Though I realize a lot of folks now a days use foam as their basic layout material, I’m an old school model railroader, and still use plaster over window screen supported by wooden dowels. The only thing I use styrofoam for is for the base of grades. I also “pin” my tracks down with stick pins which works real well with the foam base and makes it a lot easier to change something if I need to…
Once my layout is finished, I vacuum it off real well to remove any loose material, then spray paint it with earth tone paints.
Hi, as a novice to all this i went with MDF easy to work with & easy to paint,might have problems laying track but once it’s down it’s not going to move,also using Peco 100 track.I have spent a week getting my base ready so I expect a lot of hours going into detail in scenery & buildings-maybe styrofoam would have been better - only time will tell.Tracksidetony
I went the plywood, foam, cork, track route, using adhesive to hold everything together. My scenecy is made of bluefoam with waste expanded polystyrene (white bead) used to form substructure (it is free and readily avaialble) with blue foam forming the surface. I then cover with plastercloth and gypsolite plaster.
Our RR is a combo of many techniques. It has foam, cookie cutter, and L girder construction. Whatever seemed to best fit the situation. The scenery is plastered paper towels or plaster cloth over crumpled newspaper, sometimes with a cardboard backing or foam base.
I was tired when wrote the above and left a few things out.
I begin (like everyone else) with a bench work of plywood and 2 X 4s, then glue foam sheets onto the plywood as my base-which I cover with plaster. From this point I put in my foam base for my grades along with dowels and window screen as mentioned in my original posting. Then I cover everythiing with a couple of layers of paper towels dipped in plaster, then paint over those with plaster. Once everything has dried, I sand it where it needs it, vacuum it, paint it, put in the details, lay the road bed and track and I’m ready to run trains…
2x3 and 2x4 for legs. 1x3 for most cross beams. 1" white foam for subroadbed. Scenery is glue soaked newspaper over polyfiber, cumpled newspaper, and chucks of scrap foam.
I have used about everything under the sun since starting in HO about 10 years ago, after I norrowed things down a bit, here’s my input on the subject.
2 x 4 legs screwed onto 1 x 4 frames that support oriented strnd board sections
22’’ x 48". The height of each section is from 3 ft to 4 ft off the ground, the sections
are held together with two " C " clamps and very snug. I use coarse thread
sheetrock screws to hold all wood work.
Next, I lay the track on roadbed material, which can amount to just about anything
that will look realistic. I use Elmers glue to hold the the roadbed and track down,
and to keep the ballast in place. All the track work is done in this way first as
scenery material is hard to work around.
Scenery is what you want it to represent in a given region, I model the
Southwestern desert -to- mountains so I have a defined area which
doesn’t require too many trees but much scrub plants and desert grasses.
More that you would think. Mountains have to have tunnels…right ??
Mountains and tunnels are easier than one might think. I use scrap styrofoam
and build a box form to make the basic interior supports for tunnels, then I use
foam insulation in a can to build up the shell, I keep this process up until I get the
right geography and by using a portable form ( the “box”) I apply the spray on foam
outdoors as the odor is a bit strong. The material is paintable. Use as mush as you
like, depending on high high you want to make your mountains.
Painting, weathering and rusting… I use all craft style acrylic paints,as they match
every military ( another area of mine) color to actual replication and all RR colors,
after I started using them years ago I’ve never gone back to "
2" foam base, 1/4" plywood subbase, 1/2" foam roadbed, and 10"x12" metal shelf brackets. If I must build benchwork to support weight (why would anyone need to? It’s a layout, not a dance floor) I use 2x2’s and 1x2’s, with 3/8" plywood on top.
Benchwork: made completely from clear 1x3 and 1x4 select Pine. This bench work is held together with carpenters glue, carriage bolts and lock nuts, and 1 1/2" dry wall screws.
Trackbed: made with 5/8" plywood, supported by 1x2 select pine risers
Roadbed: cork
Track: Atlas Code 100 Flex Track and turnouts
Switches: Tortoise Slow motion Switches
Power: Main power is a Bachmann Spectrum Magnum, but I hope upgrade to a Digitraxx Zephyr .