Ok,... earlier I asked about any tips y'all had about laying roadbed and track with acryrlic caulk. I started last night on my own giving it a try but after laying it I had second thoughts. Thus the reason for the first posting.
Well, I did what I had been reading about but not knowing for sure if it was right or not. I used regular, white, laytex caulk, spread in about a 1/4 inch line, then spread with a putty knife as thin as I could get and still see my lines.
Next, I placed half of the road bed on one side of the line, making sure I maintained the radius and the straight section. Then I placed the other half of the roadbed tight agaist the first half and topped it off with some 4"x8" paving bricks, 8 to be exact. I allowed them to sit over night, actually from last evening until I got home from work today, about 19-20 hours. The roadbed is defininetaly secure and ready for the track to be secured the same way.
Please let me know if there is an easier way to hold the road bed / track to the surface other than using paving bricks. I have 8 which is ok but limits the amount of roadbed / track that can be done during one session.
Here is a picture of how it turned out.
Again, Thanks to everyone for their help
Bill
Bill,
I laid my roadbed onto foam, so I was able to use pushpins to hold the cork until the caulk dried. I'm not sure if the pins could be pushed into the plywood without requiring a lot of effort.
A tip for you: Stagger the joints of the roadbed from side to side. This helps hide the joints and make curves smoother.
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Split your roadbed in half as per normal. Run a small bead of white glue down each side of your track pencil line no longer than a piece of roadbed - (one side at a time.). Hold down the cork with a couple thumbtacks ( the kind with the big coloured plastic ends). Do one side of the track line at a time staggering the joints to maintain a smooth transition. Use the one side of cork as the guideline to the other side of cork. Repeat. The process goes quickly.
Use patio bricks to build a patio to enjoy a cold beverage while the glue dries. The white glue dries alot quicker than caulking.
For my N Scale layout I attached cork roadbed to my plywood base with caulk spread with those fake credit cards I seem to get in the mail every day. Once down I secured the cork strips with push pins that I pushed into the plywood with my thumb and then gave the push pin a rap or two with a tack hammer until they were down flush. When dry I had to use a pliers to pull out the push pins which caused most of the flat tops to break off but that didn't bother me (I found I could buy push pins in boxes of 100 for a dollar if I shopped around a little). I have finished all the roadbed on my 8' x 11' layout and would certainly use the same method again if I had to lay any more track.
Mike B.
I have used tack, soup tins, stacks of magazines, Woodland Scenics ballast bottles, coffe cups, pliers, unused calipers, the points jig from Fast Tracks and the turnout laying jigs are excellent weights...the sky's the limit.
Don't forget that you can use a reasonably flat length of board and simply weight it with two or three bricks. That should do a good job if your roadbed is also flat.
I use (drum roll,please!) weight lifting weights!I got some at a garage sale ,not for me of course, for the layout!
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Actually I did stagger the first 1 1/2' & 3' sectioin, not thinking, I just used the remaining 1 1/2' to finish the section, not thinking I had to continue on. A rookie mistake!
The rest will be staggered as suggested.
I've used a Staple gun Stanley T50 (hand held manual) and white glue on ply before with great success. The stapels (1/2") were easy to remove with Diagonal Cutters after the glue dryed. It was O Scale Cork little thicker than HO but they make 3/8" staples maybe even 7/16".
I plan on using Cork on foam with caulk and was going to try this same method on a test piece to see how it works. The glue and staple method is quick and easy and staples are cheap, you can get a lot done after work in an evening.
Good Luck
Jeremy
Great ideas. For myself, I painted the plywood about an inch away from the center line, leaving the middle plywood unpainted. I rubbed Elmer's wood glue on the bottom of the cork and then tacked in place with the colored push pins. Some places in the wood require a tap with a small hammer. When dried in 2-3 hours, the pins can be twisted out very easily. A small box of push pins will let you lay down several pices of cork with a pin2-5 inches, more in curves.
David
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I'll give the white glue and push pins a try today. I have a tub of 100 push pins already but have to purchase the glue.
I have to admit the caulk does work but seeing the lines through it can be difficult even when somoothed very thin. Putting a bead of white glue down one side of the line then placing the roadbed even with the line should be easier and more accurate.
Again thanks for all the great tips. Hopefully I'll post some pics later on the weekend photo fun thread.
Sorry, I can't resist replying with a joke. At least I am warning you in advance that it is a joke.
I laid roadbed using adhesive caulk and BIG HEAVY NAILS.
(I kept the nails in boxes and used them to weight down the roadbed while the caulk set.)
Other materials that could be used for laying roadbed (as weight of course):
beer or soda water (in closed 6 packs)
snow-cone syrup (in the jug)
cordless power tools (so the cords don't get in the way)
Model Railroader magazines (in bound volumes)
Well I got quite a bit of roadbed laid last night thanks to using push pins and white glue.
Don Z, the push pins worked great. I thought I had a box of 100. Turns out it was a box of 500.
Davidallen, I used your suggestion of tapping the push pins down with a small hammer. That worked pretty good. I did knock the tops off of about 100 pins but they are still usable.
1train1, your suggestion to put a bead of glue down 1 side of the line was great. Seeing the line made the process go quickly and easily.
Bighurt, I tried your idea with the staples and it worked ok too. The only problem was removing the staples. I had to pry them up with a small screwdriver then use a pair of side cutters to pull them the rest of the way out. It was too time consuming, but it did work.
Again, many thanks to everyone for their tips and suggestions.
I have posted a few pictures on the Weekend Photo Fun thread.
1train1 wrote: Split your roadbed in half as per normal. Run a small bead of white glue down each side of your track pencil line no longer than a piece of roadbed - (one side at a time.). Hold down the cork with a couple thumbtacks ( the kind with the big coloured plastic ends). Do one side of the track line at a time staggering the joints to maintain a smooth transition. Use the one side of cork as the guideline to the other side of cork. Repeat. The process goes quickly. Use patio bricks to build a patio to enjoy a cold beverage while the glue dries. The white glue dries alot quicker than caulking.
I've had good success holding track in place driving either track nails or small brads part way in so that will be easy to pull out once the glue has set. I've used Atlas flex track so whereever possible, I used the nail holes in the track. Sometimes on curves, I need nail where there is no hole so I'll just drive a nail on the inside or outside edge of the ties depending on which way the track wants to move.