Balsa wood is used for many RC model airplane as well as non flying kits. Any decent hobby shop should carry it in various sizes. I used it to make station platforms for my layout years ago. The LHS where I live carries it in various sizes and shapes. Cut it with an Xacto knife. Only thing I found it absorbs paint so you may have to give it a few coats..
Neal
I have to look up the balsa foam.
The styrene concepts are interesting, but for the amount of time and effort I can just use normal packing foam and apply plaster on it, then sand it. But I was looking for a faster method.
So far the experiment with 2 glued sheets of 3/16" balsa I procured is going well.
Re: the platforms. They are about 6' long, and one station sits on a curve. Edges of a couple curve in a little as tracks join each other at end of station.
NP.
I would suggest Balsa-Foam. There is an artical in RMC last month about the use of it. You can find it in 1/2, 3/4, 1.0 and 2.0 inch thicknesses and in blocks. Dick Blick Art supplies Sell it or EBAY and is a AMACO product. Two types are made. Foam I, and Foam II which is the stronger hard Density. Carves like butter and paints like wood. I purchased some for some loading docks to carve and other uses. Great stuff to work with as you can carve stone walls or steps into the dock etc. I do have a band saw and will slice the thickness of the product as needed. This product is very stable. Look it up. Doug
NittanyLion I considered that, but as a qualifier for "no major cuts," I figured you'd have to cut sheet stock on a relatively long and curved series of cuts for the top of the styrene box.
I am assuming you will have to make those cuts no matter what material you use. I would take some 3/8" wide styrene strips and set them on edge and follow the curve on the layout, then support it with small styrene braces and eventually form the outside shape. Then lay a sheet on top and cement to the outside shape and finally turning the assembly over and cut the top to the profile of the outside. Styrene only needs one or two passes with a sharp #11 blade and it will snap apart. Then you just file/sand the edge smooth and paint. I realize this is a somewhat condensed description but I know it would work. I don't know how big and the exact shape of the platforms you have in mind, but they can be made in smaller sections and assembled on the layout. Seams can be incorporated to represent expansion joints common in concrete structures/platforms. This is just my opinion as to how I would tackle the problem. Just try a small section to see how it would work/look for you. I don't know if you have worked with styrene before or how much, so this is why I am suggesting this approach. Good luck in whatever method/material you finally use.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
farrellaa NittanyLion If it was me, I wouldn't even bother with anything monolithic that would have to be cut. I'd build a form out of styrene and cast it in plaster, in place. I would go a step back here and just build it from styrene sheet stock, just putting internal bracing where needed. You can finish styrene to look like concrete as well as any other material and it is so easy to fabricate from. -Bob
NittanyLion If it was me, I wouldn't even bother with anything monolithic that would have to be cut. I'd build a form out of styrene and cast it in plaster, in place.
If it was me, I wouldn't even bother with anything monolithic that would have to be cut. I'd build a form out of styrene and cast it in plaster, in place.
I would go a step back here and just build it from styrene sheet stock, just putting internal bracing where needed. You can finish styrene to look like concrete as well as any other material and it is so easy to fabricate from.
I considered that, but as a qualifier for "no major cuts," I figured you'd have to cut sheet stock on a relatively long and curved series of cuts for the top of the styrene box.
Either styrene, or basswood. (Not balsa though.)
With a straight platform, basswood or plywood.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
mlehmanIIRC, natural balsa stocks are declining, because it's not farmed, while basswood is, so it gets replanted and plenty of supply. But that's a very old memory and may no longer apply.
Wiki says it no longer applies
Ecuador supplies 95 percent or more of commercial balsa. In recent years, about 60 percent of the balsa has been plantation grown in densely packed patches of around 1000 trees per hectare (compared to about two to three per hectare in nature). It is evergreen or dry-season deciduous, with large (30–50 cm or 11.8–19.7 in) weakly palmately lobed leaves. Being a deciduous angiosperm, balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft. It is the softest commercial hardwood. The trees are harvested after six to 10 years of growth. The name balsa comes from the Spanish word for "raft".
Although I guess you can make a distinction between Natural and Commerically farmed trees...
Much of the stripwood you buy for modeling is basswood. For example, Hobby Lobby stocks both side by side locally. The basswood is always cheaper, which I find a good deal because it's stronger and has a finer grain to my eye.
IIRC, natural balsa stocks are declining, because it's not farmed, while basswood is, so it gets replanted and plenty of supply. But that's a very old memory and may no longer apply. YMMV
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehman I usually go with basswood these days.
I usually go with basswood these days. It's cheaper and stands up to being bumped and stressed better than balsa. Both are virtually interchangeable in most uses, though.
Found 3/16" balsa 3" X 36" sheets at Michael's For $4.50 each. Will try and report back.
Gatorboard is available in 3/16" thickness and is very rigid and easy to cut.
Dante
Balsa Wood????
