I am expanding my Virginian layout in a big way. As a result, I have several plywood sheets butiing together. How to you guys hide the seams? Plaster, plaster cloth?
As long as they are secure and will not move, most any patching material should work. If you have some larger gaps, cut a piece of foam to fit and glue in place. If you use Sculptamold, joint compound or some other similar product, be sure to have something on the underside to keep it from dropping through.
Good luck,
Richard
Caulk.
Rich
If it is your working surface, any tape/cloth will do, provided it will take whatever you intend to add atop it in the way of scenery materials the same way the rest of the working surface does…ie, the foam or plywood.
I have taken to spreading wood glue directly onto plywood surfaces if I don’t particularly want contoured terrain locally, and sprinkling sifted dried garden soil directly onto the glue. I spritz that with a “wet” yellow glue solution to get it wet enough to add ground foam of different kinds right away. I then let the whole thing dry.
If you tape below the joints and sprinkle enough dirt in them to fill up the cracks, you have a truly seamless joint when you go on and sprinkle more dirt further beyond the crack on either side of it. Soak well with the diluted glue, and when it is hard, it will stay as a plug, even if the tape eventually lets go.
-Crandell
Hi
If these are to be places to seperate the layout into sections the only thing you can do is to break up the joint line by what gets placed over them and that will have to be removable as well.
If however they are just there because of the way the layout is constructed and are not seperation points then the simple expiedient of masking tape to prevent scenery matierials or plaster and paint running through will be fine.
regards John
What the RICHIE said or Liquid Nails.
Frankie
Hide it with scenery
So far, only Rio Grande has answered the question. The OP asked how to hide the joints, which confused me, becsuse you would never see the joints on a layout with scenery on it. Unless younstick your head under my lsyout, there is no way to tell what is underit. That said, the rest of you address the REAL concern, which is how are you going to fasten the sheets together so that yur layout doesn’t suddenly split on you.
Huh?
Again, huh?
-Crandell
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I have a few seams like that on my layout and to insure the seam doesn’t open with expansion I spliced a pc of plywood under the seam, and glued/screwed it to both sheets. This splice pc is about 12" wide so I get 6" on each side of the seam. Now whatever I use to cover the seam on top won’t crack or show. Just my idea.
-Bob
I use foam for my layout. At the gaps, I use plaster cloth covered with scenic materials. If I ever have to separate sections, which I’d image will happen when I retire and move out of Taxachusetts, the plaster cloth can be easily cut and then repaired once things are relocated.
Use a splice plate below to stabilize the seam.
There would not be any need for any splice, under the layout, if you had any support bracing under the plywood. Just butt the two sections screwed together and cover your seam, with your choice of suggestions already given. [:D] If you are trying to butt two pieces of ply, over a open grid, don’t splice, add a sleeper to your framework, where the sections meet.
Frank
Hi,
On the current and previous layout I did various covers - some worked better than others of course. As folks indicated, the key is to get the two surfaces tightly bound together. With “no play”, you can use a whole lot of materials with success - i.e. caulk, plaster, tape, or even just ground cover over glue.
I did like using sheet cork, and did it on the current layout. If you have any imperfections, this will cover it, and give you a nice surface on which to “plant” structures, roads, and such.
I use what no self respecting red blooded American man should ever be without. Duct tape.
Crandall, Your reply looks more like how to fasten the boards together. But really, we’re not hanging drywall here. Who cares what the joint looks like if you won’t see it under scenery?