I am new to modle railroading and I have just got the Bachman Explorer train set in N gauge and I am in the middle of building a table to do a layout on which when finnished will be 4’x8’. I have got 1/2" plywood and 1" extruded foam for the top the track I got with the set I switched for Atlas code 80. The track plan I would like to use is N-12 fron the book Nine N Scale Railroads by Atlas. So the problem is I don’t know the best way to attach the track and how to do scenery so any advice will be welcome.
I assume your are using sectional track, snap track. The tracks fasten to each other at the ends with rail joiners. You may be able to operate for a while with nothing more than that. But after a while you will find the track shifts position and the rail joiners come apart. Then you want to fasten the track down to the layout. If you go with the extruded foam, then you have to use adhesives to stick the track down, nails don’t hold in foam. If you leave off the foam, you can fasten the track down to plywood with nails. Hobby shops sell the right size nail, nicely blackened so they doesn’t show.
You may want to put cork roadbed under the track. The cork simulates the raised ballast bed of the prototype. It’s optional, the trains will run without cork ballast, but it doesn’t cost much and does improve the looks. In this case you fasten the cork down the adhesives and then stick the track to the cork.
Latex caulking compound is a fine adhesive. Cheap, sticks well to plastic ties, cord, foam and plywood. It comes in clear, which means it doesn’t show much when dry. You need to set the track carefully, make sure there are no kinks at the joints, and then lay some heavy stuff on the track to keep it in place while the caulk dries.
Scenery is a whole book in itself. The fpam can be shaped into hills and valleys with nearly anything, saws, steak knives, Surform tools, rasps, just about anything that cuts wood works on foam. A coat of earth colored latex paint over the foam hides the pink or blue color. Sprinkle grass in the wet paint. Use a lot of medium grass green, and then add accents of dark green and light yellow.
I suggest before you go much further do some reading. Go to your local hobby shop (LHS) and see what they have. Also, go to the top of this page to SHOP and then click on books for books available from MR. If you have access to a Walthers catalog they list many also. You can order direct or through your LHS. Get a couple of different ones on scenery and any other subject you see which you think would help. There are many books on subjects from planning and benchwork on through finish details. Read, learn, experiment and don’t be afraid to take apart and do over as your skills improve. That’s all part of this hobby.
There is no “best” way. Personally, I use Matt Medium (a flexible glue) to put the track down. Others use caulk. Some use white glue (like Elmer’s school glue) but I don’t recommend that. I used that on an N-scale layout in 1983. By the year 2000 the glue cracked and the track basically fell off the board.
Scenery - that is a life long learning experience. Every time I do scenery find something I did better than the previous time and learn something that I can use for the next time.
I agree with dstarr. Of course I agree with the others also. I used Aileene’s Glue and flex track. I’m happy with it. Run a bead on every other or third tie and set. Place a somewhat heavy object if it’s curved and come back tomorrow. A bottle goes quite a long way plus I use the stuff for many other things. Thick, sticky and dries clear.
OH! when laying any kind of adhesive, make sure it does NOT get in any moving part of a turnout. I usually steer clear of even trying to get close, just the ends are fine.
The guys covered the stuff pretty well. I can only suggest that before you glue anything down you might want to tack the track down with just nails first. (Some glues are more permanent than others.) First time out (and even later on …) we all make mistakes. The nails will come out of the foam fairly easily with needle nose pliers, so you can reposition and correct things as you go. Once you’ve done enough test, then you can glue the track down.
As for scenery, what you “do” is limited only by your imagination. I’d look at the Woodland Scenics catalog and website for a few ideas. It’s a far cry from the stuff a lot of us started out decades ago, look great and pretty fool-proof.
Some folks are dead nuts about reproducing a real life setting and some of us like to free lance a little more. Guess most of us are somewhere in the middle. You might know where you want to be already, or it might evolve as you model. Make a few basic decisions (sounds like you already did) and enjoy the ride!
I’d second that. You might think about putting the track down on just the plywood using nails as a temporary set up. Nails go in and come out easily with needle nose pliers and you can change things around and fix kinks and lumps and bumps. You may want to make sidings longer or add more, or reroute the main line or nearly anything. Adhesives are harder to get loose. It can be done with a sharp putty knife, but its not anyone’s favorite activity. After you get things running on just bare plywood, you can take the track up, put the foam under it and glue everything in place.
Or, leave the track spiked to the plywood and cut the foam to fit around the track to make hills and terrain features. In this case, it will look nicer if you paint the plywood before laying the track. Although you will add ballast and scenery and such, you want any little gaps to show a neutral earth tone rather than bright tan plywood color.
TIP#1 - GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY AND CHECK OUT WHAT HOW TO BOOKS THEY HAVE IN THE STACKS. TAKE THEM HOME AND READ THEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE BEGINNING ANY LAYOUT.
Do this before following any of the above mentioned advice. A good how to book will answer most of your questions. Many libraries also have subscriptions to MR, look through them for the multi-part layout construction articles. Checking out the books from the library is free. When you find one you like and that is helpful then purchase it. A good how to book will be loaded with step by step instructions and pictures, something you really won’t get here. Another piece of advice, don’t rely this forum to be the place to get all your answers. Advice here is free - meaning while its cheap, its not always accurate or well informed. The techniques in the how to books are time tested and a good reference to keep by your side as you build.
Welcome. The ‘nails’ that several have mentioned are not your run of the mill brads or finising nails. They are too big. At a hobby shop that sells trains, you will/should find small bubble packs of track nails. They are very small and usually painted black.
I figure a person should play around a bit, and read a lot…that much has been suggested. Learn how to play with the trains, what works, what confounds you, and then ask more questions here. But don’t go sawing up and hammering anything, not even popsicle sticks, until you have a much better idea how to get the most out of your train set. There are some fellows here who have stunning N scale layouts on a door or a sheet of plywood. Sometimes, though, a sheet of plywood or a door is not an efficient use of the actual space you have at your disposal.
One last tip. The simple oval is a great way to lay out track. It’s simplicity is also its Achilles heel. You will be bored to death in just a week or so. We all find eventually that it is best to make a concerted effort at mimicking some of what real railroads so, complete with passing tracks, industrial spurs, and actually playing at revenue work makes the process more fun and less boring.
The biggest piece of advice I can offer you is don’t use sectional track, go with flex track. It will seem silly to you now, but in the future, you will love yourself for that decision of flextrack. For scenery and other things, I highly recommend the Kalmbach book, 8 Model Railroads you can build, or whatever. It has a DVD that tells you EVERYTHING about the Model Railroading world. Also, subscribe to MRR mag, get yourself involved in a local club, and ask questions at you LHS (local hobby shop). Get yourself immersed in these forums and learn all you can, but above all, dont forget to have fun!