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Try www.nationalbalsa.com. They offer sheets of high-quality plywood in 3/8ths, also pieces of various hardwoods in 3" x 3/8ths. If you need a lot, there are several online lumber vendors who will sell you sheets in up to 6-inch widths. Cut them with a handheld power jigsaw using a fine-tooth blade. If you are a masochist you can use a manual keyhole saw.
I strongly recommend against balsa. Its light weight makes it useful for model planes but it has many issues in terms of model railroading.
I don't have a table saw! There's part of the problem but curves is another. I think the 3/8" balsa has promise. I will try that first.
Trying to avoid laminating if I can.
Balsa glues really well, so it's possible to add an edge strip to create edge relief. At 3/8" you are almost 3 scale feet tall so some profile to the vertical would be cool.
Thanks so much all.
LION has lots of platforms. Here is corugated cardboard on a 3/4" lump of some sort of stock. The rough edge is very prototypical although this particular station (In New York) has been renovated this year.
I do nok know what you define as easy to cut. LION has access to a table saw, so him can ust a 2x4 into a platform, and then use it to undercut the platform edge.
Railroads have profiles both for the rolling stock and for the wayside, and the platform edge that encroaches upon the "no-man's zone" must be of "sacrificial material"
This platform used to be a 2x4...
These platforms used to be 2" thick fiberglass roofing insulation, first is was ripped to platform height, and then under cut to form the platform ledge. The top of the platform is decroative and was done on a computer and printed on a laser printer.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
SouthPenn 3/8" Drywall???
3/8" Drywall???
That would also work!!
Take Care!
Frank
NP01Frank, Do you get this in laminated form or do you laminate 1/16 paper over the illustration board from Staples?
The Illustration board comes that way. Both sides are White smooth paper, with cardstock in the center, laminated together. You can also buy thicker one's. From the side it looks like 3ply card stock, with two white smooth sides:
https://www.officesupply.com/office-supplies/paper-pads/poster-foam-boards/poster
With the pine wood sandwiched between the Illustration, it is extremely strong....You would have to put it over Your knee, to break it. And like I said...it You are off a little in Your cutting...it is sandable.
The piece with the cut-out rectangular holes leaning against the illustration board, will be going where the black portion of the backdrop is, extended out over the double track mainline. There will be Merchants row buildings kit bashed/ narrowed to fit against the wall....the tunnel opening is for the street vehicle traffic. The tunnel already has LED lighting in it. That whole area...is designed to be a lift off, in sections. Rix early highway overpass concrete sides will be going around the outside edge of the street.
NP01Mike, I will look if they have 3/16". How do you cut? I find exacto a bit hard to cut basswood in a curved shape (some platforms)
NP,
Use a sharp blade and make shallow cuts. This will usually work without the grain of the board causing the knife tip to wander off course.
This isn't 3/8" but there was a lot of cutting on the curve when I did the platforms in front of Durango station.
Another trick is to use aircraft plywood laminated to the bottom of the basswood. I use eitherer 1/64" or 1/32" depending on how thick things can be. This keeps the basswood from splitting.
Mike, I will look if they have 3/16". How do you cut? I find exacto a bit hard to cut basswood in a curved shape (some platforms)
Frank, Do you get this in laminated form or do you laminate 1/16 paper over the illustration board from Staples?
Thanks,
NP01Application is for passenger and (with shim strips) freight platforms, ~6' long and curved in a number of cases. I am going for concrete look ... Modern era
I would suggest...pine 1/4 x 1 5/16th's batten. You should be able to get it at any big box store, what they usually sell is Poplar, little harder to cut than pine, but stronger. You might also find it at a big box store, but I get mine from Staples...is a sheet of Illustration board, usually comes in 24''x 30'' size, two smooth side thin card paper over cardboard, looks like Mattboard, but cheaper. Can be cut with xacto, scissors and is sandable. They are 1/16th thick, put a piece on each side of the 1/4 inch batten.....3/8 th's thick will be the end result. You can put scribe line's in one surface to simulate concrete freeze lines. I have been using this system a lot on My on going project, but I am fortunate to have a couple table saw's and cut my own strip wood, starting out with a 1x8 pine board. I have been using Northeastern Flamingo Glue for all of it and the glue is extremely strong, even without clamping....dries in five minutes. Excellent adhesive for any wood/card kit or project.
https://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/shop/glue.html
Enclosed is a pic' of My project in progress, with the Illustration board and pine wood:
I use basswood for that purpose. Should be able to find 3/8, but I use a lot of 1/4".
... Ideally like the pink insulating foam, except they don't make it at this thickness.
... normal (packaging) Styrofoam ... except I could not find it at 3/8" thick and even when painted with latex indoor paint the little "beads" show. Then I need to put a layer of plaster (smooth it) which is a pain To apply and sand.
... Masonite/ply are too hard to cut precisely.
... Foamcore boards
Application is for passenger and (with shim strips) freight platforms, ~6' long and curved in a number of cases. I am going for concrete look ... Modern era
Last time, I used a foam core board (Elmers) but the edges don't look satisfactory unless covered with plaster (darn!).
What material do you recommend?