Hi,
I am about to start carving the foam to make the terrain. One question is do I glue the foam to the plywood base first or carve the foam then glue it down? I am planning on covering all the plywood with 2 inch foam then cutting away the low lying land and building up the hills. The track will all be at the same level on top of the unshaped foam.
Thanks in advance for your replies
Paul
I am using one inch foam. What I am mostly doing is laying all the roadbed and track on the foam first. I also drew where I wanted gullies and streams with a marker and didn't glue the track down in those places.I am carving down, and adding foam to go up.However, in those places where I will be building a large mountain or hill, I will carve the basic shape first, then set it in place to finish it.In the photo below, you will see the base foam. Note that the foam forming the hills up to the bridge abutments have been carved first, then put in place. Next the foam will be covered with ground goop and scenic'ed.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
"thebige61" has a start-to-finish (or, "soup-to-nuts") 10-part YouTube Series at apx. 9 minutes/video. #1: Model Railroad Scenery using Extruded Foam - Part 1 - HQ.
Very thorough! -- Carving-to-fit seems to be the primary preference. Wonder if "thebige61" (Evert) participates in this forum?
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
As gandydancer mentions, built up sections are easier done off the layout then tested, fit until satisfied w/ results. For those Wedding cake build ups, you can place the next layer and mark the outline (think of a topigraghical map- elevatiuon lines) this allows you to be failly close a fit as you go up in the shaping .
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
I put the base piece down first. If you know where you are going to cut it completely down to the plywood, avoid putting adhesive in that area, so it will come up easily. For your build up areas, cut the pieces to the general shape you want, finish shaping when attached. For shaping foam I have found the small Shurform tool very useful for contouring foam. A can of Static Guard and a shop vac are also very handy.
If you are doing a rock cut, I suggest you use tooth picks to hold one of the sides base piece in place. Attach the upper pieces with adhesive and shape as desired. The reason for this is that coloring the rock face is difficult in a narrow cut. Once you have colored the face to your satisfaction, then attach it to the layout.
Good luck,
Richard
I generally rough-cut off the layout, then install, then use a Sur-Form rasp to get the final shape.
And a shop vac to clean up afterwards.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
If you're using a hot wire or hot knife, I would cut the foam outside or in a well-ventilated area. The fumes from doing this can be quite toxic from what I understand.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
I cut everything on the dining room table and then place on layout as I go. Here is the table full of some of the pieces for The Superstition Mts. I carve in smaller pieces that fit together like a 3D puzzle. I carve the seams to look like crevases or layers. The Kanyon scene has about ten sections. I found this much easier to carve and certainly easier to clean up. For large projects the layout keeps running axcept for those moments when you are test fitting a piece.