selector]

Soldering iron means no nasty solvents required.  Same effect.  Not so good for the iron, but hey, nothing's perfect.

[bogp40]

Run paint thinner in the ditch and make your own canyon......

[AltoonaRailroader]

Hey, one man's ceiling is another man's floor...

So, if you wanted to make a ditch by the side of your roadbed in the foam, could you just draw the ditch in with Dry Erase and watch the foam disappear?   Cool.

I didn't think of it like that but yeah, and since it comes in different colors you could use brown to get a good ditch base. Very good Mr. B.

[MisterBeasley]

Hey, one man's ceiling is another man's floor...

So, if you wanted to make a ditch by the side of your roadbed in the foam, could you just draw the ditch in with Dry Erase and watch the foam disappear?   Cool.

[AltoonaRailroader]

Ok, so I got my "blue desert" going on and I'm laying out my mainline first so I can at least get some trains running eh? First I measured out all the track and transferred my plan from paper to foam. So far so good right? Sure. I then when over the main and put a dot in between ties every couple of inches with a permanent marker in which I will make a center line once I pull up the track.

Here we go.

I had the bright to write what track was where on the foam so that when I went to lay the track back down after the roadbed was down that I would be put the exact same pieces back in the exact same spots. The problem was and I don't even know why I worried about this is that I didn't want to mark up all the foam(which is going to be covered eventually anyhow right?). So my wife suggested trying a Dry Erase marker to see if you could make a mark then wipe it off later. WELL, not only can you NOT wipe it off, but it eats the foam!  I made one swipe on a piece of test foam board and it made a little indentation in the foam!!!! Wow! So needless to say we won't be using that method. LOL. I think I'll just make a few small marks of what track pieces are what or just set the track aside where it will be placed back down so I know where everthing goes.

Lesson learned.  Dry Erase Marker + Foam board= BAD