Guys,
I’m soon to be getting past all my carpentry skills and entering unkown waters.I’m finishing up on the foam base(glued to 1/2 plywood)so now comes the next phase.Many of the layouts use cork on top of the foam.Why?And if its necessary which is the best to use?
Thanks,Vince
As is true in a lot of model railroading questions, it depends:
I, personally, prefer thin extruded foam (sold as fan-fold underlayment and used under vinyl siding.) It’s purely a climate thing - plus I got the foam free (leftovers from a siding job at my previous residence.)
Just my [2c]. Others may have different ideas.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
A lot of people use cork. It’s conveniant and relatively cheap. But like Chuck said, it will dry out and then it gets hard and acts like a soundboard.
I went a different route myself. I am using foam with latex caulk as my adhesive. the caulk stays flexible, so no soundboard effect. I was really looking for something to compliment that though. I thought about 1/8" foam (I’m in N scale), but I’d have to cut each piece. Then I was walking through the home improvement store and I spied some of that old rope caulk that people use to seal windows. http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns%20Ridge/Picture019.jpg It never dries out, so it stays flexible forever, and latex caulk sticks to it so I can use that as an adhesive. http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns%20Ridge/Picture023.jpg Also, it’s curvable ( http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns%20Ridge/Picture002.jpg ) and it can be rolled out to form a ramp for rail height transitions. http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns%20Ridge/Picture024.jpg You can cut it with a hobby knife to make turnout pads too! It’s been in for almost a year and I don’t have a single complaint. And to top it off, a $5 roll is 15’ long and for N scale I split that roll in half lengthwise ( http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Autumns%20Ridge/Picture021.jpg ), so I really get my moneysworth! When it’s all said and done, it doesn’t lo
Hi,
I did something a bit differerent…
My 15x11 3 level HO layout is 1/2 inch ply base (next time I will go a bit thicker) and I covered a good portion of the main level with 1/8 inch cork sheeting. I got this from either Home Depot or Lowes, and the 3 ft wide sheets are available in any length (they are on a roll in the store). I forget the price, but is was cheap as compared to cork from craft stores.
Anyway, I glued this down with carpentry glue and used some brads as needed. After, I painted it all grey. This then gave me a base for yard and industry tracks. For the mainlines, I used the common cork roadbed, which gave the mains some defining features and this turned out good - even to the non MR. The only problem here is the transitions from the main to the yard level, and I accomplished this with a ramp of left over business cards and/or pieces of old wood shingles (now outlawed here where I live). Oh, I live north of Houston, and the humidity here is unreal sometimes. The good news is that the layout is in an upstairs fully air conditioned room, so it really isn’t a problem. Without A/C, yechhhhh…
Would I do the above again on the next layout? Yes, I believe I will.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
I personally like to use cork, since I do not use a foam base. Even with foam, it forms a good ballast base and elevates the track, like with prototype railroads. By painting it the color of the ballast that I apply later, it hides any spots where the foam,or plywood, might be bare, and helps hold the applied ballast, when it is glued in place. For rail yards, I use sheet cork, which one can purchase at, any LHS. Bob
I am using n-scale cork on top of ho cork for my n-scale layout so I can get a nice track profile. I have a 3’x5’ layout right now, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt… I am sure those with larger layouts may have different experiences. I was using Midwest Cork brand. It seems well made, but I have nothing to compare it to other then the WS foam.
I tried the WS foam roadbed but did not like it. It was not cut with a centered center-line which made it hard to place on the centerlines I had drawn on the 1/2" plywood sub-roadbed. It also didnt have enough inherent springiness to make nice curves without lots of eyeballing. On the plus side, it was light enough that it didnt need to be pinned when pressed into the glue.
In contrast, the cork had a perfect centerline. It had a nice spring to it that, while requiring me to pin it, helped make nice smooth curves and easements. I was able to follow the centerline I had drawn quite nicely.
The cork sanded quite well… a required step imho, and the resulting form seemed very nice. My layout is in a basement in New Hampshire. Drying out is not a problem. I run a dehumidifier 24x7 just to keep humidity stable. Perhaps if you are building your layout in a dry region this could be a factor in your choice.
When I start work on my larger layout, still in benchwork, I will be using cork on top of 3/4" plywood. I don’t plan to use either foam sub-base or foam roadbed.
Chris
Yes…It is used to represent the roadbed put down by real railroads before they lay track. Gives your track a high profile. You can opt NOT to use it in switching yards and round house areas. These are pretty flat in the real world. I too would avoid the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed. (hated it)
http://www.midwestproducts.com/catalog_sa1.asp?srch_grp_id=8&sa1_id=18&sa2_id=21
MidWest is about the biggest Mfg. of cork roadbed.
Interesting. I’ve used cork and WS foam. I prefer the WS foam, but not to the point where I’d never use cork again, depending on availability, price, etc.
YES…I use cork exclusively now.
I tried the WS foam and it was a total waste of time and money. The reason…I am one of the few who still use nails to secure track,… AND…when I nailed the track to the foam, it dimpled and warped the track because it is so soft. The cork isn’t soft and allows you to nail down your trackage without having to worry about the nails pulling the track out of gauge. When I removed the WS foam, it got so torn up and ratty from the ballast glue and the glue I used to adhere it to the table, it was useless, cork won’t end so trashed that you can’t use it again. If you plan on never taking up track and you’re going to glue all your track to the roadbed, then WS foam might work for you, it did not work for me and I don’t advise it’s use to others.
Several people in my area use “topper tape”, it is a grey foam tape about 1/8 in thick that is designed to go between a pickup truck topper and the bed, You can get 50 ft rolls of it at camper and pick up topper stores. It is 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of cork roadbed. Sometimes its self adhesive, some have glued it down with latex adhesive caulk. The track can be nailed or glued with latex adhesive caulk.
Dave H.
I used cork on a layout 35 years ago, haven’t used it since!! The last couple of HO layouts I’ve used “Ribbonrail” (available thru Walthers) which is upsom board pre-cut into straight and curved sections (they also make flexible sections). A nice thing about that is it makes laying flextrack easy, since the roadbed pieces are already curved you don’t have to worry about using a pencil and string or whatever to lay out the curve - just use the Ribbonrail pieces to determine where you want the track to go and nail or glue it to the subroadbed. Then just keep the flextrack in the middle of the roadbed and you know you’re making smooth curves.
