I had planned to add a facia to my layout, varying 6 to 8" high. Since there are lots of curves, I hoped to use 1/8" non-tempered hardboard as is often specified in model RR books. The bad news: So far I can’t find anybody in the area (upstate NY) that carries anything but the tempered stuff. I have one section of benchwork that is about 24" radius so I’m sure the hard stuff would not work. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks - Bill
Bill,
I have used the 1/8" tempered hardboard on my layout and have managed to curve it as tight as a 12" radius without any problems. A 24" radius should be very manageable with the material.
Don Z.
Actually the tightest facia curve is the inside cove at the lower left of the drawing. It’s somewhere between 16" & 18" radius. Sounds like it might be worth a try. - Bill
Greetings,
I used the tempered stuff too. If you take your time and train the material it will take the curve you want. I have some pretty tight curves on my facia too. What I did was to bend it (before cutting out hills/ valleys/ rivers) to a soft curve and let it rest over night. For example, lodge it in the frame of a door that will not get used in the middle of the night. Then I screwed down one end to the facia frame work and pushed/ pulled the board to the next facia vertical support. If it went easy I screwed it in place. If not, I took it as far as it would go and then tied it down with twine and again let it sit for a day. In the really “tought” spots I tightened the twine the next day and let the board rest again.
Take it slow and easy and the material will conform; go to fast and it will rip apart or break.
I have taken two sections of facia off my layout to do some work under the surface. The two sections are, yes, gentle curves but they have held their shapes for the past month or so that they have been off.
Christopher
Yep, you guys were right. I bought a sheet of 1/8" tempered hardboard (Masonite) and it went around the curves just fine. Picture link below. - Bill
Here’s the lowdown on Masonite/Tempered Masonite. The “tempered” feature doesn’t affect the flexibility, only the quality (hardness) of the surface.
I used regular 1/8" Masonite for both the coved corners (inside and outside) of the backdrop and for the layout facia:
The facia in the last photo is curved to about an 8" radius.
Wayne
Wow - Nice layout. Thanks for posting the pictures. - Bill
I have also used both tempered and non-tempered 1/8" hardboard without any problems when bending into a fairly tight radius. In the picture below, the fascia on the middle deck at the top of the photo is bent into a 15" radius (the aisle width is 30") and the backdrop on the lower level is bent to about a 12" radius:
I believe this particular section uses tempered hardboard, but I have about a 50/50 mix (filp a coin as to which one Home Depot or Lowes will have in stock on a given day). Jamie
I recently bought a 4’ x 8’ sheet of 1/8" thick PVC material for my facia. I forget what the plastics dealer told me the “industry” name of the material is, but it works great. I came in looking to purchase more styrene, but ended up with this (cheaper, too). Anyway, it seems lighter in wieght than styrene and bends easily, and is finished (very smooth). I had it cut to 9" x 4 foot strips at the plastics dealer. I have not painted it yet, but it cuts easily with a sharp blade by scoring and snapping.
Mike
Greetings,
It will be interesting to know how the paint takes to the PVC sheet. I have seen PVC pipes that were painted and the paint was flaking off. Do you have a primer that will stick to PVC?
Please let us know.
Christopher
Chris, I’m sure others have painted PVC. However, you have got me thinking about priming first. I think that’s what I should do. I’ll need to wait til the weather warms up so I can spray outside…maybe next March?
Mike
A point or two. If you really are using a PVC type of plastic they make a primer just for that. It works well and the paint sticks to it (to a point) if you rub on it much it will rub off. I know this because I have PVC type plastic around the house that has been painted to match the house and while they have all held up well one of them that gets rubbed by the garden hose has rubbed off a bit of paint.
So I am not to sure if the plastic/pvc is a great idea as my layout tends to have people rub against the front when passing each other (and I have 4’ wide walk ways)
Doug M
I was planning on making mine from masonite, too. Then, a neighbor was remodeling a bedroom in their home and was removing all the old paneling (no, it’s not that green paneling from the 70s.) that was in there. It bends to much tighter radius than the masonite and, once painted, will give a nice finished appearance.