Timboy Rich Hot Rain: Ahh thank you. Ahh thank you very much. Actually, I have help. Ole Timer stops by and relieves me of a lot of wood scraps. Thanks to all so far! Keep those cards and-a letters-a coming, folks. A one, and-a two, and-a... -Timboy
Rich Hot Rain: Ahh thank you. Ahh thank you very much. Actually, I have help. Ole Timer stops by and relieves me of a lot of wood scraps. Thanks to all so far! Keep those cards and-a letters-a coming, folks. A one, and-a two, and-a...
-Timboy
As promised I havethe information about the foam cutting tool I use. The foam I use is the pink stuff that you by at places like Home Depot or Lowes. It's light weight, nothing on it is sharp and it is easy to work with. Hearing about your deconstruction encounters with hidden sharp objects makes me glad that I went with foam this time around. The companies web site is http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/home.php. All I have is the basic tool and that has been sufficient so far. I just use a sharp knife to cut the sheets down in size. They have some videos on their site on how to use the tools.
Timboy......my train store had a 6' X 12' window display with a mountain at one end with two ground level lines and one "upper mountain" line running through the tunnels. The landscaping on the mountain included a road up to the upper reaches and a house.
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
You are absolutely correct. The mountain we are building is hollow. One thing I found out with this foam is you can shape it, sand it, paint it and put your ground cover right on it without having to cover all of it in plaster. It makes planting trees and poles very easy! Another thing I like is that I can easily carve out an area for a plaster casting from a rock mold.
We layed out track on a two inch thick base of foam glued to 1/2'' plywood. We carved and sanded the foam to form rolling terrain. Hand sanding works as well as a small powered orbital sander. It was quite easy to form terrain below track level. We painted it with a brown latex paint and added ground cover. Switch machines below track were also easy to recess, and drilling holes for wires was no problem either. I like really quiet layouts with out the plywood drum effect. The foam helps alot at eliminating noise but I personally think something else is needed under the track. Your celotex ceiling tiles may work well as roadbed. As for foam making a mess, with the hot wire there really is no mess, with a knife you will create small pieces but they are easy to suck up, since they do not cling like the white styrofoam.
Thanks Timboy that U-Tube video was interesting. As the video recommended I also used liquid nails when I bonded the foam to the plywood but found it is so thick that is it hard to get two pieces of foam tight together with no gaps. I bought a white glue from the same company that I got the hot wire tool. This is not the same as Elmers or Alenes and I have had great success bonding the foam together. You can also hot wire cut right through it. The methods of cutting he describes while effective are also more messy. I can't trash my son's place too much so I have become rather adept with using the hot wire tool.
Timboy- I've been reading along, missed a day or two. I have more to learn than to offer right now.
Jim
Tim,
Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, it needs to be said that you have to be careful about using compatible glues and paints with the foam products. The wrong stuff will turn your mountain into something resembling a puddle of melting ice cream. Unless, of course, it's your intention to model an active lava flow...
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
Timboy Major: I'm getting very interested in the use of foam for a scenic base. I believe it can have a lot of versatility. Maybe a little bit of broken ceiling tile mixed into the party could suggest a rock strata that is trying to force it's way up through. Am I thinking correctly? -Timboy
Major: I'm getting very interested in the use of foam for a scenic base. I believe it can have a lot of versatility. Maybe a little bit of broken ceiling tile mixed into the party could suggest a rock strata that is trying to force it's way up through. Am I thinking correctly?
Boy Tim,
Are you now contemplating tearing your ceiling down to get at the ceiling tiles for landscaping materials?
RHT
Alton Junction
I'm in the process of building my own scrap yard area for my layout and a track worker combination with track workers and train mechanics working on the steam engine shell ... that way it'll also look like the train wreck damaged the tracks ... had to since lionel only has diesel scrap yard and I'm doing a steam one ... I've decided to build all buildings and it and other layout items on thin aluminum or plastic and putting them on it flowing scenery soil at the edges so if I want to remove or move them it will be easy anytime . I figure just a small tab of glue to hold them in place will work great . What do you think timboy ? Plus then I can lay out all the pieces and place them at different areas for the best look and can keep switching them around until it looks the best before permantly mounting them . Then if I decide to change things it'll be a snap !
Timboy Rich Hot Rain: Actually, I'm thinking of not having any benchwork at all for my new layout. I'm thinking of having a couple tons of topsoil dumped into the basement and making an indoor garden railroad. I could grow stuff down there in the soil ( ) and even have a pond, filled full of catfish. So, don't worry your pretty little head about ceiling tiles and go back to bed. I saw the time stamp on your last post! -Timboy
Rich Hot Rain: Actually, I'm thinking of not having any benchwork at all for my new layout. I'm thinking of having a couple tons of topsoil dumped into the basement and making an indoor garden railroad. I could grow stuff down there in the soil ( ) and even have a pond, filled full of catfish. So, don't worry your pretty little head about ceiling tiles and go back to bed. I saw the time stamp on your last post!
I can't sleep thinking about all of the destruction, or do you call it deconstruction???
Bringing in topsoil and building a layout with it is not as far fetch as it seams. I have a friend in Virginia that has a partially excavated basement and he has set up his trains on the raised areas that he did not dig out. It was only a temporary layout but it was interesting. Just like a general contractor he would excavate a trench and lay down wire to the tracks and lights and cover it up again!
Major Bringing in topsoil and building a layout with it is not as far fetch as it seams. I have a friend in Virginia that has a partially excavated basement and he has set up his trains on the raised areas that he did not dig out. It was only a temporary layout but it was interesting. Just like a general contractor he would excavate a trench and lay down wire to the tracks and lights and cover it up again!
Timboy,
I can arrange for 2-ton pickup truck to dump off a load of horse manure if you are interested in using that as a base for your new layout ???
Richie
In all seriousness, that cleaned up space is looking real good. Now, the fun starts.
As we all get over the pain and agony of destruction, the construction phase should be exciting.
I have to tell you that before you started all of this, I had thoughts of tearing down my current layout and starting a new one.
Now, I am seriously considering it, thanks to you and your evil doings.
Continue to keep us posted.
Rich
Hey, where are you, Boy Tim, have you fallen down and can't get up?
Timboy Rich Hot Rain: I'm here and busy building shelves. I have one side done, with it's dogbone. No pics till I have it painted. So, you're gonna tear down that 4X8 Flyer layout of yours? -Timboy
Rich Hot Rain: I'm here and busy building shelves. I have one side done, with it's dogbone. No pics till I have it painted. So, you're gonna tear down that 4X8 Flyer layout of yours?
Hey, Cowboy, it is a 7'x10' Flyer layout.
Actually, it is my 22'x42' HO layout that I am thinking of tearing down.
Tim?
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