I am just getting into ho trains, and have a couple of Model Railroader mags. In them they describe how to use white glue for fixing the track bed to the sub-road bed. Today I picked up some track and cork, and the sales men said that he just uses nails. I don’t know which way to do it. Any help we be great thanks.
First of all, [#welcome] to the forums.
To answer you question, it would help to know what kind of model railroad setup you want. If you want a temporary setup that will be rearranged every so often, you can use small nails or tacks. You can also use clear silicone caulk, which will be less hassle than nails to lay down, but more hassle to clean up. Also, it depends on what you are using for a subroadbed. Nails will work well for plywood, but not well at all if you are using foam board.
If you are looking for a more permanent layout, I definitely recommend using white glue or another adhesive to secure the roadbed. This method is much simpler and quicker than using nails. It is what I use for my layout.
I hope this helps!
Same thred, every couple of days. Same answer. Latex caulk. Cheap, easy, and fast. Tacky instantly, but 20 minutesor so of workign time to slide things around for that perfect alignment. Easy to scrape up and reuse the roadbed if you change your mind somewhere along the line. Adheres both cork and foam roadbed to a foam base or plywood base, or spline base, or homosote base.
–Randy
Let me be #2 to [#welcome] you to the forums! As randy indicated towards, there is already a ton of threads that will answer any questions you might have, or at least point yo uin the right direction. As with any new forum, I suggest spending time with the search function and getting to know its quirks. Searching first THEN asking questions will always yeild much more friendly replies!
Welcome aboard Pete.
Thanks for the welcome. I am going to use 3/8 OSB. I would like to make it permament.
Sorry I didn’t know that you could search past post like that. Thanks for the help.
I use yellow carpenter’s glue to attach cork to wood sub-roadbed and latex caulk to attach the track to the roadbed. I guess that I could use the caulk only as it works great.
JIM
You may want to reconsider using 3/8" OSB as your base. As I recall, a number of posts in this forum have warned about using OSB in place of plywood. Personally, I plan to use 3/8" or 1/2" plywood as the base for my new N scale layout. While OSB is less expensive than plywood, it is less stable and more difficult to work with. I’m sure others in this forum can give other reasons for using plywood over OSB.
Bob