Fascia Board?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi Guys;

Just wondering what the least expensive and best fascia board is to use.

Thanks

mj

2

I have used 1/8" Masonite on both of my layouts. It is inexpensive, smooth, and cuts/paints nice.

Jim

3

I am using the same. Igot mine at Lowes, they don;t have actual Masonite (a brnad name) but they have tempered hardboard. Same thing. The 4x8 sheets aren’t 4x8 though - I can’t transport full sheets of 4x8 material, nor do I have a way of cutting them, so I had them cut it into 1 foot wide x 4 foot strips. I should get 8, right? WIth the last one being a little short due to the saw kerf. Well, I got 7 pieces and the last one was quite a bit short - it’s about 8" . Guess I’ll find a use for it - it’s about right to make sides for my liftout section. 7 pieces is enough for almost half my layout, and it was pretty cheap, plus the cutting was free.

–Randy

4

What have you found to work best at cutting the masonite? I assume a circular saw is good for straight runs, but what about curves where it needs to match the contour of my scenery?

Thanks, Dan

5

Band saw, jig saw or a trim router. A full size router will do it, but if you are not familiar with this tool, it may get away from you as you learn.

6

I use a Skilsaw for the straight cuts and a jigsaw for the curves - cut from the back (rough) side to get a cleaner cut on the face. Unless you need it for some particular reason, don’t waste money on the “tempered” version - tempered refers only to the hardness of the smooth face, and has nothing to do with flexibility.

I used regular 1/8" Masonite for both fascia and the coved corners of the backdrop:

Wayne

7

One of my neighbors was remodeling a bedroom in his house and was throwing out the old paneling. It’s about the same thickness as masonite and it bends around rather sharp curves.

8

Hardboard is the old standby but there are other alternatives: Tileboard which is hardboard with a glossy face and some sort of pattern embossed in, paneling, luan, flashing etc. Each has it’s pluses and minuses.

Since I’m planning on keeping my layout sections light, transportable and low profile I’m thinking of useing the facia as a support member not just an add-on for a finished look. So I’m trying to determine if I should use hardboard which is more flexible or luan which may not be able to make some of the curves I need. Need to do some testing to find out. But either should be able to add strength to the aisle side of my layout to help prevent sagging on that edge.