Count me as another foam proponent for all the reasons mentioned.
For attaching cork, I use cheap Elmer’s glue. It’s also easy to remove. Lifting cork is something that occurs often for me.
Elmers white glue can “bleed” through the top and glue any weight you have holding the cork. Wax paper solves that problem
I don’t even use weights with caulk just a few push pins, mostly at the ends and joints to keep the edges from lifting. Within a half hour or so, it’s dry enough to take out the pushpins and lay the track on top.
I use a putty knife, but those fake credit cards work too. The ones I’ve been getting lately are barely laminated paper though and have absolute NO stiffness. I don’t think those would work as well.
There’s a trick when using full size tubes of caulk - the nozzles are usually marked with rings to use some cutters to open up, but even the smallest of those is far too large for our purposes here. Might be great for caulking windows or your bathtub, but we want to dispense SMALL amounts. So what I do it use my rail nippers (the nozzle is plastic, MUCH softer than nickle silver rail, so it won’t hurt the nippers) to snip off bits of the end until I just get an opening. Now comes problem #2 - the tubes are sealed with a foil cover over the end, way down at the tube end of the nozzle. WIth the ‘normal’ size holes, the most common thing to do is poke a nail through it. Can;t do that with the tiny opening - so I use a piece of my #20 solid feeder wire - that’s the size of hole I have in the end. When you do this, what comes out is a VERY narrow bead of caulk, a thin line. Spread that down with a putty knife or tool of your choice, and that’s PLENTY of caulk to secure the roadbed or track - I tend to spread it less to secure the cork to foam, since it doesn’t show, but for track, spread it out to almost invisible. Small gaps here and there won’t hurt anything either. In no case, cork to foam or track to cork, should there EVER be caulk oozing out anywhere. On the track, it should not come up on the sides of the ties. It takes very little to hold the track, and I ran trains for months before ballasting, which further secures the track. Years in some places - I never did get the whole thing ballasted before moving. ANd even after h
I’m agreeable with everybody using caulk to put cork down to foam. I’m sure a card works great as an applicator.
When I put my cork down I put a dotted line down the center of it with the caulk gun and used a wallpaper seam roller back and forth and it applied it really evenly. I had a center line on my foam and put my cork down with T pins.
I used Dap Alex Plus. It’s the cheapest caulk at the big box stores but it’s all you need. It’s foam safe and if you want to take your cork back up and move it, you can.
I use polyseamseal to glue foam to foam. It outperforms the blue foam adhesive. The stuff’s like super elastic bubble plastic it never comes apart.
Everybody has their own chosen methods that work for them. It’s all about sharing ideas. I’ve switched to other things people have used here[;)]
Doesn’t the caulk gum-up the roller?
You can wash it off before it drys or peel it off after.
Hello all,
I use G.E. Silicone I or II Clear caulk.
The difference between the two is set time. The Silicone II is “Rain-Ready” in 30-minutes.
Silicone I recommends a 12-hour set time before exposing to moisture.
I allow both to cure for 24-hours before laying track on the roadbed.
My base is blue foam and I use Woodland Scenics foam roadbed.
The advantage of using silicone caulk is that if you need to reposition the roadbed the silicone does not eat into the base or roadbed. The roadbed can be peeled up and the residual caulk on the foam or roadbed can be rubbed off with your fingers.
I bought a plastic putty knife set and the 1-1/2-inch wide one is the perfect width for roadbed.
For straight sections I put a bead of caulk down the center line and spread it as thin as possible before positioning.
To hold the road bed in place while it cures I use “T” pins.
For curves I place the “T” pins along the center line of the radius approximately 3-inches apart as a guide.
For the split roadbed, I put a thinner bead down and place the outeside radius first.
Then I secure the outside radius with more “T” pins.
For the inside radius I use the “T” pins to hold the roadbed in place against the outside radius.
I don’t cut the ends of the curves flush; allowing them to dove-tail into the next curved section. I only cut the ends flush when they meet a straight section.
Cleanup is done with warm water and a lint free rag.
Hope this helps.
I don’t think there’s any difference in the behavior of latex caulk compared to silicone. And that horrible acetic acid smell of silicone caulk - no thanks. I made the mistake of getting a tube to seal up the cracks around the window in my old basement. That was a worse smell than ANYTHING I ever did in the basement model railroad related. For caulking the OUTSIDE of my house - no problem. I would always use silicone caulk, it lasts longer than latex when used for exterior things. But latex rubs right off the materials like the cork or the track, and it doesn’t need 24 hours to set up.
–Randy
Hey Mike… surprisingly no, after it builds up a little bit on the roller it works even better. When you’re done it washes up good with hot water.
You got that straight Randy… Finally someone who understands.
I’ve hated silicone my whole life. The smell makes me sick to my stomach. I use it as little as possible. Sometimes I have to use it at work when I have no choice.
