I have been reading about roadbeds and it seems that I have narrowed it down to these two. Questions I have are: 1. Do you have to presoak cork? 2. Do you ballast both the same way? Thank you.
I have used both on my home layout, which is still under construction. Be aware that there is a slight difference in thickness between cork and foam roadbed. The foam is thinner than cork, and if you switch from one to the other right at a track joint, you’ll have trouble getting the rail properly aligned. Ballasting is the same.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.
I used WS foam this time and loved it. Easy to bend and put down. Looks better until you get to ballasting. I don’t remember any advantages when I used cork and it was harder to work with.
Cork does not need soaking, at least the Midwest Products brand that I used did not. I had no problems with cork and would use it again. I tried the foam and did not like it. It was very sticky and not easy to adjust if I needed to.
I’m using the WS foam, too. It’s very easy to work with, and gives great results. I use pink 2-inch insulation foam as my base, and Liquid Nails for Projects to hold everything together.
I vote for WS foam. Very easy to work with. Hi Simon, was it the AMI instant roadbed you’re talking about? That’s the one that has the stickum on it. Jerry
Jerry, you are correct it was the AMI stuff, it was awful.
Welcome to the forum, ssmith. Your topic will quickly demonstrate to you that we have lots of opinions around here, and not always are we in complete agreement. I have also used both cork and WS foam and like the cork much better. I like the sturdiness of it. The foam seemed too “squishy” to me. Also, I didn’t run into the problem with difering heights where the foam and cork joined… perhaps cacole got a different batch. I’d recommend trying a strip or two of each, and seeing which you like working with. It always comes down to that… what YOU like.
I like using Vinylbed. Very soft, and absorbs sound well.
I use the foam, too, and I LIKE it being “squishy”. It tends to smooth out any irregularities in the sub-roadbed, and eases making minor adjustments, especially shimming, even after ballasting.
WS gets my vote too; over cork.
I use WS foam. Nothing special to do when ballasting. I use yellow carpenter’s glue to glue to plywood and the same for the track to WS foam.
WS is Woodland Scenics Track-Bed, right?
If so Can you paint it with the car bumper rubber base paint? I thought painting it with the flexable bumper paint, mixed black and gray, would look more realistic untill it can be ballasted. Has anybody tried this? Thanks, Roger[:D]
yes it is.
it comes in 2’ sections or rolls of 24’ i think.
I bought 2 rolls for my son’s 4x8 layout. I also used cork as I messed up some of my roadbed placement and had to pull it up, it was ruined because i used the wrong adhesive gluing it to the foam. my adheasive ate the foam and the roadbed sunk into the foam, what a mess. anyhow. after ballasting, you might find very little sound difference between the WS and cork.
the WS can be painted, I painted mine. laytex based would be best.
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