I hate cork road bed

[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

[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!

[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.

[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]

"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]

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?

[der5997]

rsn48 Rick, I split my AMI roadbed from HO to N by simply cutting with scissors. I was really surprised that this worked, I expected them to gum up. (Again folks, I wouldn't use the best pair from one's closest's sewing box for this, if you aspire to long life!) Ordinary $ store ones will do, just cut through before removing the backing paper, and clean off the blades with rubbing alcohol or similar if necessary. How do you do your splitting?

[der5997]

rsn48 Rick, I split my AMI roadbed from HO to N by simply cutting with scissors. I was really surprised that this worked, I expected them to gum up. (Again folks, I wouldn't use the best pair from one's closest's sewing box for this, if you aspire to long life!) Ordinary $ store ones will do, just cut through before removing the backing paper, and clean off the blades with rubbing alcohol or similar if necessary. How do you do your splitting?

[Anonymous]

DER,
You should have been around when I baked rocks from along the BC Rail line on my wife's best cookie sheets. My recommendation - don't go there!

In the thread "First Pics of My Layout", in the first picture if you look carefully, you will see three boxes of AMI read to be used (they are HO but I plan to split them for N use). Actually there are four boxes there, but only three can be seen. So I have 240 feet of AMI ready to go.

[Anonymous]

DER,
You should have been around when I baked rocks from along the BC Rail line on my wife's best cookie sheets. My recommendation - don't go there!

In the thread "First Pics of My Layout", in the first picture if you look carefully, you will see three boxes of AMI read to be used (they are HO but I plan to split them for N use). Actually there are four boxes there, but only three can be seen. So I have 240 feet of AMI ready to go.

[der5997]

That fine spray thing is the only way to go, I find. The bottle I use is from my wife's hair spray days, "Finesse" Non-Aerosol Hair Spray, 300ml size. Just wash out whatever the old pump spray bottle contained, and experiment. Any spray that is more than a fine mist with water will almost certainly clog up and give large drops when a dilute glue or matte medium is sprayed. I prefer to wet everything down well with the fine mist of the spray pump bottle, then eye-dropper on the dilute glue. Don't let the eye dropper end touch the ballast, and there will be no clumping or changing of the shape of the ballast. Really wet ballast just soaks up the glue without moving, but it has to be really wet.
An advantage to NOT spraying glue is that you dont have to wipe glue off the railhead when you're done, since the rails will only be wet with water.

[der5997]

That fine spray thing is the only way to go, I find. The bottle I use is from my wife's hair spray days, "Finesse" Non-Aerosol Hair Spray, 300ml size. Just wash out whatever the old pump spray bottle contained, and experiment. Any spray that is more than a fine mist with water will almost certainly clog up and give large drops when a dilute glue or matte medium is sprayed. I prefer to wet everything down well with the fine mist of the spray pump bottle, then eye-dropper on the dilute glue. Don't let the eye dropper end touch the ballast, and there will be no clumping or changing of the shape of the ballast. Really wet ballast just soaks up the glue without moving, but it has to be really wet.
An advantage to NOT spraying glue is that you dont have to wipe glue off the railhead when you're done, since the rails will only be wet with water.

[wp8thsub]

"I'm up to ballasting now... Now the problem is getting it perfectly uniform. How do I get this stuff the right shape all around."

Shaping ballast is easy if you use a soft paint brush. My favorites are artist's "flat" brushes (an important distinction since "flats" have longer bristles than "brights") about 3/8" - 1/2" wide.

For applying glue I've gone almost entirely away from dribbling diluted white or yellow glue on the ballast since the shape can be disturbed so readily. I use a good quality spray bottle intended for spraying house plants and clean it thoroughly after each use. Prior to applying glue wet the ballast with water that has some isopropyl alcohol added to break down the surface tension to allow the water, then the glue, to soak in.

[wp8thsub]

"I'm up to ballasting now... Now the problem is getting it perfectly uniform. How do I get this stuff the right shape all around."

Shaping ballast is easy if you use a soft paint brush. My favorites are artist's "flat" brushes (an important distinction since "flats" have longer bristles than "brights") about 3/8" - 1/2" wide.

For applying glue I've gone almost entirely away from dribbling diluted white or yellow glue on the ballast since the shape can be disturbed so readily. I use a good quality spray bottle intended for spraying house plants and clean it thoroughly after each use. Prior to applying glue wet the ballast with water that has some isopropyl alcohol added to break down the surface tension to allow the water, then the glue, to soak in.