I don’t know what it is with caulk where you always feel you have to get your fingers involved to schmooze it, I’m guilty. Silicone… I don’t care what it looks like after I put it on. I have learned not to stick my fingers in that crap. It gets in your bloodstream through your capillaries and pretty soon you have a stomach ache and actually feel like you can taste it in your mouth.
I hate silicone. TF
Latex - it’s cheaper, not smelly, and cleans up easier. And sticks just as good for model railroad purposes. Unless you have a latex allergy.
–Randy
[I] I used to use cork for roadbed but I began to look at expense, so one day while walking through a big box hardware store looking for the blue foam 4X8 sheets for use on the layout I noticed these large rolls of thin insulation on the shelves. As I eyeballed this find I noticed that as I unrolled a section it was a about 1/4 inch thick and 6 or so inches wide and very pliable. I thought for a moment, almost like cork but not as thick and stiff and I could cut the rolls down to 2-3 inches wide and use it for roadbed. So, for literally a couple of bucks I bought a whole roll and marched home with my new find.
Arriving at the train room, where construction was still taking place, I rolled out several feet of this blue insulation and placed it on my blue foam base, I then put a three foot section of Flex Track on the foam and thought to myself why not.
I decided to adhere the insulation strips to the blue foam with white caulk. It’s cheap and would be more than enough to hold down the foam insulation strips to the blue foam base then place the fleck track on top, again using white caulk for the track, “It worked”. When adhereing both the blue foam strip and track I would spread the caulk down to a very thin layer with a metal spatula, press the foam strip onto the caulk, the same with the track and use push pins to hold things in place until the caulk cured.
It was easy and very cost effective. Just remember when using this foam becareful when soldering wires to the track.
Hopefully another helpful hint.
Robert Sylvester
Newberry-Columbia Line, SC
Oh yea, it’s called sill seal. You put that down on top of the foundation wall before you start building the main floor deck.
I never thought about it for track bed. I’m glad it’s working.
Mike.
I lay out the route of the roadbed and mark both sides of it with a fine tip sharpie. I am using PL-300 to glue the roadbed to the foam base. I lay a bead of the PL-300 in the middle of lines, and then spread it evenly with a 1.5" putty knife. I press the roadbed in place, and go over it with a small wallpaper roller. I use the putty knife to clean up any PL-300 visible around the edges, and then insert “many” push pins (2 per inch). It will set up overnight. After removing the push pins the next evening, I lay track using PECO pins (track nails). The PL-300 holds them well!
I started out using a thin layer of caulk to fasten the track, but humidity fluctuations in my very dry basement caused it to come loose. Granted, I likely soldered a few more pieces of flextrack than I should have, but using the nails and leaving a few more small gaps in the track has produced great results. Cheers!
Another option is what’s called ‘camper tape’ - it’s the rubber strip that is put around the rim of a pickup bed before you put a cap or camper on it. Usually has adhesive already applied to at least one side, peel and stick. I took a look at it in a store one day but didn;t get any to try. One thing is it does not have a beveled edge. There was an article in MR a number of years ago where a guy made a dispenser with a knife blade so that you could pull it off the roll with a 45 degree bevel down the middle - use it like cork, pull the two halves apart, flip one over so the 45s are on the outside, and stick it in place.
–Randy
[bow] Yes sir, on my larger layout in Tennessee, 30X 45, I got the suggestion from Chuck Hitchcock on an Allen Keller video, he called it Topper Tape, he wrote an article about it in MR, same thing and it works great and a lot cheaper that cork. It also has sticky stuff on both sides, and once you put it down it doesn’t move, then you can press the track down on the top side, same thing the track is fixed and it is just wide enough for track roadbed. I applied it directly to the blue foam and boy does it stick.
All you have to do is apply your ballast, no gluing if you don’t want too and the height is just right giving you a good profile, again no gluing cork down and it is cost saving.
Robert Sylvester,
Newberry-Columbia, SC
How thick a layer of PL 300 do you put down? Some one had said that foamboard even with cork roadbed shouldn’t hold track nails.
Cheap caulk does the trick. Axel Plus (clear) works. You need no better. If you change your mind, it’s reversible but holds up until you do.
TF
How thinck? If you draw lines on the foam to indicate where the roadbed goes, you should spread the caulk so thin you can see the lines easily. That’s all it takes. Noo need too glop it on so it oozes out. Same for the track on toop of the cork. VERY thin. I use the kind that dries clear, but it comes out white - well, after I spread it thin, it’s so thin it already looks clear, just a shiny area where it is. This has proven to be more than enough to hold the track and roadbed down, yet the track can be easily removed without damage (at least before ballast is applied). If it oozes out under the cork or between the ties, you are using far too much.
–Randy