I’ll be doing some upgrades soon to my layout and read about using caulk to lay track on a search here. I’m going to give it a try.
Has anyone used this technique? If so, how far will a caulking tube last? I know it’s supposed to go down pretty thin, but I’m just curious how much I’ll need (HO) to put down 140 feet of cork roadbed and then the track on the cork.
i have a very bad habit of overestimating supplies, lol. I honestly have 15 (or more!) unopened tubes of other types of caulking in my garage from previous home projects, and I really don’t want to add to my collection. [(-D]
If you mean 140 linear feet of roadbed two inches wide, and standard flex track (28mm ties) a single tube should be enough if you spread it thin. I’ve never laid that much track in one pass, so I’m estimating from the amount I’ve used on shorter lengths.
I use those credit-card size reward cards that Office Depot gifts me with at the rate of two a week. They work like a drywall knife, can be cut to odd shapes or angles and can be trashed when the job is finished.
My personal preference is to use grey caulk to adhere ties to roadbed, so any holidays in the ballast will be harder to notice. Between roadbed and subgrade the color isn’t likely to be critical - so that’s a good place to use up that leftover gloss white, pond scum green and shocking pink. Once the roadbed is in place and the area is covered with ground goop and (scale) underbrush, who’ll ever know?
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Southern Nevada garage)
Most of the people on this forum use caulk for the roadbed and track. You can get a lot of roadbed and track with a tube. Your current inventory of 15 tubes should be more than enough. Just put a small bead (quarter inch or less) and use either a putty knife or old credit card to spread it thin.
I have used it for all my track work on my present HO layout and am pleased with how it worked.
The colored latex caulk doesn’t hold as well as the DAP latex clear caulk but still holds well. There is an advantage to using the colored caulk, and that is if you are going to make changes, it comes up easier and is easier to get off the track. It still holds good, but the clear is better. One tube should work just fine for what you are doing.
I used it for holding the Woodland Scenic’s foam roadbed to blue foam, then to hold the track to the roadbed.
I put a bead down the center, then use an artist spatula to spread it thin, probably 1/32 inch thick. Put the roadbed / track down and squish it in. Then place some weights on it over night. You will have to use some Tee pins to keep flextrack from wanting to go straight again on the curves until it dries.
You might want to check over your current inventory of tubes before you purchase more. See if any of them are foam compatible. I just use whatever inexpensive brand I find of latex caulk. The one thing I have seen in some posts is that you do not want it with silicone, as paint and the like don’t stick to it as well (It holds the track and roadbed fine.). There are some that say they use it, so that will be up to you. As far as I know it should be fine for attaching foam to your base and under cork roadbed, as neither one of those would leave the caulk exposed where you might want to paint it.
I attached two layers of foam to a 4x6 piece of plywood, laid cork and track (25’?) and barely used 1/4 of a tube. I’d get one tube to start, unless your supply is way out of your way to get more. It is also useful for other things, like stacking foam for landforms and attaching rock castings. Those were part of the less than 1/4 tube I used.
To keep it fresh between uses, insert a nail, drywall screw or something else that fits fairly tightly down into the hole in the tip and into the snout a couple of inches. Since mine often got left for several months between uses I put some Saran Wrap over the end and secured it with a rubber band. It lasted for several years.
The stuff I have kicking around is mostly used for installation of windows and doors (colored) silicone from back when I put new windows in my house. And I have odd stuff like black for roof (shingle) repairs, white bathroom caulk, etc. It’s all silicone-based.
I can’t seem to find the exact type used in the MRR article. It’s not on the DAP homepage, so I think they may have axed it. Awesome, lol, starting out on a good note, eh? [swg]
Thanks for the credit card tip. That should work well. Pics helped, too.
Home Depot only sells around 50 different types, lol, so I’m sure I’ll figure-out something if what I have won’t fly.
Unless your track laying effort is perfect, how do you reposition a section of track once the caulk sets?
My biggest concern is the point where turnouts connect to flex track. I nail down my track, and it is easy to pull out the nails and reposition the track if necessary.
I use a product called Polyseamseal Latex Caulk and Adhesive - the clear variety and it works great. It is in a red and white tube and I think it is made by Loctite. I have found that if I want to remove and save any track later on, it is best to spread it thin and then I pin the track down until the caulk has dried. It is soap and water cleanup off tools and hands - my experience with silicone products is that they are very hard to clean up.
You slide a putty knife under it and lift. It comes right up. When you spread it as thin as I do, it doesn’t leave any significant residue on the ties. Don’t use it under moving parts. Using caulk does not preclude using nails in your turnouts if you prefer.
Ditto on the Alex Plus (clear in my case). It’s always in stock at the box stores. I’m finishing up my 5’ x 10’ HO layout (cork roadbed plus flextrack) with about 125’ track, including some yard areas where I used wide N scale (thinner) cork. Used about 1-1/3 tubes. Made a couple of small adjustments…easily loosened as noted above…
I never had a problem. But I put one nail down in every section of flex towards one end, or on turnsouts where the caulk can’t go because of points. One nail allows expansion. Around curves I’ll put in two nails, one each end, to make sure there are no kinks at the joints.
It sure will, Rich. The DAP Alex Plus is terrific stuff and holds VERY well. However, “easily loosened” is probably not the best nor most accurate description. You’ll need a wide putty knife and steady but gentle prying up action to separate the track from the roadbed.
The nice thing about the caulk is that you have about 45 minutes for adjusting/aligning before it begins to set up. This depends though on how much caulk you lay down. A very thin layer would start to cure sooner than that. I probably lay down a 1/32" thick layout of DAP.
Once things are in place, I lay bricks on top of the track to apply even pressure and let it dry a minimum 8 hours or overnight. However, I generally let it cure 24 hours before removing the bricks.
