foam board

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

what are the advantages of using foam board

2

If you are talking about using it as a base for your layout, it can be shaped to fit your layout . You can poke bushes and trees in where you need them and they stay put like you want them. That’s a start. Next.

3

Man spacemouse, you must have a LOT of time on your hands. 384 poast in 31 days = ~12.8 post/day. And I thought I had a good bit of downtime!

4

It is light weight, and can be cut to shape, you can dig into it and make ditches, swales, drainage areas, lakes, pools, etc…

You can build it up in wedding cake fashion and the shave it down with a rasp or wire brush into a hill, mountain, and so on.

It is easy to glue road bed and track to it.

It is easy to poke holes through it for wires.

It is not effected by temperature changes or humidity.

Its good stuff!

5

Used as your ONLY primary layout construction medium, it’s a whole lot cheaper than traditional layout construction. Wood, screws, screen wire, cardboard, paper, plaster and rock molds have a tendency of adding up!

6

It’s also cheaper than plywood, right?

OK, so what are the disadvantages?

7

OK, so what are the disadvantages?
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1.)if you buy the wrong thickness ist awfully flimsy
2.) hmmm, Oh thats right there aren’t anymore
jeff

8

maybe i will use foam instead of plywood for my next layout (coming soon)

9

It dents if you lean on it while working on something else.

The crumbs are messing to clean up and stick to everything as the have static electricity in them.

The good out weighs the bad

10

NEGATIVES:

  • It creates a rather large mess when carving it
  • if you cut it with a hot wire it lets off a gas (kinda toxic too)
  • You can’t use spray paint on it (it will melt the foam, and release a toxic gas)
  • Dents easily

POSITIVES

  • CHEAP!!! ($15 for a 4ft. x 8 ft. sheet at Home Depot)
  • sand it, carve it, paint it, glue it,
  • eliminates the plywood base as long as you have supporting beams under it.
  • Some folks will say it’s quieter however I don’t believe that
  • planting trees is easy
  • laying track is easy

happy building!! [:)]

11

Dano,
Are you talking about the pink or blue stuff or the white bead board? My local HD wants the equivalent of $25 for a 4x8 sheet of the pink stuff, as they only carry 2x8 sheets @ $12.95.
Bob Hayes

12

I have found that if you use Krylon brand “Make it Seud”, and “Make it Stone”, )a texture paint which can add texture to your base color ina hurry) wil not eat the foam. it has ZERO effect on it. And comes in very earthy colors. Browns, tans and greens. Can make short of painting abse colors. Great stuff.

Best of luck
John k

13

Woudnt nails wobble around in the foam?

thanks

pavariangoo

14

I have 2" foam (blue) I plan to use glue with straight pins to hold until the glue drys. I am not sure what type of glue to use yet. Maybe someone can answer that one for me.
ennout

15

i have haerd use liquid nails for projects. it will not eat the foam.

16

OK y’all help me with this…
first you built your bench.
then you cover it with plywood.
then you put down the homosote…

can you use the foam board in place of the homosote and how well does it work compared to the homosote?

17

So does plaster if you lean on it. Worse yet, plaster will break if you lean too hard. Foam generally won’t. And a few random dents in the foam surface just makes for better scenery!

18

He’s probably talking about the 1" sheets, but I have seen the 2" sheets for as little as $14 here in northern Illinois. Generally, they go for about $20-$25. But that’s still a whole lot cheaper than 3/4" plywood, which is at about $35 a sheet these days (and climbing)

19

Yes. That’s why you don’t use nails or screws on foam; you glue everything, including track (which is foam layout construction’s biggest negative, IF salvageing track is important to you)

20

I’ve successfully used white glue, wood glue, Liquid Nails and clear latex caulk. I prefer the caulk. One tube will glue down over 100 feet of track, it provides a nice sound absorbing barrier between the track and foam base, and is cheap and readily available.

You only need a 3/8" bead of caulk along the centerline of your track. Smear it down with a small trowel and add your track. You’ve got about 20 minutes’ working time before the caulk surface dries, and fully dries in about an hour. I hold the track down with pushpins, and don’t glue switches down at all (just in case they fail, or in case I want to move track. Flextrack is discardable, switches aren’t!)

I’ve had HORRIBLE results with double sided carpet tape, double sided foam tape, and spray adhesive (3M 77, 3M 90 and DOW). Avoid these products for tracklaying!