We are installing the AMI instant roadbed for our first RR project. What should we know about this roadbed to help make our experience fun?
Any good books recommended for DCC wiring?
Don’t know about making your experience “fun”, but when I used some AMI instant roadbed a few years ago for an n scale layout, I found that it didn’t stick particularly well to BARE plywood. Painted the wood with some glossy black paint, then the AMI roadbed stuck more securely. Just my experience with it.[:D]
Jeff
I’ve used the AMI roadbed, but there are a couple things to watch out for-
First, use pins or tacks to hold the track down, it will move around if you’re not careful.
Second, you need to weight it down for a while so the track bonds down tight, otherwise it will pop loose.
ANd third, make sure you get your ballast on ASAP. The roadbed will pick up dust, dirt, hair, whatever very quickly, and if it gets coated with it the ballast won’t stick down like it’s supposed to.
What I wound up doing was to put down about 5-6’ of the roadbed, get the track mounted and tacked down, put a sheet of plastic wrap over the track and then cover it with books (especially on the curves and turnouts). Then do another section, coming off the ends of the first section. After you take the weights off, leave the plastic wrap on until you’re ready to ballast. You can take it off to test the areas, but I cover it back up after I’m sure everything rolls properly.
I probably won’t use it again- after evaluating the cost and the work involved I think I’ll go with cork roadbed and glue the track down with silicone- pretty much the same end result, just cheaper.
we have 1/2 inch thick sheet of foam board glued to the plywood.
I have used the AMI bed over plywood and foam in both cases it stuck better with paint (latex flat in both cases) on the underlayment. It always sticks better over non dusty surfaces, and if you really mess up you can attach it with rubber cement between the bed and the board. I like it a lot, had some i put down 20 years ago and it worked fine and lasted until i pulled it up to start over. I still use white glue to hold down the ballast after painting the track and weathering. Using the plastic wrap over the track to keep it clean until you ballast is a good tip - wish I’d thought of that. J.R.
My present layout (11.5x16.5) was done with AMI. Except on the
elevated sections, where I used Woodland Scenic risers, and was
worried about deforming them. I would have had to press pretty
hard on the roadbed to get it to stick to the plaster cloth. The
ballast also requires strong pressure to stick it securely.
One drawback I found: my light brown WS fine ballast began to darken
over the months following installation. I guess some sort of oil
leaches out of the butyl rubber. The darkening stopped after about
6 or 8 months, but was substantial. I don’t know if using real
stone ballast would make a difference.
AMI has worked OK for me. When I needed to take up and redo any
track, heating the stuff with a hair dryer made it easy to disengage
the ties. But it is not possible to reinstall the track on a
ballasted section unless putting the ties back in exactly the same
place.
Hal