I've just finished the woodwork for my first layout and need some help. I've laid 3/4" plywood as a sub base but am uncertain as how to proceed. I've read about just gluing the cork roadbed to the plywood, putting down Homosote and putting down foam. Which way should I proceed?
And, from there, is it best to just glue the flex track or nail and glue?
We need more info. What are you going to do with the layout? Will there be topography, or is it just a flat bench, maybe a yard and some out-and-back main? If you intend on some grades, then there are other considerations.
Since you have already placed a very beefy first layer of 3/4" ply, all you really need for flatland running is some cork roadbed, some paint and ground foam, some streets and roads, maybe, and then ballast the tracks.
As for fastening, use latex caulk or white glue for cork to plywood, and a very thin layer of either for the flex to the cork. Place a few track nails or pins here and there where the track needs keeping until the glue sets, and also place filled tin cans on their sides along the tracks to keep them and the roadbed pressed down ...we don't want any dips and rises if we can help it.
So, some answers for you, but it would help to know your overall vision and plan.
First Step: Go over to the General Discussion Forum and read the thread called WARP TRACK. No, it's not about Star Trek. It's just one of those things that can happen if untreated wood is exposed to changes in temperature and humidity.
Second Step: Paint that benchwork. All of it, above and below, inside and out. For the surface get something brown. (No, not green. Light brown is best, because that's a good base for all the rest of your scenery. The green goes on afterwards.) A lot of people head out to paint stores and home improvement big-boxes and check out the "oops" bins. Get a great can of high-quality paint that's the wrong color for somebody else's bedroom, real cheap.
Some people use cork, some homosote, some spline and some foam for roadbed. I personally like the foam, but the mere fact that all of these are around indicates that each has its plusses and minuses. I've used both cork and foam now, and I like foam. Others who have gone down the same path as me prefer cork. There's usually a bit of height difference between them, but maybe you should buy a small amount of each one and see which you like better.
Here I will leave you. My layout is built on 2-inch construction foam, no plywood. So, I'll hand you over to some terrific modellers who have done plywood-based layouts. Happy Modelling!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Selector,
I've built a walk-in, upside down, "U" type layout with a loop at each end for continuous running. The setting will be a standard guage HO and a small section with narrow guage (dual guage) interchange. The narrow guage part will disapear into a tunnel going nowhere and will be for dreaming purposes only. Anyway, I am considering an elevation rise. My current thoughts include 4 sidings for industry or commerce for switching fun, a 3 track yard and maybe even a turntable. A creek here and there would be a nice touch. But, I don't want to overdo it and never get a train running either.
Lots of ideas, eh? Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, it seems to me that you may want a few hills, nothing tall or elaborate? You want a grade partway up the hill, maybe a switchback to a logging camp or a mine? How are you fixed for cash?
I ask this because the easiest way to generate altitude for you, now that you have a heavy base all over the place, is to place a 1" layer of pink or blue extruded foam ($100, plus or minus, depending on your local market and on how much you'll need) over the entire thing. For one thing, that allows you a few ditches and a river or smallish lake just by cutting the banks out of the lower layer. Also the foam will keep things quiet(er) if you elect to forego the cork or foam roadbed. Finally, the foam holds tree armatures really well. Just use an awl or bamboo skewer to make the initial holes and implant the trees.
The foam can be stacked in layers to create contoured hills. If you are careful, frugal, and creative, you can use a very little foam to make a hillside still in arm's reach, but against a backdrop in half-relief (ergo the savings). On that exposed hillside will reside your switchback and industrial site.
Hint: get a bridge that you like, and then plan and cut/scour the foam accordingly. Not good to cut out a foam river, and then find you have to scratchbuild a bridge 'cuz no one makes what you need...unless you are keen on scratchbuilding, in which case....cool. It's just that you expressed a concern about never getting to actually running trains.
Thanks for the detailed information. Your description is real close to what I'm aiming for. I've saved up for this so I ready to spend what is necessary to get it right.
I really like the foam idea. Along that line, should I use the foam to raise track elevation? Maybe cut a couple pieces of the foam at a very gentle angle, glue them together and then glue that to the surface?
Unless you are willing to do some fine cutting and later sanding of foam ramps, I would spring for the Woodland Scenics foam risers. They get generally good reviews. In either case, don't forget that you will need a transition section into the grade, and then out of it at the top. It needn't be two feet long, but every little bit helps if your grade will be between 2-3%, which ideally would be the maximum...depends on what you have for a plan and for space.
You can cut block risers out of bits of foam and caulk them into place where you want your grade. You guess at their heights as they get further into the grade, and add 10% for shaving down to what is really necessary. Then, knowing your upper destination height, at the end of the upper transition, you can fasten a chalk line, or get someone to hold it, and fix the lower end at the beginning of the grade, early in the transition down there. Snap a line against the risers, and there is what you have to remove. I would not place the risers further apart than about 2-4" depending on their thickness, so this will take some time to do them all.
selector wrote: Unless you are willing to do some fine cutting and later sanding of foam ramps, I would spring for the Woodland Scenics foam risers.
Unless you are willing to do some fine cutting and later sanding of foam ramps, I would spring for the Woodland Scenics foam risers.
A point of clarification...
What Selector is actually refering to are called Inclines, not Risers. Inclines are flexible, constant grades (or slopes). Risers are elevated, flexible, constantly level (horizontal) ridge-like subroadbeds. You can think of Risers as the different floors of a building; and the Inclines as the stairs linking the floors.
While the Inclines are a bit pricey, they make building grades (particularly on a curve) a snap, so are well worth the extra expense. They are available in 2%, 3% and 4% grades.
However, you can just use scrap wood or foam to create elevated flat areas or, in combination with Inclines, to create longer slopes, without going to the expense of Woodlandscenics foam Risers.
Early wrote: I've just finished the woodwork for my first layout and need some help. I've laid 3/4" plywood as a sub base but am uncertain as how to proceed. I've read about just gluing the cork roadbed to the plywood, putting down Homosote and putting down foam. Which way should I proceed? And, from there, is it best to just glue the flex track or nail and glue?
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet