Loctite Power Grab was quick and fast. Does not attack the foam and you can paint it. Thought I would pass it on.
Thanks. Have you considered the cost per dab vs. latex caulk?
Do you spread it thin like with the latex caulk? Can you lift it up a day or so later if you change your mind?
- Ain’t cheap. $2.50 per tube
- Very Thin
- Heck no it is ther FOREVER.
I was using it to fasten the boards and foam to the boards. Latex caulk wil proboly be the choice for track work.
This stuf dries quick. It worked well for the ceiling tile on the ceiling.
Anyone tried glue; like the Elmers wood kind or even just plain ole white glue? I had some and used it verse caulk. It appears to work just fine for attaching foam. I just dribbled it on all over the surface. I’ve not had any issues.
I have used Liquid Nails, which is excellent, especially for larger sections of foam up to 4 x 8 sheets. It’s easy to apply with a caulking gun, then I use wooden kitchen skewers (the kind one uses for kabobs) to hold everything together until the glue sets.
I have used both Liquid Nails for Projects and white glue. Both work equally well but I use Liquid Nails for large sheets (2x8) because it easier to apply with a caulking gun. The white glue takes longer to dry but it diesn’t dry in the tube like caulk can. The key is to add plenty of weight and be patient as it dries.
Ron K.
My personal favorite is Gorilla Glue. White glue, liquid nails, and caulk all work, but GG BECOMES foam, although it’s probably not the cheapest.
CJ Riley
I see that many use yellow glue for bonding foam. It does hold well, but my only concern is bonding of non porous surfaces could lead to delamination in time. Why not use a product formulated for this purpose-Liquid nails. Personally, I laminate layers of foam with ceramic tile cement. Apply with a notched trowel, this allows air to aid in faster drying- great for extremely large pieces, and it gives a good initial tack. Just needs to be weighted overnight. the tile cement is also good for glueing castings to wood, plaster or foam.
I agree that bonding track to foam is best to use caulking. Dap Alex-plus is a caulk that would work best here.
Bob K.
.
Question…? For N guage can you use foam board as the base as well as the surface if there is little or no weight applied? I would like to just lay it down on a 4x8 dining room table and pick it up and store it in the garage when I am through "playing " train. No strain… no pain…Possible?
Art Gordon
Absolutely, Art. I fully recommend it. If you will be doing a lot of moving the layout around, you might want to consider doubling up with 2" foam pieces as a base, or just buy a 3" thick piece and go from there. The 2" thick pieces will flex some if you move them, and be careful NOT to go outside on a windy day! (Unless you LIKE para-sailing!)
Foam is easy to work with, carves easily, accepts latex paints well, many glues bond with it, caulk is great for cork roadbed, tracks, plaster castings, etc.
Feel free to ask more questions about foam. There is almost no limit to what you can do with it.
Good luck and have fun.
Darrell, quiet…for now
I used Nail Power latex Foamboard adhesive to bond the foam to the table and foam to foam. I filled the joints with siliconized acrylic caulk (I had several tubes for a window project) without any foam degradation. I tried removing some of the house caulk several weeks later and was surprised the caulk pulled out fairly easy without damaging the foam.
I prefer Titebond III wood glue for the frame joints because it has a longer open assembly time for making slight adjustments during clamping than yellow glue, but it is more expensive.
BE CAREFUL with that Gorilla Glue! It ought to be packaged with several pair of latex gloves. Cleanup (marginable at best) is with chemicals that will melt foam. If you get it on your hands, even cleaning with solvents will leave your hands sticky for a day or two and with brown spots for about a week (not good for shaking hands). Urethane glue (Gorilla Glue) expands, so don’t be liberal when applying or whatever you are glueing will be thicker than you intended or have bulges when applied between sheets, even between sheets of 3/4" plywood. When I have to use it, I use a spray bottle for the moisture (water) activator. It might never fully cure inside a joint if you depend on moisture from the air.
To say it shortly, try whatever glue you have on a couple of small pieces of scrap foam and leaving it over night, then check for damage; melt or low spots.
Roy
Painting foam… Hit the local hardware stores. I picked up a gallon of flat acrylic latex for $5. Can’t beat that with a section of flextrack!
Sounds like a great product
I’ve found nothing compares with Liquid Nails Latex for projects for foam construction.
No smell, easy cleanup. As for it “hardening in the tube”…if you’ll put a simple
“cap” over the nozzle (I use a electrical cable “nut”), it’ll last for a year or longer
without hardening. It is also great for modeling non-styrene in scratchbuilding.
L&MRR-WSNC
As Darrell already said, sure you can. I would advise that it will be fragile. If you lean on it the wrong way it’s easy to snap off a piece if there is absolutely no frame or reinforcement.
You might consider what a number of us in n scale do, use a hollow core wood door (hcwd) (36" x 6’-8") and put foam on top of that. The hollow core doors are remarkably light but very rigid. A foam layout on top of a hcwd doesn’t weigh much, can easily be moved, and will give you a much stronger layout that will resist the occasional bump.
Just something to consider.
Regards
Ed
What have you found to be best for glueing:
-
Cork roadbed to foam.
-
Cork roadbed to plywood subroadbed.
(I’m asking for a new, HO scale modular club.) Thanks in advance!
From other posts Laytex caulk wins.
Our model railroad club has constructed, this summer, nearly 40 modules (4’ and 6’ and corners) using an adhesive specifically made to glue foamboard to wood, concrete, metal, etc. We glued 1" foamboard to a 1/4" plywood subbase, stacking and weighting the framed assemblies to dry overnight. The glue was squeezed straight from the tube for some modules and spread with a notched glue spreader for others. All appear to have bonded well, if coverage was thorough. The product is PL300 Foamboard Adhesive, made by OSI Sealants, Inc. ( www.stickwithpl.com ). It cost ~$2.10 a 10 oz. tube. We used the equivalent of about one tube per 2 1/2’ X 6’ module.