I believe the product used in the article was DAP ALEX PLUS Acrylic Latex Caulk plus Silicone. This product has a 35 year durability guarantee on it. I bought several tubes of this caulk in the clear version for $2.00/tube in the paint dept. of my local Walmart.
Bob
I have this publication, in it is states that a product by DAP is great for laying roadbed and track, but they dont give the exact product name or #. I'd like to get some of this, does anyone know the info.
There are good questions and comments offered to date.
As for using a subroadbed of plywood vs foam vs spline vs whatever – yes, the list could be endless. Although the results on plywood “should” predict results on other materials, I would hesitate to say. As stokesda observed, the propagation of sound waves will be affected by different materials and combination of materials. The best solution is to actually run some tests. But I would certainly start at the top of the “plywood” list. And I suspect that MR would be interested in your results.
As for cork on 1-1/2” foam on ½” plywood – yes, another possible set of combinations. Try some “end-to-end” tests. And let the world know of your results. I will suggest that one of your configurations should one of the article’s top three best “plywood” configurations, so that we have a comparative reference.
As for adhesives for the ballast – I tried both Elmer’s white glue and Woodland Scenics Foam Tack Glue. When I was doing the tests, there was a marginal difference in sound qualities, with and without ballast, and white glue compared to Foam Tack Glue. A year later the white glue is “crusty” and the Foam Tack Glue is still somewhat flexible. “Flexible” should be better. I did not try matte medium – it is reported to be more glossy than white glue. I use clear adhesive caulk to glue down the flextrack AND the ballast. I found that I can apply ballast at the same time that I am putting down the flextrack, taking advantage of the wet caulk. After the flextrack is in position, sprinkle the ballast on the wet adhesive caulk. Vacuum up the excess ballast when the caulk is dry. A year later, the caulk is as flexible as ever, even soft to the touch, and the sound qualities are excellent.
Good luck, and have fun!
Bob Kingsnorth
Dan,
I checked the article and there is a statement in the caption of the lower picture on page 27. I quote, "Bob found that ballasting the track had little effect on transmission of noise to the sub-roadbed, regardless of the roadbed material used." I didn't see any reference in the article as to the glue used to hold the ballast. I also have read that diluted matte medium is quieter than diluted white glue for holding ballast in place.
Bob,
Not sure if there's any truth to it or not, but I've heard that using different materials in your subroadbed (e.g. foam on plywood) is quieter than using either one by itself. Something to do with the way the soundwaves propogate through different materials. So if you do foam on plywood, that should do a pretty good job of deadening the sound, I would think.
There was an article in MR last year or so where a guy had built an ultra-quiet roadbed for his sound-equipped engines. It was a rather elaborate (and seemingly expensive) setup that involved cork roadbed, Woodland Scenics foam roadbed, and a layer of the foam from a camping mat (like you would sleep on). I can't remember the particular issue this article was in, though. Maybe someone else will chime in if they know it.
Another thing I've heard is that once you ballast your track, it will get noticeably noiser, because the sound travels through the hard ballast shell directly to the subroadbed. I haven't ballasted anything yet, so I don't have any firsthand experience with this. I have also heard that using matte medium as your ballast glue is quieter than using diluted white glue, because the matte medium is more flexible when it dries. I'm not sure if the article in Realistic Reliable Track addressed the ballast issue adequately - I haven't had a chance to read it in detail yet.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
I'm sure you're correct about why they only used plywood as the sub-roadbed for the test configurations. I'm building a N-scale layout using 1/2" 5-ply plywood on 16" centers to support 2" extruded foam insulation board. I was planning to use cork roadbed directly on the foam board, but I may try the topper tape under the cork roadbed. I was going to use HO-scale cork roadbed under the N-scale roadbed to give a higher profile on the main lines. The topper tape should accomplish the same thing with its added sound deadening qualities. When I start laying track, maybe I'll report any sound deadening differences with and without the topper tape under the cork.
RFinch I recently received my copy of "How to Build Realistic Reliable Track". This issue has a lot of useful info.but I have a question about the article on "Quiet Roadbed, Better Train Sounds". Why were all the test configurations done on plywood as the sub-roadbed? Since many people use extruded foam as their sub-roadbed it would have been useful to have at least some of the configurations tested on foam. I know that if the foam is not properly supported it can act like a drum head. Bob
I recently received my copy of "How to Build Realistic Reliable Track". This issue has a lot of useful info.but I have a question about the article on "Quiet Roadbed, Better Train Sounds". Why were all the test configurations done on plywood as the sub-roadbed? Since many people use extruded foam as their sub-roadbed it would have been useful to have at least some of the configurations tested on foam. I know that if the foam is not properly supported it can act like a drum head.
Just a guess, but I'd guess the point of their experiments was to determine how noisy different combinations of roadbed were, relative to each other. The plywood surface is the "control" item in all the experiments. To test each roadbed system on plywood and foam would basically double the number of tests required (then what about spline sub-roadbed? - triple the number of experiments).
I'd expect the "noisiness" of each roadbed system relative to the others would be the same, regardless of what sub-roadbed was used (i.e., the roadbed system "pecking order" should be the same). For example, if cork is noiser than camper tape on plywood, it should also be noisier than camper tape on extruded foam. The "absolute" noise level of each roadbed system does depend on the sub-roadbed used, but I don't think that was the point of the article/experiment. Would make for a good follow-on article for another day, though.
My new section is 1/2 plywood then 1.1/2 foam, then cork road bed and there is no drum effect.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Hi,
If you go to www.ModelRailroader.com and look under the heading in the center of screen that says Online Extras, you'll find the first entry that says How to Build Realistic, Reliable Track videos. Click on that and you can watch all three videos.
Thanks for reading Model Railroader.
Dana Kawala
Associate Editor
Is this it?
http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=3389
(scroll down to where it says "smooth running on N scale track")
I was just reading my copy of "How to build Realistic Reliable Track, and in the bottom right corner of page 69, it says to look under "online extras" at modelrailroader.com to see more of David Popps New Haven layout.
For the life of me, I cant find it on here... Any help?