I am considering the foam board techniques described by Bill Darnaby in MR, and can see how it would be easy to incorporate grades on a straight run along the wall. However, at a corner, it is not clear to me how the foam board accomodates the compound curve/grade. My only experience is with open grid, and I haven’t seen this issue discussed about foamboard in Darnaby’s articles or elsewhere. Can someone with experience with this technique tell me how to handle the curves? My plan is to use a long around the wall segment to connect an upper and lower level. Thanks.
Jack
Two words! Foam risers. They are available in 2%, 3% and 4% Grades. They take the guess work out of it.
http://home.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/179/179121/pages/445631/IM000427fw.JPG
Dave
Jack;
Dave is referring to Woodland Scenics foam risers, see SubTerrain on thier website:http://www.woodlandscenics.com/
Or you can make your own, easy for straights, no so easy for curves.
Don’t bother with foam risers. Bill Darnaby doesn’t, and neither do I. Working around a corner is absolutely the same as working down a straight wall. Set your starting and end points for your grade, snap a chalkline for them, and start hanging your brackets. The brackets ARE your risers, moving the entire layout up or down based on what base track elevation you want. It’s simpler than you think.
Email me offlist if you want to see some pics of my layout and how the brackets climb the walls for elevation variations.
I have used the 2% and 3% foam risers and they are a no brainer. Very easy to use and near perfection grades. I highly recommend. I paid about 10.00 a box for mine.