I am just starting to build a layout and I plan to use Woodland Scenics risers and the transition pieces (can't remember their names). I see that the company has a glue for $12.99 a bottle. My question is will white glue or latex caulk work as well? I know they can be used to attach road bed and track, and I hate to spend that much money on glue that I don't need. Thanks for your help.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/
Elmers glue works well and so does latex caulk. I have used both methods.
The Woodland Scenics glue seems to be nothing more than exhorbitantly overpriced Weldbond, which can be purchased at any hardware or big box home improvement store for much less.
But any type of white glue or latex caulk works just as well.
The laytex caulk is much better to work with because it sets faster. With elmers you have to wait overnight before moving on.
Also make sure you always use the clear caulk and read every bottle, especially when doing track. I picked up a few bottles last year and a couple of white tubes were mixed in with the clear. Of course I grabbed them and didn't pay attention. It took extra ballast to cover the white color under the track.
Springfield PA
Hamltnblue Also make sure you always use the clear caulk.
Also make sure you always use the clear caulk.
You can now get caulk in various colors -- I use gray caulk and gray ballast, so if I miss a spot when ballasting it's not as obvious because there's no bare cork or Woodland Scenics foam roadbed showing.
Much of the price you pay for a product is the cost of the packaging and distribution. That is why a bottle of water costs as much as a bottle of Pepsi.
Putting a product like white glue into small bottles costs a lot more than putting it in one big bottle. Model glue and paint are in very small packages, and thus disproportionately expensive.
I buy one small bottle of Elmer's and a one gallon container of Elmer's from which I keep refilling the small one.
Latex caulk is the same. a small squeeze tube is expensive compared to a caulk gun tube.
Both products work well with those risers. Spread it paper thin.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow