Roadbed Adhesive?

[FRITSCHSR]

What would you guy's reccomend for gluing cork roadbed to Durhams Water Putty? Then what would be reccomended for gluing the track to the cork? Thanx in advance,
Dave[?]

[Anonymous]

Glue the roadbed down with Elmer's white or yellow glue. Glue the track down with small amounts of white glue or liquid nails.

[Eriediamond]

Fritschsr,Don is correct above, but if you are going to ballast your track, use track nails for tacking your track down. When you ballast the glue and ballast will glue the track for you, then you can pull the nails out if you like after ballasting. Also if you use nails you can make changes easily if you find a problem with your track before ballasting. Regards, Ken

[BR60103]

Dave, when you glue, DO NOT glue your turnouts. They should be left so that they can be replaced when they fail (and some will fail.) Use a water soluble glue in the ballast and that will hold them in place.

[ClinchValleySD40]

Use CAULK. Cheapest stuff you can find. Put down a small bead, spread it and place the roadbed or track. Quick, simple and cheap. Try it if you've got some scrap stuff lying around. Works great and very forgiving if you mess up and want to take it up.

[Anonymous]

Forget about using nails into Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty - it's well-named.
I suggest some kind of water soluble adhesive - Elmer's, Aileene's, or similar, so you can take the track back up with minimal damage when you make a mistake or change your mind.

[Anonymous]

Dave[?], - - - [:D]

After drying, does this water based putty soften when mositure is applied, some do? If so, then as stated above, you will need to use a water soluable glue like white glue. If you use glue be sure to spray the puttied area llightly with water first so that it doesn't soak up all the mositure in the glue. The glue will need to retain some of it's mositure to soak into the cork. Side note: This wetting technique also should be used with wood so that the glue will wick into the wood deeper.

If the putty doesn't soften then I would use an adhesive caulk for the cork roadbed. For track I agree that using nails is better. After "tacking down" the track and applying your ballast you can remove the nails as they no longer serve any purpose. The nails don't need to be hammered all the way in when "tacking down" the track unless you will be runing your trains before ballasting. When ballasting put some weight on the track while the balast dries. You don't need a "heavy" weight, just enough to ensure the track is down against the cork.

As David (Wow! this is getting a little deep, Dave answering Dave's question and referring to David's reply) states don't glue down your turnouts. As well as needing to someday be replaced they need to work freely. I lay them in place, tack them down, ballast them and run electrical feeders to all points.