Personally, I made my own 1x3s by buying 1x6s and ripping them in half on a tablesaw. You save money on lumber and the resulting dimensions are the same.
Ron
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
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RFinch wrote: You could always use extruded foam insulation glued with non-silicone latex caulk to the plywood base. This has been described by a number of people in this forum who apparently have had great success with it. It might make your trains run a little quieter....
You could always use extruded foam insulation glued with non-silicone latex caulk to the plywood base. This has been described by a number of people in this forum who apparently have had great success with it. It might make your trains run a little quieter....
I don't know if I can find Homasote or not, I am not too worried about that. Let's assume for this discussion that I cannot find it. Are you saying that over my plywood subroadbed I should put 1/2" or 1" or 2" of foam? And this is for noise? Is cork on top of plywood still pretty noisy? I would think in N scale the noise would be pretty minimal because of weight.
FT
I don't think you need foam over plywood for a ribbon roadbed supported by L gerders. Foam is great for forming terrain, the plywood with cork gives you a nice flat, solid roadbed. Homasote it especially good for cases when you are going to spike or nail the rail down, with the plywood and cork you can use caulk and avoid all those issues. In my opinion. I think noise is not going to be a big deal.
Jeff But it's a dry heat!
I agree with Jeff. I don't think cork roadbed directly on plywood will present a noise problem, especially in N scale. However, I have no personal experience with this method. I mentioned the extruded foam insulation under the track simply as an easy way to do terrain that is below track level such as rivers, etc. Some contributors to this forum have described noise problems depending on the nature of the roadbed and sub-roadbed. I think these are HO modelers.
Bob
Okay, I think I will be in good shape. 1/2" plywood ribbon with cork roadbed and then track, all on top of risers and cleats above the joists. The scenery base will probably be 2" extruded foam stacked up to the level of the track or above (like mountains). Then the only thing I don't know about yet will be to cut out the ribbon where a bridge goes and just use the bridge. I guess this is starting to get off-topic so I will probably start a new thread when I get to that point.
Thanks to everyone for their help.
Skip the homosote. Foam roadbed on 1/2 or 3/4 inch ply supported by risers is plenty and is easy to work with. If you screw the risers to the joists, you can adjust them as needed by as little 1/16 inch to level out things. No matter how well you plan, small adjustmensts are nice.
Atacking sxtruded foam for scenery is REALLY nice. I had not done it before this layout and I am addicted. You can carve all your terrain directly in the foam. It takes time, but little talent. I paint the foam with acrylics for rock and use ground goop for soil. It makes nice scenery quickly.
1/2" plywood ribbon subroadbed worked great for me; I supported it on 18" centers for the most part. I did learn extra risers and cleats were needed where there were grade transitions or grades on curves to bend and hold the plywood the way I wanted it. Grades on curves - especially steep grades on sharp curves; I had 4% on 18" radius - require a fair amount of "twist" in the plywood to keep it level across the rails throughout the curve/grade. Without enough risers and cleats to put in this twist, I had negative super-elevation on half the curves, and positive on the other half. Looked ugly. I don't know if the cleats and risers would hold well enough inducing this twist into 3/4" plywood. Perhaps with more gentle grades and curves this is not a problem.
A report I read from one MR who tried laminating 2 layers of 1/4" plywood to get enough strength after flexing the first layer into shape said "don't do this!" Too much work for the return, and required LOTS of clamps.
Choice of roadbed material is really up to you. All the common choices will work fine for flex track on roadbed on the 1/2" ply subroadbed. Homasote, although sometimes difficult to find, is the top choice for spiking track and/or the best noise reduction. But if the white-glued ballast extends from the track to the plywood or foam subroadbed, the noise absorbtion qualities of your roadbed material are lost anyway.
my thoughts and experiences, your choices
Fred W
RFinch wrote: I agree with Jeff. I don't think cork roadbed directly on plywood will present a noise problem, especially in N scale. However, I have no personal experience with this method. I mentioned the extruded foam insulation under the track simply as an easy way to do terrain that is below track level such as rivers, etc. Some contributors to this forum have described noise problems depending on the nature of the roadbed and sub-roadbed. I think these are HO modelers. Bob
Sorry I am tardy in offering my comment here, but I have used cork caulked directly to 5/8" plywood, and it is quite decently quiet. We should remember that a dual density interface is what helps to cancel out sonic waves, whether the kind we can actually feel under our feet or the kind we can hear. So, rubber over concrete offers some vibration absorption, but medium density foam over rubber over concrete does much better.