I am building an N gauge layout and am using polystyrene for the first time. My question is that when i am laying track, do i attach it tot he styrene or do i need to put a layer of plywood to make a more stable base for the track? I am laying flex track using the track laying article found on modelrailroader.com with DAP adhesive cauk. I am just concerned if the polystyrene is a solid enough base. Amy help is appreciated. thanks.
Do you mean polystyrene foam board? If so, I have to say no. I tried it once, and wound up leaving the hobby for five years. (it was the last in a long line of problems) It’s nearly impossible to shim up deflections in the track, becasue it just pushes down into the foam. You’ll want something else to use as a roadbed, or subroadbed.
I’ve seen the suggestion to use a thin sheet of cork, like is available from most hardware/home improvement stores as subroadbed on foam board. That would give a sturdier surface, to put the track onto. It also provide some sound deadening.
You could also just use regular old cork roadbed.
And now for a completely different opinion:
I’ve build several layouts and modules with foam board, in both HO and N, and have had the chance to poke around on many more. I absolutely LOVE the stuff, and will leave the hobby before I return to wood, homasote and hardshell layout construction.
I just built two new Ntrak modules (this weekend, in fact), using 1" foam attached to my basic Ntrak “box” of 1x3 dimensional lumber and 1/4" Lauan plywood. I marked my track centerlines, added cork roadbed, sanded the cork smooth, and then added the track. The whole process took maybe an hour’s work (15 minutes here and there, between waiting for my adhesive to dry), and the track is bulletproof.
Greyryder is right about one thing: the surface of foam isn’t purely flat, and major bumps and dips can play havoc with the track. But that’s true of ANY layout subbase. For my home HO layout, I use 2" foam as a basic layout base, and then use 1/2" foam as the actual roadbed. For the mainline, I use an additional layer of N scale cork roadbed, but that’s for purely scenic reasons. With my foam roadbed, I lay it like cork, and sand it smooth like cork. Once the foam’s smoothed and vacuumed, I just glue the track right to it (with latex caulk).
I use WS Track Bed and cork for roadbed. The foam board is not a truely flat surface. While laying down the roadbed, I shave down high spots with a Surform tool and build up low spots with duct tape.
Nick
I am a relative newbie, but like orsonroy you won’t see me going back to the ‘classic’ methods.
When I built layout number one I follwed the advice of the books - many from Kalmbach - which talked about lumber based sub structures and plywood roadbeds cut, cookie cutter style from plywood. What a huge effort for so little return!
Then I got talking to the staff at my local train store - George’s Trains in Toronto. Stephan and Gary showed me how they did the HO layout in their window - styrene foam - shaped and profiled using surform’s and whatever else worked, covered in plaster cloth and detailed. So layout number two was built on an Ikea hollow core table-top. Put a support fraame of 2x1’s on the BOTTOM side so it sits up off the table a little when in use - the wiring and such can go down there. A one inch layer of styrene on the top, then build the layout. I used Woodland Scenics risers and inclines where track is climbing.
I as amused to see the reference to using duct tape to level out imperfections. My technique was to mix the styrene ‘dust’ with of the WS light weight plaster compund then level it by sanding. I used the WS foam roadbed, again a recomendation from the \folk at George’s trains.
Layout number 3 is about to get under way. Based on my experience so far their will be more styrene sheet and more WS Sub-Terrain. But I am thinking of trying the ‘ground-goop’ described in the November (I think it is) MR. If thatd oesn’t work, then back toplaster cloth which has been a great success so far.
John