Hi,
My two brothers have decided that we need to have decided to revamp our layout with some cork roadbed. i’ve never used it before and would like it if someone could give me some instructins on the best way to lay it. I’ve read about it before so i have some ideas, but its been a while. So if someone could give me a little help i would love it.
Thanks,
~matt
Probably the easiest thing to do: Mark the track center line. The cork gets split downt he middle and placed so the beveled edges are on the outside. Use latex caulk, spread a THIN layer over the roadbed space (you should be able to see your drawn center line through the caulk - you don’t need much!) and then press the cork into place. Some pins or nails will hold it in place until the caulk dries. It goes very fast. At turnouts you can cheat and buy blocks already cut to shape, or take the regular cork and overlap it. Cut through both pieces with a hobby knife, and slip out the bottom chunk, and you end up with a tight fitting joint between pieces. As you approach a turnout, use one side of the cork to go along the straight leg of the turnout and the other to go along the curved leg. Cut and fit the pieces for the middle.
–Randy
Randy pretty much said it all. Perfectly described the way I do it with one exception: I use yellow carpenter’s glue instead of caulk. But that was because I already had it on hand. Just don’t use white glue because it is water soluable and the cork will come loose when you wet down the trackbed during ballasting. The caulk would probably be easier to work with…
After the cork dries block sand the cork edges with 100 grit sandpaper to round the edges to get rid of the sharp angle so that ballast will settle to it better. Cutting the cork halves apart instead of ripping them apart makes this much easier. Fred
I would avoid the caulk, because it is permanent. What I do is lay the track with the nails just driven in enough to hold it in place. Then I lift it enough to pu***he cork underneath. The nails form the centerline. Then I set the nails. When I ballast, the diluted yellow glue also soaks under the cork to hold it in place. When it is dry, I pull the nails. The track and cork can be moved when necessary by rewetting it.
I would use nails instead of glue in case the cork has to be moved later.Glue is perminant.When laying roadbed I mistakenly laid the roadbed in a way that did not line up properly.I had to rip it up and start over.This would have meant tearing out the old roadbed and replacing it if I had used glue.
The caulk is not permanent. Liquid nails, now that’s permanent. Latex, or I use silicone, caulk is easily removable with no damage to the part at all. Cork may recieve some damage because of it’s tendency to dry out and become brittle, but I’ve laid many tracks on foam and taken one, the other, or both up years later as well as the next day and I’ve never damaged a single part. I’ve even been able to reuse the foam.
Think about it. Caulk is the stuff around your bathtub. It’s kind of spongy. Go touch it, I’ll wait…see? when you lay tracks or whatever you just spread it thin and lay the part down. Put a little weight on it to hold it in place. Come back in a few hours and, TA-DAH!!! Now if you goofed, just slip a putty knife under the part and gently lift. The part comes right up with no damage at all. Now just pull the old dried caulk off the old part with your fingers and start over.
Piece of cake![:D]
Fellas, would there be any differences in your instructions if he were laying cork over extruded foam?
Jarrell
Nope, foam or wood, I’d use latex cauk like I do now. This has got to be the single best time saving innovation in the hobby in years. Plus it helps at least a little in sound deadening - the caulk never dries rock hard, thus serves as additional sound insulation. Yellow glue or Liquid Nails will dry rock hard. (eventually, in the case of Liquid Nails - I had issues using it to try and glue the foam to my wood benchwork - and again trying to glue a new toilet paper roll on the tile in the bathroom - Dries in 24 hours my foot, it was more like a week and a half before I could put the rest of the holder together and the spring pressure wouldn’t pop the mounting bracket loose. In case it’s not obvious - I hate that stuff! Absolute junk)
–Randy
thanks guys. One more question. I know i had seen a drawing of how to cut the cork roadbed srtips for turnouts. dose anyone know where i could find one? This would be extreamly helpful. thanks again,
~matt
I also use track nails. There are two reasons:
- I can make changes easily
- I have a wood subroadbed. If you have a foam subroadbed, tiny track nails wont do the job.
Trevor
I’m new to this hobby and have about 50 feet of track laid on top of cork roadbed (HO scale) and everything I read or was told was to secure the cork with white glue. I haven’t put any ballast down as yet. Am I in trouble ? [:(]
You should be OK if you go light on wetting your ballast,maybe use alcohol instead of wet water and go easy on the diluted glue.
bill
Thanks Bill.
Marty
Also, after a time the cork sets and even it it comes loose it will stay in place until the ballast dries. Fred
How important is it to use roadbed? Can I get away without using roadbed? I’m in the middle of my layout and all the track is nail down and wired. I was hoping to skip the roadbed. Am I going to regret this? No I have not put ballast down yet.
mrb92672: The main difference that I see is you wont have a profile on your rails. Unless you use foam and dig out the profile (from the foam) yourself, but that sounds like too much work. If you dont care about having a profile to the rails then dont worry about.
More experienced modelers will probably have a different opinion on this.
You don’t have to be too precise with this. At the points end of the turnout, let the two cork strips diverge with the turnout stock rails. From the other end of the turnout, bring one of the two inner cork strips in as far as it will go. Cut an angle on the end to match the diverging strip if you want. Do the same with the other inner cork strip. Have some holes left over? Fill 'em with lightweight acrylic spackle before the turnout is down, or with ballast after the turnout is in place. You be done.
george
One note of caution about lining up the flat edge of the cork strips with a centerline…
Not all cork strips are cut exactly in the middle. I’ve had a couple of boxes (Midwest and Model Power), and there have been many instances where I’ve separated the two halves of the cork strips and found that one half was wider than the other. If you then line up the flat edge with the centerline, your roadbed will be a little bit off center. This is a big problem if you’re using sectional track, because you simply won’t be able to get the track to lay right down the middle of the finished roadbed.
A couple of solutions that helped me:
- Compare the two halves of the roadbed strip after you split them to see if one’s wider than the other. If so, try to compensate for it by placing the skinnier strip first and offsetting it away from centerline.
- Chances are, all your cork strips will be cut the same way if they all came out of the same box. You can split two strips, then match the skinny halves together and the thick halves together.
One more piece of advice - save your #11 X-acto blades and buy a bunch of cheap single-edged razor blades to use instead!
I’m planning on using sheet cork. Since most of my track will be at least 2 tracks, I figure sheet cork will be quicker. All I have to do is cut what I don’t need.