As the title says “Glueing really works!” I glued a trial section of my newly laid track (which will be hidden by a tunnel) with the 50/50 water glue mix last night. As this is the first time for using glue and not track pins to fix down the track, I’m pretty pleased with the result. The track is rock solid on the cork base, not a single movement side to side (unlike with pinning it down…)
Thanks to all those of you who suggest and use glueing instead of pinning - It really works!
Ian
I am gluing all of my track with 50/50 and it does seem solid.
I have a suspicion that over time the glue will deteriorate, and had planned to do some spiking after everything was proven. Any comments?
What type of glue are you using as I am about to start finalizing my layout… Joseph
I use a very thin layer of Liquid nails. I squirt a bead down the midline of the roadbed and then flatten it out with a narrow drywall knife. It has good tack, but allows time to adjust position. I then pin in place with notice board push pins and let dry overnight. I know of others that have had good success with adhesive caulk used in the same way.
I did consider using liquid nails spread out under the track, but had already positioned the track in place with drawing pins and didn’t fancy lifting and then trying to reposition the track.
In answer to jlcjrbal I use ordinary PVA glue, watered down and with a squirt of washing up liquid.
Ian
And what about removing or relocating track that has been glued down?
I recently had occasion to remove some rubber roadbed that had been glued down. I used a medium Xacto knife (because I didn’t have a heavy one handy) with a chisel blade. It worked pretty well (until I ran into @#$%#% staples) and much of the roadbed was in good enough shape to be reused elsewhere. The plywood it had been glued to wasn’t really messed up too much either.
I’d think a similar method might work with glued track; maybe even better as the track would be stiffer than the rubber roadbed I pulled up.
Chuck
I’ve been using latex adhesive caulk to fasten my track and roadbed. I’ve already pulled up a piece of roadbed from the foam bard base, and was able to remove it with minimal damage to the foam or the roadbed (Woodland Scenics foam track-bed). I also had my first OOPS with track glued to the roadbed using the same adhesive caulk, I put together a pair of turnouts for a crossover and AFTER I glued it down reallized I needed to INSULATE the connection between them, not use regular joiners. No biggy, I just pulled it loose with no damage to the track or roadbed. Lucky for me I caught my mistake before I laid the OTHER crossover on th eopposite side. [oops]
–Randy