Has anyone used plywood for a table sub-surface, then homasote for sound deadening, and foam on top of that for ease of cutting in streams and rivers, etc.? What are your thoughts?
What is the purpose of the Homasote? I can’t see that a sheet of Homasote would be a better sound deadener than a couple inches of foam. Unless you are mounting the track directly to the Homasote and putting foam above that, in which case scenery might be impractical because streams and rivers are generally below the level of the track rather than above them.
I agree it seems like overkill. Foam has been used for years to build up scenery above tabletop level. My method is to use half inch plywood with homasote glued to it. Then I rip the chepaest paneling I can find into 1" strips for ballast board. Slotted sections can make curves down to 18" and I get 384’ per sheet. I do this becasue I find cork to be too high to my eye. With what all that foam wouyld cost you I would buy a saber saw for cutting out the wood.
GrayFox! Don’t do it!
Youll find that if you put foam on top of plywood you’ll have no sound issues, just lots of MESS. This is the route I’ve gone and with cork and ballast to anchor the track it has served me. I’ve anchored the foam to the plywood using a latex based contact cement. No deadly fumes and no foam being eaten away. others will recommend caulking. I personally like the latex foam contact cement because it will give you uniform adhesion with no air gaps.
I also use spline for my elevated tracks.
Regards
Fergie
Fergie, being new, please excuse my ignorance, if I read you correctly, you place say, 1/2 plywood down on the table frame 1st, then glue down your foam. THEN, you use cork for the bedding of the track?
What is “spline” for the elevated track? Is this the stuff I have seen from Woodland scenics for elevated track and curves up inclines? ( Foam?)
Why do you want to get rid of the sound??? doesnt that make it sound cool?
*** I use straight pink insulation foam over the ply 5/8 chip board actually as it was cheaper at the Depot at the time. I use the ami roadbed with the track fixed and eventually ballasted to it, no problems so far but were at the same construction point right now. I find homasote hard to find and too much money when I do find it. When I was involved with a club the club used plywooh /homasote/then cork roadbed this was overkill. One other random thought about homasote again from my club experiences we found that occationally the homasote wood swell and do wierd things when some of the members “overglued” their projects it is a paper product after all so dampness is not usually its friend.[:D] Rob
Rob, I have used chip board for utility shelving in the past, and found that it swelled with summer humidity and never returned to its straight shape. That worries me about chip board, or “particle” board as it is called in some locales. What is ami roadbed, being new, I have not heard this, is that the manufacturer or is it the name of a material? At this point, I am favoring plywood as the base. It gives great strength, you should not have to worry about warpage, and mounting anything underneith is not an issue. The next layer is what I am still in limbo about. Homosote is no issue here, in fact, I have two 4x8 sheets sitting in my garage that I had bought for another project, but I also like the versatility of foam. Thoughts??
***: The ami roadbed is an alternative to using cork for your track bed, it’s foamlike ansticks to your plywood/foam base and will take spikes and ballesting very well.I don’t have much of a hummidity problem so I’ve not encountered any difficulties with the chipboard. Also take a look at the woodland scenics subroadbed(the black foam product) I’ve also used it at club projects and I’m happy with it’s durability and it’s sound deadning qualities. If you go to buy it buy the rolled product it has a more consistant form than the strip version of the material and it’s more ecconomical as well, in fact most of my LHS’s have stopped selling the strip form. Hope I haven’t mudied your waters further. Rob
Thanks Rob, I have looked into Woodland Scenics products, and I plan to use some of their material. Fergie gave me some good advice also on foam over plywood, which is what I plan to do. I like the support of plywood as a base material, and foam for ability to shape and construct. Now I am trying to decide on vendor for track. I plan to use flex track and cork roadbed. For switches, I am leaning towards Pico.