Frankly, I thought my last layout, which had a layer of plywood under the foam, was LOUDER than the one before, which simply had foam glued on top of an open grid frame.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Hi all,
So, there's a wealth of information already in this forum about the plywood/foam/Homasote debate. I know this, I've read a lot of threads... but one thing that never gets mentioned is my question above. There's plenty of discussions about Homasote on ply, or using any of the three by themselves. But I've never seen a comparison of whether plywood or Homasote is better to put the foam on.
What I'm trying to avoid is the "drumming" effect that is known to occur with foam, which I'm going to use due to the hilly terrain cut with creeks and gullies I'll be modeling. I want to hear wheels on rails, not all manner of strange reverberations coming from "underground" (no Graboids here...). I've read several threads that say you should glue the foam to a substrate to help avoid the drumming, but I only ever see plywood mentioned. I'm wondering if it might be worth putting it over Homasote instead.
My trackwork will be Code 83 flex glued to cork roadbed, which itself will be glued to the foam. No nails. I will use a 1" and 2" layer of foam, glued together, for the topography I plan to model, and this will be set up on L-girder benchwork.
Based on a number of interesting and highly technical posts (looking at you, Hornblower), I know that a key part of the equation is using a flexible adhesive like caulk between layers. But I'm not sure if I should lay my foam onto Homasote or plywood. Both are available here and within my price range, so those aren't considerations. However, testing both would be cost-prohibitive. So what would be the recommendation? Or is it more to-may-to/to-mah-to considering how I'd be using it (under foam)?
Thanks
- Adam
When all else fails, wing it!