scenic glue?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

i’ve just glued down some roadbed using scenic glue was that smart of me or the wrong thing to do?

2

If it’s where you want it and it stays there, then you’re fine.

“Scenic Cement” or “Scenic Glue” is really just watered-down white glue. White glue is pretty good for most applications, although not particulalry good for metal in my experience.

3

Sounds good to me. Scenic Glue is just a more expensive version of the good old Elmer’s White Glue, and that’s worked for me for years.

Tom [:)]

4

Yeah Elmer’s actually comes in pretty handy for a layout it turns out.

5

i didn’t have any elmers at the time so. the scenic glue worked good.

6

Personally, I like DAP adhesive caulk for the track and carpenter’s glue (because it’s just about waterproof) for the roadbed.

But, as someone has already stated: If it’s where you want it and it isn’t moving, you have succeeded.

7

well i messed up but it will work i guess.

8

I disagree.

You haven’t messed up if it looks ok and it’s functional. Might not last as long as some other methods (particularly when you start dousing it with diluted white glue / scenic cement during ballasting), but function trumps style any day.

Or if you really feel that you messed up, rip it out and do it again. Just like in weekend golf, the Mulligan is a time-honored tradition in model railroading.

9

P.S. IMO, you want to be careful about buying things other than scenic materials from Woodland Scenics and other companies. They often (as in the case of “molding plaster”, “casting plaster”, “scenic cement”, “Hob-e-tac”, “plaster cloth”) are exactly the same thing as you can buy in an art supply store for much less money.

10

thanks how bad does it look if the roadbed is almost touching at a point?

11

I’m not sure I understand.

First of all, roadbed is the stuff that goes UNDER your tracks… and it’s going to be covered with ballast on the finished layout. You can tolerate quite a bit of sloppyness, provided – and here is the key – that it doesn’t introduce bumps or kinks that cause problems with the operation of trains. You want a flat, smooth surface on which to lay your rails.

So, roadbed HAS to be touching the layout, the track, and the contiguous pieces of roadbed. This is what you’re gluing it to. What else is it touching?

Can you post a picture?

12

ok here are some pics i took

also now that i’m done or close to done with the roadbed how should i lay the tracks.

i plan to use 1 flex on each one, add a 4 inch flex to the one before, plus two 5 inch tracks at the ends. so it look like this

5 inch atlas > 29 inch flex> 4 inch flex> 5 inch atlas

is that good?

13

Chief,

What scale are you in there? N?

Also, I’m assuming that this is just a leg or peninsula on a larger layout.

I would say that your issue isn’t going to be with the flex track and (presumably) snap track pieces that you’re planning to lay down, but with the track centers. Ideally, your roadbed is going to be centered under your track, so the distance between track centers is the same as the distance between your roadbed centers. In HO, you should allow 2" between centers for straight track; 1 1/4" for N. So long as you have that, the distance between them isn’t an issue. I use woodland scenics foam roadbed, which is about 2" wide, so you can lay two pieces side by side and get the prper spacing.

I have two immediate concerns here:

  1. The roadbed doesn’t look particularly straight. Prototype rails are straight, so you’ll probably end up with something that doesn’t look particularly realistic, unless the center track is going to connect the other two.

  2. Is this forming part of a larger track plan? If so, you need to be concerned that things will join up properly at the ends. Remember that I said you didn’t fail if your roadbed is where you want it? Track-laying is a fairly exact science, and it doesn’t look like yours followed an exact plan, but more of a “whereever” approach.

I lay out the track where I want it to go and then trace around it with a carpenter’s pencil. Then I remove the track, determine where the track center is, and draw a centerline. Then I glue on my roadbed with carpenter’s glue, making sure each half follows the centerline (you do split your roadbed in the center, right?), and tack it down with track nails until it’s dry (about 2 hours). Then I smear a thin layer of adhesive caulk on top of the roadbed and lay the track down.

Now, my way is obviously not the only way, but it works for me. I think

14

its n scale and its a module. i’m really aiming for proto.

15

A module that will ultimately connect with something someone else is building, or are you building your own layout by modules? If the former, you’d better make DARN sure that those track centers at each end line up DEAD CENTER (you don’t have ANY room for error) on the club’s (or whatever) dimensions. If it’s your own, you have some fudge factor, but not much, since it can throw the whole geometry of your layout off.

Unless you mean “diorama” – which is a stand alone vignette. I have built several, because they give me a chance to build things that don’t fit thematically on my layout, but that I want to try.

So, as long as the ENDS of those roadbed pieces are where you want them, you CAN fudge the middle a bit (the flex track will allow you to put very gentle curves in) you should be GTG. Just invent a 'prototypical" reason for the tracks not being completely parallel (trees are probably out, but signal / sign posts, catenary wires, etc. might work).