[Anonymous]

I'm up to ballasting now. I bought wood lands scenics dry ballast cement wich didn't work. Now its diluted white glue on ballast. Now the problem is getting it perfectly uniform. How do I get this stuff the right shape all around.

I'm so glad this is just a small learning layout.

[Anonymous]

I'm up to ballasting now. I bought wood lands scenics dry ballast cement wich didn't work. Now its diluted white glue on ballast. Now the problem is getting it perfectly uniform. How do I get this stuff the right shape all around.

I'm so glad this is just a small learning layout.

[Anonymous]

Attention... Elmer's white glue is now on sale at WalMart 5 four once bottles for $1. The stuff is $.78 normal.

[Anonymous]

Attention... Elmer's white glue is now on sale at WalMart 5 four once bottles for $1. The stuff is $.78 normal.

[der5997]

Rick Nicholson: Good memory regarding the AMI roadbed and how to get it sticky again. Here's what the AMI site has to say :-
3c Pressing the track down. To distribute the pressure uniformly, use a length of board. To make the ballast line appear higher, press the ties deeper into the Instant Roadbed. Rubber cement will also soften the Instant Roadbed so that it is easier to press the ties of the track deeper. Another method to soften Instant Roadbed is to heat it with a hair dryer or by placing the strip or the whole roll in a warmed oven at the lowest setting.
Seems like domestic bliss is once again about to be endangered! "You're putting what in the oven?!!!"

[der5997]

Rick Nicholson: Good memory regarding the AMI roadbed and how to get it sticky again. Here's what the AMI site has to say :-
3c Pressing the track down. To distribute the pressure uniformly, use a length of board. To make the ballast line appear higher, press the ties deeper into the Instant Roadbed. Rubber cement will also soften the Instant Roadbed so that it is easier to press the ties of the track deeper. Another method to soften Instant Roadbed is to heat it with a hair dryer or by placing the strip or the whole roll in a warmed oven at the lowest setting.
Seems like domestic bliss is once again about to be endangered! "You're putting what in the oven?!!!"

[der5997]

Thanks David Holliday for the large sheets of cork idea for yards. My yards are already down, track directly on the foam insulation board. I was wondering what might be the best medium for ballast between the tracks all over the yard area. (This applies to foam board, sheet cork, or strip cork ) I've used "White Glue" to fix the tracks because repositioning is possible with minimum damage. Just soak a cloth with water and press it onto the track to be moved. Wait a few hours until the glue looks white again, and ease the track off the roadbed. ( I dont nail my track, except on a temporary basis while the glue dries) A flat bladed paint scraper helps. The old glue scrapes off the road bed completely, and can be washed off the track if you are taking it up. Just repositioning requires simply relaying the track on the new alignment, , and regluing. If you want more flexibility under the track, and have deeper pockets, Woodland Scenics Flex Paste (C1205) might do the trick. I haven't tried repositioning already ballasted track, but imagine that if a reconstitutable medium (like white glue) has been used to apply both track and ballast it may be possible without totally destroying the ballasted track.

[der5997]

Thanks David Holliday for the large sheets of cork idea for yards. My yards are already down, track directly on the foam insulation board. I was wondering what might be the best medium for ballast between the tracks all over the yard area. (This applies to foam board, sheet cork, or strip cork ) I've used "White Glue" to fix the tracks because repositioning is possible with minimum damage. Just soak a cloth with water and press it onto the track to be moved. Wait a few hours until the glue looks white again, and ease the track off the roadbed. ( I dont nail my track, except on a temporary basis while the glue dries) A flat bladed paint scraper helps. The old glue scrapes off the road bed completely, and can be washed off the track if you are taking it up. Just repositioning requires simply relaying the track on the new alignment, , and regluing. If you want more flexibility under the track, and have deeper pockets, Woodland Scenics Flex Paste (C1205) might do the trick. I haven't tried repositioning already ballasted track, but imagine that if a reconstitutable medium (like white glue) has been used to apply both track and ballast it may be possible without totally destroying the ballasted track.

[Anonymous]

You can buy cork rolls (usually used on the floor to absorb noise). They sell this stuff in building centers.
It is cheaper, you get plenty of cork ,they have differnet sizes and they have thin and thick ones.
And, there is no height difference anymore. You simply roll out the cork, cut it off and shape it as you need it.
That's the way i do. Why spend so much money on special road beds ?