Foam?

[Anonymous]

Should I put foam on my layout? It doesn't matter to me. A lot of people say that they don't put foam, but still others say yes and MR advises to put foam on too. So, do you all have foam and if so do you recommend it?[?]

[Anonymous]

There are so many different ways to do scenery bases, from cardboard strips, to cookie cutter plywood, to carving foam, that it's really personal preference. If foam is available in your area, it's probably the easiest method to quickly build scenery forms. It's totally up to you. I don't think anybody could 'advise' you to use foam over something else, but it is by far one of the easier methods.

[Blind Bruce]

I plan on using foam for my new 4X8 layout. In addition to being easier to "scenik", it is also much quieter. This is important if you add sound to your layout.
BB

[egmurphy]

As jschrade said, it's really a matter of personal choice. Like scale, or modeling period, there's no one right answer.

Personally, I am using foam on my small (3' x 6'-8") layout and I really like it. I just shaped the contours, used a little bit of lightweight spackle to smooth out a few seams and voids, then painted, and applied ground foam.

But there are probably many more modelers out there using more traditional methods involving plaster than there are using foam.

The beauty of the situation is that you really can't make a bad choice between the different scenery methods. They'll all work.

Regards

Ed

[MisterBeasley]

I really like it. No plywood, just a frame with 16-inch spacing between the rafters, and 2-inch thick pink foam. For the base level, I glued the foam right to the rafters. Then I use risers for anything higher. I'm using a modified cookie-cutter, where the flat pieces are wide enough to accomodate some scenery, etc. It's very light, and easy to work with, but definitely go out and get a hot-wire foam cutter.

[Anonymous]

NP

I used 2" foam board on top of my lauan base and I have been very satisified with the results. My railroad is shelf style industrial switching layout. The foam base allows you to excavate down to the lauan sub base for rivers or streams. You will lose this ability without it.

Larry

[Anonymous]

I had originally planned to only use OSB/Plywood as my base on my 8x8 layout (soon adding on 17x10 addition)... But found that in 8x8 I couldn't get enough run to accomodate the rise I wanted w/o building a helix... So I put on a sheet of 2' thick foam over the plywood and then I could use the bridge I wanted to use, by cutting away the foam...