I am wondering what brand of cork I should buy or does it matter?
I’ve used both Midwest and Model Power, and I’d have to say I prefer Midwest from a workability perspective.
MP seemed to have a lot of rubber content, and was made up of larger grains of material. In the batch I had, the diagonal cut down the middle of the strips was off-center, so I ended up with one narrow half and one wide half. Also, the diagonal cut didn’t go all the way through the full thickness of the cork, which left a rough, ragged edge when I literally ripped them apart. After a few strips like that, I wised up and used a razor knife to make the diagonal cuts deeper before trying to separate the halves.
MW has a more uniform granular appearance, and the strips are cut pretty darn close to the center, giving you two equal halves of a roadbed. The MW strip halves also separate more cleanly and don’t leave a big ragged edge.
Can’t say how long term performance compares in terms of drying, shrinkage, etc.
I think most hobby shops stock the Midwest cork product. Many also stock the Woodland Scenics roadbed(sort of a rubber/foam product). Both are good. Via mail order you can get Homabed or Vinylbed products as well. Here are their URL’s:
Jim Bernier
If I may make a suggestion–first, brand doesn’t matter, but thickness does. Be sure all of your cork is the same thickness. But as to the suggestion, forget the pre-cut stuff at your LHS, its way overpriced. Go to your local lumber yard or building materials supplier and buy sheet cork. It takes no time th cut it into strips, it works exactly the same, and you will save $$$.
Ron
That’s a good suggestion about buying the sheet cork and cutting it yourself, especially if you’re going to be using a lot of it. See link below for a good example:
http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.com/CM%20-%20Roadbed%20Factory.htm