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Foam vs plywood
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You've got several issues to understand and work with. <br /> <br />1. The best sound deadening comes when you mix two different materials. Using foam by itself or wood by itself is bad for noise. Gluing foam on wood is very good. They dampen each other out. Foam by itself has poor dampening. Many people have called it a "sounding board". Backing plywood with stiffeners (2X4's) helps to dampen vibrations. <br /> <br />2. Structural needs. How big will your layout be? Will it need to be moved? Will you have raised track or trestles? Will you EVER need to climb on it??? A flat layout of limited depth will have less of a need for structural stiffness than a very deep layout with trestles. And elevated trackage DEMANDS a stiff layout, or you'll be crushing and pulling apart the elevated trackwork as the layout buckles and bows. What'll make it buckle and bow? Shifting foundation / legs and the weight of scenery. <br /> <br />Personally, I'd steer clear of anything that couldn't handle at least a kid from climbing on it. I'm building a new layout and I've had to climb on it several times. <br /> <br />My suggestions: <br /> <br />Overkill the benchwork. Build it TOUGH. Build it to not move. Buld it perfectly flat and strong. Will it cost extra? Yep. Worth it? Yep. <br /> <br />Look at it this way, just how much do you plan on spending on track, turnouts, controls, and scenery? How would you feel if it went south because you cut corners some place? <br /> <br />Am I saying that an all-foam layout is bad? Not necessarily. If I was building a shelf switching layout, that was fairly shallow and had zero chance that young kids could get to it, it'd be fine. For me it'd be terrible, as I've got kids that'll get to it, plus grandkids in 10 or 15 years. <br /> <br />My layout is 3/4" plywood over a 2X4 frame, overlaid with 1" foam. All elevated track is cookie-cutter 3/4" plywood. The 3/4" not only gives strength, but forces all vertical curves to be smooth and gentle. <br /> <br />Mark in Utah
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