Hello All
I’m re-doing the layout once again. After numerous lessons learned and daily reading I’ll be doing a single layout instead of 2 sections with bridge joiner. In the past I used a 2 inch foam base over the entire layout. I noticed that most of the pics I see here it appears that people don’t use a foam base.
How many here actually use foam, or do you use it for specific scenery such as hills etc?
Thanks
My small HO layout is built of 1 inch extruded blue foam over a frame of 1x2 grade A lumber set on 12 inch center supports and 1x4 framing. On top of the foam base I have set additional Woodland Scenics foam inclines and risers for terrain variations, and built up pieces of blue foam for “mountains” for the tunnel area.
If I did it again, and I hope to enlarge it this summer, I would use 2 inch blue extruded foam as the base, over the same 1x2 grade A wood fram set 12 inches on center.
I like the fact if I move it {it is on wheels to roll out to get to the back side} and to move it, which I hope to do int henext 5 years to a house instead of a mobile home, that it can be easily moved without a lot of weight. to it.
Juat my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences.
My layout is 11’ X 2’ with an extra 2’ “L” at one end. Below is the frame work before I added 1 1/2 foam. The foam is supported by 1/2" MDF board.
This pic is after the foam has been glued down, painted with white primer, and the back drop painted. I love the stuff. Paint sticks to it, as well as grout, ground cover, and everything else I have attached to it.
It’s easy to fix. Need a pond, just scoop some out. Need a hill just glue on some layers on top.
Have a foam base, actually thicker than needed, 2" would have been fine. Also use it for close hills where I will be planting trees. Am thinking of cardboard lattice and glueshell for background hills on my bigger layout, but with a good supply of construction site (free) foam, haven’t fully decided. Have also thought o f carving it for rock formations, another “to be tried” project.
Have fun,
Richard
I normally build an L-girder bench work with plaster landforms. However, this time, because I wanted to make it sorta portable, I used a box frame covered with Luan, the a one-inch foam layer. I ‘hope’ to carve down to make some slight rolling scenery once the building and road locations are set. I have already cut down for a stream in one place and plan a couple more.
The foam offers to strengthen the layout base, plus provides the ability for smooth rolling valleys and hills, plus it makes tree planting easier.
Thanks.
I’ve actually had some luck with foam. I’ve seen a lot of layouts lately not using it so am considering leaving it out. I have a little time to think it over while building the bench work
I start messing with the blue foam myself and absolutely love the stuff. Keeps the weight down and options more open. Granted, it is pricey stuff,but for me, I love it .
I used a 3/4" foam base on plywood as 2" foam is not readily available here in Texas. The experts tell me it is quieter and allows you to contour your terrain below the general level for ditches, creeks, lakes, etc. I agree, it is working fine for me.
I have pretty much had experience with most ways of doing things. Let me first say that I am absolutely sold on spline roadbed. I just love the way spline transitions, superelevates and curves and I cannot see myself ever building a layout without doing it with spline for the ups and downs at least.
Plywood is okay but foam is better. It is light,easy to work through, easy to get from Home Depot and into the house and cut to size. And this is from a guy with a well equipt workshop.
I like foam best for rocky mountains and weave and your favourite goo for rolling hills.
If you need support under the foam for something like a switch machine simply glue a small square of 1/4" ply to the underside and away you go.
If foam on 1 x 4s runs into humidity/ warping problems, use steel studs instead of wood. I have used steel studs for non RR related projects and would not hesitate to use them on a MRR. They are cheap and lightweight.
The one thing I will never ever do again, is put foam over plywood. I have one small spot on my layout (about 4’ x 4’) that has foam over plywood. It is the biggest pain in the Caboose to work through both. Working through plywood or foam by themselves is easy but not both. But that just may be me.
Spline, foam and open grid combo.
Rocky foam and rolling weave combo.
Before.
and after
In the end it boils down to how you like to do things. How you want to do something is how you should proceed.
&nb
I have a 1/2" plywood base with 1/2" blue foam. I’m using WS risers/inclines and add 1/2" foam pieces in layers to add to my elevations which I call “building up”, my friend has a 1/4" plywood base with 2" foam and carves out his layout which we call 'building down". I prefer building up because I hate carving with my X-acto knife and I can cut my foam in layers,glue, sand and set in place. And we both agree having a plywood base holds wood screws secure for adding Tortoise machines,wire hangers and others accessories.
