…for the holidays. Other than having a small HO set when I was a kid I have zero experience building something like this. What do I need, just a 4x8 sheet of plywood? Should there be a gap between the plywood and the pool table for wires and stuff? How much of a gap? Any help to point me in the right direction is appreciated…thx…
Welcome to the forum.
Go to a hobby shop and get a simple book on track plans, or sketch something out to know What you want
I would use a piece of styrofoam, 4x8x2inches.
Stick the track down with pins and see if it works. When you have a plan you like, glue the track down with latex caulk
If you like the hobby, read up on road bed and more elaborate designs. There is no end to how complex you can get.
Eventually you will have to decide on a ballance between trackwork/trains/scenery/structures, but first get something running that you like. Build a couple kits and make a mountain, see what you like doing.
Quick question. Are you planning on moving the layout itself in order to play pool or will this be a set deal?
Yes, I would want to be able to remove it. Probably just have it set up for the holidays.
Her’s what I would do. Get the 4x8 foam as suggested and use latex caulk to glue it to 1/4 inch plywood. I think that will give it enough strength to be moved without breaking the foam.
The tricky part is going to be securing each and every piece of scenery to the board so it doesn’t fall off when you move it. If it’s a simple, flat layout, that just means a lot of white glue and latex caulk. The more complicated the layout, the more difficult it will be to secure all the scenery in place. You do have the option of making things like hills from more 2" foam and making them removeable but my experience is that you will inevitably break any large areas of foam you move too often.
I wouldn’t worry about leaving space to run wires under the layout. You are going to have to plan all your things that need wiring like street lights and building lights well in advance and install them on the layout while it’s up on some saw horses. Make sure you secure all the wire runs so they don’t snag when the layout it moved. All your wires should avoid the perimiter of the layout, where it will sit on the pool table rails. I don’t think trying to do any type of wiring while it’s on the pool table is feasible.
One last thing. Make sure you have a good, heavy duty vinyl cover for the pool table. If you don’t, you’ll end up with atorn, cheap cover and scratches on the table
Not a bad idea, but, here is a trick I learned from a friend of mine that uses his pool table to play ping pong.
Go to a company that installs pool tables, explain what you are doing and ask for scraps of the felt that they cover the pool tables with, then cover the bottom of the plywood with it, so that the only thing that comes in contact with the pool table is the felt.
Ecxellent idea, Greg, if you can actually come up that much felt. You could also line the edges of the board that will come in contact with the pool table if they don’t have enough felt to cover the whole thing. Given Murphy’s Law, I’d still have a heavy duty vinyl cover for the table anyway. It’s good for just normal day-to-day protection and it will protect the table from the poop that clings to the bottom of the layout board after a year in storage. [:)]
Thanks for the responses. I do have a heavy duty vinyl cover for the pool table already. So 1/4" is thick enough if I mount it to styrofoam? I was thinking 1/2 inch but the foam idea sounds good. Where do I get a piece of styrofoam that big?
You should be able to get the foam at Home Depot, Menards, or Lowes. Some supply houses also have that foam.
1/4 inch plywood should be fine since you’re just trying to add some stability to the foam when it’s moved. It’s also practically mandatory when you have the layout up on saw horses as the foam doesn’t have much lateral strength.
Whatever you do, DON’T ask for styrofoam. That’s the white, beady looking stuff and it’s terrible for a layout base. You want insulating foam board, that’s either blue or pink. Either one will do fine so buy the cheapest 2 inch foam board they have.
Permit me to correct a misunderstanding: “Styrofoam” (a trade name) is a blue board, an extruded, closed-cell board that is readily cut and shaped. The white, beady stuff is commonly called beadboard (not a trade name).
I’ll be darned. What I’ve always called styrofoam is the stuff they make cups and plates out of. Turns out this is really expanded polystyrene beads. The real Styrofoam is the blue stuff we all use and is actually extruded polystyrene foam. So the thing to ask for is Styrofoam extruded polystyrene foam sheathing. Learn somethng new every day. [:)]
Here is a simple way to make a train board that folds away easily. I took three hollow core doors, that I garbage picked, and hinged them together. Each door is about 15 inches wide by 80 inches long. I put this on top of my kids game table and run my American Flyer trains. Fun stuff.