I have been using clear latex caulk for laying flex track (and for anchoring wood ties used in hand-laid specialwork.) This afternoon, on a trip to the local Big Box home improvement emporium I noticed that DAP Dynaflex 230 latex caulk is available in a number of colors, including mud (brown) and crushed limestone (light grey,) perfect for use in laying track. I picked up a tube of grey, and initial test use seems promising.
Has anyone else been using colored caulk? If so, what results have you had, and what problems have you encountered?
I don’t think that the color would really matter once you ballast. The only advantage I see is that if you use a clear/ translucent, any slopped on ties won’t really show after ballasting. But you’d have to be pretty sloppy and you spread the caulk way too thick.
Use Yellow carpenters glue for holding down roadbed to your bench work and track to your roadbed and also paint your roadbed with water based paint of course before laying your track. By painting it the color of your ballast you cover or should I say camouflage a multitude of sins. If you use caulk and its the type that hardens good luck if you ever want to tear up your track work. I’ve heard of guys using liquid nails for track gluing too but I wouldn’t try it.
Actually, I’ve found that the opposite is true. On my old layout I started laying track with carpenter’s glue before I heard of the caulk trick (I tried both latex and silicone). Of the three, the silicone caulk (clear) actually released the track the easiest, while the wood glue didn’t want to give up the track at ALL, except on the foam that I painted first (and then, the wood glue still hung onto the paint!). Id never recommend using wood glue for laying track these days.
The grey caulk will simply replace the clear caulk I have been using, which has been giving very satisfactory performance. It cleans off flex about the way rubber cement would - not that I intend to tear up and reuse any track. (This is destined to be my last layout, not my first!)
Yellow carpenter’s glue is great for securing pieces of wood one to another. Since I have all-steel benchwork, even that use is superfluous to my requirements. Even if my L-girder framework and risers were wood, I would never glue them into immobility. IMHO, screws are the only way to fly.
Incidentally, I have laid several yards of flex with the grey caulk, and it seems to be just what I need. It cures to a rubbery consistency, is latex paint compatable and (before setting) cleans up with water.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on flex secured with grey caulk)
I guess my only question here, is what’s the point of using grey over clear, or any other color for that matter, since, as discussed, your caulk will be covered with ballast any way. Guess the grey might look better, though, e.g. around turnouts where you don’t want to put ballast.
You mean they didn’t have pink rocks for ballast in central Japan in the mid 60’s? Seriously, I think this is a good idea. I also plan on painting my plywood surface (prob. brown) as discussed in other posts–not sure how important it is for sealing the wood and thus helping with expansion issues–just seems would look better until ground cover completed–but makes sense painting roadbed similar color to your ballast is a good idea for the reasons you enumerated.