Layout Building

[gzygadlo]

Been awhile since I have been on the forums as the Railroad has taken a back seat.

Wondering if anyone has used cork sheets to create their roadbed instead of buying the traditional cork roadbed strips.  I strugle with laying down the curves and thought if I put the cork sheet underneath it and then drew and outline I would cut it out.  Also looking at the size for every piece I could get six strips off of one piece.

I have a hard time putting on paper what the layout will look like so I just layout the track on the benchwork as I use foam on top of the benchwork.  I'm not looking at following proto type as this will be more of a freelance layout.  

[Anonymous]

I would think it would be quite a bit of extra effort to get the beveled edge from a full sheet.  I've only ever used the sheet in yard areas.  Like anything else it just takes some practice and knowing the right techniques.

Do you draw a centerline on your subroadbed before attempting cork?  The simple step of having a line to follow makes laying in the cork a snap.  The same is true for homasote roadbed.  Once you have the line, put down your choice of glue along either side and lay in the cork.  Use T-pins to hold the cork in place as you go.

[BigDaddy]

BMMECNYC

I would think it would be quite a bit of extra effort to get the beveled edge from a full sheet.

I agree.  I pin the track down with T-pins, take a sharpie and make dots between the ties between the rails.  Remove the track and then I lay the cork with the inside edge on the dots.

 

[kasskaboose]

BigDaddy

I agree.  I pin the track down with T-pins, take a sharpie and make dots between the ties between the rails.  Remove the track and then I lay the cork with the inside edge on the dots.

 

 

Yes.  Regardless of layout type (freelance or not), using a free computer tool is invaluable.  I too struggled with going from a sheet of paper, but the software helped because everything was in blocks.  I then drew lines that depicted the center of the track on the foam with sharpies.  90% of what I drew was what I made on the computer.

 

Randomly drawing on the foam your layout is overwhelming.  Avoiding that is a challenge because of the itch to get things moving.  I get it!  I'm the first to admit that my 1st layout's foam looked like a football playbook or treasure map before the track went down.  My 2nd (current) one had far fewer changes.  The straight track It also was about an 1" off from the drawing.  Not too shabby for someone who nearly failed Geometry and had no drafting experience. 

[doctorwayne]

gzygadlo

...I strugle with laying down the curves...

Sorry, but I don't understand how you could struggle with laying down cork roadbed, but not struggle laying track atop sheet cork.

If you've already got foam sheet atop your benchwork, temporarily lay the track, pinning it in place, then draw an outline along the tie-ends.  Take-up the track, then measure to find the centre between the marks denoting the ends of the ties, and use that as a basis for drawing a centreline for the entire trackplan. 
Split the cork roadbed into its two halves, and put down one half of it all along the centreline of the trackplan drawn on the foam, taking into account those places where you plan to add turnouts.  After that's accomplished, it's a simple task to add the other half of the cork strips, and then lay the track.

When I first read your post, I thought that you were perhaps unaware that the cork roadbed is partial slit, allowing you to separate the two halves, and thereby making it much easier to form curves.  And, of course, once the halves are separated, the edges of the bevelled cut, which form the ballast profile, are revealed, too. 
I've seen that oversight in two or three different forums.

Wayne

 

[hon30critter]

Hi ngzygadlo,

There has been some discussion in the past about using regular sheet cork, as in the type used for bulletin boards, vs the cork intended for model train roadbed. IIRC, the model RR cork has more bonding agent in it so it will not deteriorate over time. Again, IIRC there have been incidents of the bulletin board cork disintigrating over time.

I'm a bit confused about what pattern you plan on using to cut the cork. You talk about laying a sheet down and then drawing the curves, and then you mention getting six strips out of a sheet. If you are cutting the cork to shape then it will stay flat. However, if you are planning on cutting full width straight strips and then bending them,  I think you would have more issues than with the manufactured half width strips. The wider the strip, the more it will tend to buckle in the curves, especially as the curves get tighter. I believe that's one of the reasons for why the commercial stuff is cut into half widths. That and to allow for accurate alignment with the centerline.

I would review doctorwayne's advice on how to establish a centerline. In fact, I'm not sure how you would lay the cork accurately without one.

Dave

[gzygadlo]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I like the one about basically laying out all the track, pin it and then dray the lines.  Think because I have sharpie lines everywhere, I need to give it a painting first, so that when I draw new lines I know which ones are the correct ones.