How about MDF as a subroadbed?

[Pruitt]

Has anybody tried medium-density fiberboard as a subroadbed under cork or foam? If so, how did you like it?

[nfmisso]

Mark;

MDF is heavy, splits easily and acoustically dead. It will not be forgiving for cookie cutter style layouts. It is not as strong a plywood, and it a great deal heavier.

It is a good material for desks, tables, and other furniture.

My standing recommendation is 2" (absolute minimum anywhere) to 4" of extruded foam (typically pink or blue, may be laminated), with the cheapest plywood on the bottom; which at Lowe's here is 3/16" laun.

Nigel

[bfsfabs]

Mark, I have built a couple of layouts using, WELL SUPPORTED, Celotex and cork road bed. Quieter than the proverbial churchmouse. A lot of work and thrashing but, QUIET. Give me a come back at bfsfabs at earthlink dot net for all the gory details. OK?

Lowell Ryder
Pacific & Southwest Railroad Co. HO

[DTomajko]

Our club is in the process of building a new layout with MDF as subroadbed and it's working out OK.It holds screws well,cuts same as plywood,and won't delaminate like plywood.As long as it's well supported,(every 16" + or -),it should last as long as plywood.The only problem I have found is that it is not easy to obtain in 4'x8' sheets at the usual places,(Home Depot,Lowes,etc.).We were lucky to have a source from leftover advertizing displays at our disposal. Good modeling and enjoy yourself. DT,Pa.

[nfmisso]

In OKC Lowes and Home Depot stock 5/16 and 3/4 MDF in 49 x 97 sheets.

Nigel

[BentnoseWillie]

I read Model Rail from time to time, and there are many references there to MDF benchwork. I raised my eyebrows at that the first time I read it, but they seem to be making good use of it.

Me, I'll stick to pine dimensional lumber, birch plywood, and pink foam.

B-Dubya

[Anonymous]

It's pretty well summed up in previous posts, I don't think it's suitable for "conventional" track base..it's reasonable for spline-type roadbed, but no better than masonite...but it's great for other MRR uses, like bases for buildings, or whole blocks of buildings in any scale. The 1/4" stuff is good for O or S structure walls & roofs...or for those who use cab control, it can make a nice control panel surface.
Caution..the dust is VERY fine and can be very annoying both from a breathing and a mess-making perspective..the dust literally gets everywhere, and goes through most paper masks !
regards / Mike
regards / Mike

[jwfoise]

I would certainly recommend the foam/plywood combination. The sound deadening is great, its strong, light, and very easy to work with. I tried it without the plywood, but it was not nearly as strong.

[Anonymous]

My current S scale layout is built using 3/4" MDF subroadbed on 1x4" joists over L-girders. It seems to be working out pretty good so far. MDF cuts like a knife going through butter! Very smooth straight cuts with my circular, jig and table saws. It makes almost as much dust as homosote!

When looking for plywood for this current layout I looked at a lot of plywood at a lot of different places. I generally have used 1/2" B-C but the quality of all the plywood I saw reminded me more of CDX plywood. Many, many voids, un-filled knotholes and unbelievable curling and waviness. The MDF cost me $15.89 a sheet and the 1/2" B-C was running around $29 a sheet.

I made one strange discovery..........the MDF sheets are 49"x97" rather than 48x96! Go figure!

Roger

[shawn-118]

Instead of plywood and MDF there is also OSB, it's just as strong as plywood and costs as much as MDF. It's easy to work with and using a 1/4" OSB with 2" foam, with the right benchwork spaceing it will hold up under almost anything. The local club gets all the test runs for free from the local OSB plant here in town and they swear by it.

[dave9999]

I'm in the construction business and have used OSB for years. The problem with OSB is a tendency to swell. Any moisture, even humidity, can cause it to thicken. This wouldn't
be so bad if the entire sheet swelled equally, but it usually does so along the edges. Also 7/16" OSB (in my area anyway) has almost tripled in price in the last six months or so. I could purchase it for $5.99 a sheet back at the end of summer, its now $16.99. For a few dollars more you can purchase plywood. BTW I have never used MDF, but just today I had a customer refer to the OSB I was using as MDF. Dave