I use a combination of the blue foam thicknesses for the base of my railroad. Underneath the foam is a combination of plywood thicknesses to help with grades and LDE’s. Then, I use a combination of cork thicknesses to again help with track grade smoothness. All other “land forming” is done with the beady foam. The reason for it was because it has more fissures and crevices for attaching plaster formations. “Beady” foam allows the plaster to “bite” into it better.
All these thickness combinations help the layout from seeming too flat. By having a siding at a different height, the trackwork looks much better in my opinion. Slight grade/elevation changes also help to add interest, especially on longer sections of the layout where you can see down the tracks a fair ways.
Most of my layout is built on 1" blue foam over a 1/2" ply. Tracks are always set on 1/16" foam tape, and a layer of 1/4" or 1/8" sheet cork that I custom cut myself. The use of cork, foam tape and blue foam makes for a dead-quiet experience for locomotives with sound.
almo
On another note do those who use foam paint it, cover it with ground cover or plaster cloth over it?
I paint it a base color with latex paint, then sprinkel on fine ground foam. This is my ‘base’ scenery coat and it gets rid of the blue unfinished look. After that I will go back and add other things like bushes, trees, different sizes of ground foam etc. to complete the look.
On the sections that I am going to build up, I am going to cover that with ground goop and add ground foam. I did that on part of my previous layout and it worked well, so I am going to do the same on this one.
In the photo below, I am working left to right. The engine facility has just my base scenery coat of paint and a ground foam blend which will be added to later.
I use pink foam over a wood frame made of 1x4 and 1x3 lumber. (Pink and blue foam is the same, by the way, just a different coloring by different manufacturers.)
That’s an early shot of Phase 1 of my layout, a 5x12 foot table in HO. The foam pictured supports the base of the subway line. The hole in the middle allows for a different level to be added later.
This next picture is much later on. It shows the left-hand side of the top picture. Here, the subway tracks and tunnel walls are in place, supported by foam, and the rest of the layout is built on top of a second foam layer.
The roundhouse and turntable are on that different level of foam which is simply an open space in the first picture. Finally, for the next picture I’ve replaced all the liftoff sections which allow access to the subway tracks below.
The liftoff sections themselves are mostly made of foam, too. It’s a great material for this. It’s light, cuts and shapes easily, yet it’s stiff and holds its shape. It holds glue, plaster cloth and Gypsolite, too.
Having built Phase 1 of my layout with this foam-over-wood-frame construction, I’ve now built the benchwork for Phase 2 the same way. It’s certainly worked for me.
I use 1x2 and 1x3 wood frame for my layout with “Luan board” or plywood over top. Then everything is covered with 1" foam board. You can check out some of my previous forum discussions and photos at the following:
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/143788/1598658.aspx#1598658
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/76494/916423.aspx#916423
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/160307/1766822.aspx#1766822
Doc
I am also redoing my layout. The bench framework is 1x4 at about 16" intervals. This time I am using 1.5" blue foam with 1/4 ply backing in many areas. The choice of 1.5" foam was because it comes in ~2 foot strips. The plywood backing is primarily to ease attaching stuff to the bottom of the base such as switch machines and other stuff. The plywood also spreads out the weight transfer when you lean on the foam. To make curves I cut the plywood in segments using a formula from MR. The segments are overlapped and glued together before laying the foam on top. For plywood I am using ‘Sureply’ (think I spelled it right) because it is flat.
One issue I’ve had is gluing the layers together. At first I was using foamboard adhesive. The problem was the moisture in the adhesive would warp the plywood unless clamped until it was dry. Early release of the clamps weakened the bond. This has been solved thanks to this forums members. I am now using DAP 3.0 Clear adhesive caulking. The label focuses on bathroom and showers with a 3 hour till use label. For my purpose, it doesn’t swell the plywood and it sets in about 2 hours or so. Well at least enough you can work with it and not have it come apart. Other adhesive caulks may work just as well.
In central PA, the blue foam came from Lowes. The DAP 3.0 came from Home Depot.
Hope this helps.
Cheers, RustyKen