What is the best spray glue to anchor my scenery and buildings on my N Scale layout?
For Buildings I don’t use spray glue but scenic accents. It holds them in place and allows them to be moved or removed without damaging the structure.
For general turf etc I use scenic cement but many here use a 50% diluted white glue mix.
I use full strength Elmer’s glue to hold the structures. If I need to remove the structure temporarily for some reason it just pops loose. To put it back I just moisten the glue a little and press the structure back in place. For anchoring I use a 50/50 water and Elmer’s glue mix. Don’t use Elmer’s school glue.
Is ther any particular reason for having to anchor the structures anyway? If not just mount locating blocks or dowels at the corners of the foundation. I perfer tapered dowels at corners, this allows easy removal and reinstallation. The key thing is setting a proper foundation (strip pine, styrene, hydrocal castings of stone or brick, etc) The foundation allows to set the grade of the structure relative to surrounding scenery.
That’s what I do – make a very light pencil mark at two opposite corners of the structure, then lift if off and glue down strip wood angles at the corners, allowing for the wall thickness of your structure. Then scenic around the base to hide the joint. Make sure you don’t glue anything to the structure itself.
The strip wood will keep the structure in place if either it or the layout gets bumped, but it’s easy to remove (to replace a lightbulb, for instance).
Look at some layout pictures closely; any ones layout pictures. How many buildings can you see that have cracks showing between their bottom and the layout surface? I see that a lot once I started looking. That shows that not everyone uses a proper foundation.
That is why I started gluing structures down with white glue. I also push in so ground foam in the glue around the base of a building. I think it makes it look more real.
To remove the buildings, I wet the area around the building with water from an eye dropper.
I have just started using Elmers Spray Adhesive and it works really good for putting follage down and it does not stink up your layout.
A 50/50 mix of white glue and water is all I’ve ever used. I don’t glue down any of my buildings either. Depending what I’m gluing for scenic material I sometimes spray some alcohol down first followed by the glue/water mix.
What cracks are you talking about? If a structure is built squarely it will sit on a flat surface. This “flat” surface is the foundation. This can be a scale 6-8" or even be a complete story below the structure if the terain dictates. If you refer to buildings that are just plunked down on the layout w/ scenery material glued up to the sides, well of coarse cracks will show. How many real buildings just sit on the dirt. As mentioned the foundation can be made of simple strip wood, block of foam (painted as conc or carved to stone texture etc), these can be hydrocal castings w/ conc, brick or stone molded or carved, etc. If you decide to glue down a building, That’s great, however, there’s really no need to do so. Pi
I’ve never glued a structure in place, if there happens to be a crack showing then I’ll just put some “dirt” or a shrub there.
Wayne