Hello, being new to the forum, i will give a very brief rundown of what I am trying to accomplish here.
I built 2 hollowcore doors 36x80 with the intention of doing an L shaped layout down the road. However now, I am onto the layout and eventual construction of the first table. I am not doing anything too fancy, as this is my first build. I have read all kinds of beginner books and bought layout magazines, and what not. It is just the little details are getting to me.
My intent is to build the simple yet artistic Scenic and Relaxed from the Atlast 9 N Scale Railroad book. I have gone through the design a few times, and I am hitting a bump. From what I understand from the history of this layout, it was designed before foam underlayment was a big thing. So, the book talks about open girder benchwork and “cookie cutter” cutting of the plywood. Well I want to use foam. I already have some here for the underlayment, and from what I have read is a really nice way to both quiet down a train and provide for scenery. I understand adding to the foam to achieve height and cutting away to get below grade, just being new to this, I don’t want to assume ANYTHING.
I am having trouble transitioning the drawings in the book to foam in my mind. The part where it talks a bout “cookie cutting” confuses me a little bit. Since a lot of the drawing merely talks about the height of certain supports, rather than the height the plywood would be once installed, I believe I am overthinking it. I have tried to search for “Scenic and Relaxed” but so far, I have only seen a few projects being done or completed.
Hollowcore doors are a totally different concept for layout construction than open grid and cookie cutter. I’ve used open grid and foam. To get elevations with foam on an hollow door will require totally different methods than the books talk about. Unfortunately that is one combination that I have zero experience with. I’m guessing to get grades one will have to build them up. Woodland scenics makes some foam risers to get track elevated from a flat surface.
Welcome to the forum. You will get more advise ehere than you can use. I hope this is useful.
Woodland Scenics foam risers are the way to go here, though not free. They have a book and a video that show how. My LHS loans those out free. I have tried them all, and foam risers on a flat surface is as easy as anything thing I know.
I also am a fan of styrofoam mountains. We can talk about that latter, though Woodland Scenics Plaster Cloth over newspapers works good as well and is easier.
I second the use of the foam risers. I’m doing the same on my 8x8 N scale layout that is currently under construction. I built the base of 2" pink foam and then used the WS 2% risers for my grades. As noted by Art they are not cheap but they are a create product.
Thank you Texas. I know about the woodland kits. Might look into them,read about building up foam or find another layout I like that wouldn’t be a complete change from the walkthroughs
Thank you to everyone, was on here from my phone and didn’t see the other replies.
My only drawback is how to the WS risers help you learn from it? Obviously at some point I will grow into a bigger layout, and the cost of them does seem high, and unpractical for bigger apps. Or would I be better to just use them now and get the track layed at least?
I would think in the long term one would want to learn how to take the thick foam and cut it into slopes to create ones own risers. That is, instead of just cutting it vertically, figure out how to cut is horizontally to use the foam itself to form the grades. Once the general grade is made I would think it would be simple to sand it to the final desired profile.