I've used both methods. Cookie cutter would be cheaper but WS risers are definitely easier. They come in 2, 3, and 4% grades and are flexible enough to bend to any curve.
You can get a lot of miles of roadbed out of a sheet of hardboard cut into 1" strips. But you need a saw to cut them.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
One huge advantage to the WS risers is that they keep you from fudging on the 2% grade. That can save headaches.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Plywood is very expencive compared to foam.
[quote user="DonRicardo"]
The first layout I built was a flat one, the second one was a cookie cutter plywood. I have the cork pinned on this current layout when I saw some Woodland Scenic riser sets at my local hobby store.
Has anyone used this stuff, and was it better/easier than other methods?
The setting is New Hamshire, the main line is B&M, with a Maine Central switcher. I like this plan, with alterations of course, because the added room give the luxury of adding the Saco River, better mountains and a trestle along the mountains on the way to Crawford Notch.
Thes old Atlas plans are geared to selling turnouts and track. I am going to combine cookie cutter and also try the WS risers to see how those work out.
Reducing the number ot turnoute and using card stockbuildings, modified for a little better realism, cuts down the costs quite a bit.
Flex track all the way!
I've never used the WS risers - they're too expensive to even consider, and plywood gives you natural vertical curves as you install risers.
I di use some WS static grass and a few of their other scenery items, but their Rolls Royce prices for Chevrolet (and in some cases Model T) products make them a last-resort supplier for me.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
me... big cheapskate too, which is why I use card stock buildings, with a little enhancement to make them look better!
WS is definitely expensive.
While I have helped a friend build a layout, I was surprised that he had used the WS risers, as the incline seemed rather steep to me.
However, the layout has morphed into a photo layout, rather than an operational one, and since he's enjoying sharing his staged photos, I'd consider the WS risers good enough.
For my own layout, most of the track roadbed, both straight and curved, is on risers. although when I added the partial upper level (with a lot of risers to get there) all of that portion of the layout is on plywood, usually including cork roadbed, although there are several areas of staging tracks that are directly atop plywood...no roadbed and no ballast, as they're considered to be "elsewhere".
Here's the start (at far left) of the climb from the sorta-mid-level....
...I can't imagine the cost if I had to use the WS risers for this 45' long, and 17" height change.
Wayne
They are the only thing I used but their instructions are not the greatest. If you strech them out you can get other inclines than just those listed. I f you top it with cork roadbed, you can steach out the bottom to get a smoother transition and on the top you can trim both the foam and the cork to get a good transition there, I used a rasp and a sander on my top transition on the cork to get a very smooth and even and gradual transition.
I find that I can better transition into and out of the grade.
And that is a real issue. The thing about the Woodland Scenics risers -- let's assume 2% grade -- is that you go from dead flat to that 2% grade. That is a vertical lurch or can be. Cookie cutter presumably w/plywood creates its own natural vertical transition or easement curve, because it doesn't bend like say sheet metal can bend.
Now I DO use the WS risers but I usually find I need some modest shims before the WS riser starts to, um, rise, to avoid that lurching moment. It isn't a problem, it is just something that needs to be thought about at an early stage, rather than to try retro-fit something later when the regrets come to the fore.
Dave Nelson
JaBear is certainly correct with his comments. On this forum, as with most others, if you pose a question to five folks you will probably get seven opinions
Charlie - Northern Colorado
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."