road bed
- Thread starter mummert
- Start date
Depends. Are you talking about foam as in the pink/blue stuff? Or are you talking Woodland Scenics foam? I like the WS foam, because it curves easily and doesn't dry out. It's a bit more work to lay than cork, which you can just nail down, since it should be glued. I use spray contact adhesive to put it down - just mark the centre line, spray the subroadbed and the bottom of the roadbed, and stick 'er down!
Obviously the one drawback is that it's harder to re-do a section once the roadbed's glued down. With cork you can just pull it up and nail it down again.
Obviously the one drawback is that it's harder to re-do a section once the roadbed's glued down. With cork you can just pull it up and nail it down again.
I use Woodland Scenics foam.. It doesnt dry out and is easier around curves..Plus you dont have to seperate it..
I guess I don't quite understand? If it is covered why does it look more realitic?rough days said:
I'm using 2 @ 3/4" pink foam covered with cork for extra quietness. I think its easier to use cork for the roadbed to raise it above the surrounding "ground".:thumb:
I just finished laying down over 50 feet of the Woodland Scenics roadbed. It went super quick, used caulking for the adhesive. I liked the fact I did not have to nail the cork. I have plywood for the sub roadbed. Hard to get a nail in the ply. Guess I could have glued the cork down, but I wanted to try something new. Time will tell as I have not got the ballast down yet.mummert said:
I prefer the Woodland Scenics track bed foam, it is very easy to work with and will never dry out, therefor you will NEVER have to replace it. Cork does have some advantages though, and one of those is looks when ballasted. My grandfather used cork roadbed when he build his layout.
There have been several ideas on how to glue the foam. This works real good, IMOP.mummert said:
You don't want to work with more than 2 or 3 feet at a time as the caulk sets up real fast. I liked the caulk because it seams to be flexable. Like I said before, time will tell.
I guess i am just picky i like the old cork better. It seems to lay better and give more support under the track to me. The Foam when i tack down the track it gives and lets the track sag where the spike is.
If you use the caulk for holding the track you will not have this problem.trainnut65 said:
I used the caulk for holding the foam to the sub road bed, and caulk to hold the track to the foam. The caulk is flexable.:thumb: I am working in N scale so there might be some differances with differant scales?
I use both, depends on which is on sale this week.
Cork hold rail-nails, foam does not. Foam has lower profile and bit easier to shape. Cork you can sand (and I have a bag on my sander - the dust from cork sanding is a great scenic material). Hold both down with Liquid Nails - no problems. Glueing to painted high density builder's styrofoam.
Cork hold rail-nails, foam does not. Foam has lower profile and bit easier to shape. Cork you can sand (and I have a bag on my sander - the dust from cork sanding is a great scenic material). Hold both down with Liquid Nails - no problems. Glueing to painted high density builder's styrofoam.