Where did you find the sabre saw knife-edge blade? I’ve looked at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe’s. They don’t have any.
I’ve used those disposable hobby knives with the snap-off blades. They seem to do the best job. Haven’t used a hot knife yet, but I think that would be better at carving shapes rather than straight cuts. I did experiment with a hot knife trying to cut thin strips of 2" foam. The strips didn’t come out very straight, but I was able to glue them together to make 2" thick spline roadbed. Seemed to be pretty strong stuff after the glue had set. It was only an experiment, so it never got installed on the layout.
On one section of my layout, I used 1" foam in layers. I used spacers of different heights to create a grade. Here’s a picture:
In another area, I ended up with a dip in the trackwork using carved 2" foam. To correct the dip, I sliced into the foam and inserted small pieces of foam or cork roadbed to correct the dip. Here’s a picture of that area:
One of the reasons why I like foam so much is because changes are so easy to make. I’m working on a plan to make an around the room shelf-type layout using foam on shelf brackets. When I get into construction, I’ll post pictures of my successes (and failures!).
Huh? I think you misattributed me. My recommendation for creating grades in foam is to cookie-cutter it, just as you ended up doing. I think your post demonstrates my technique very well.
