Hello, First I wanted to say thank you to all who helped me out on some former posts on here… It is must appreciated as I am almost complete with my benchwork and nearly complete on my first building kit. Now on to my questions.
I am pursuing the idea of adding a foam base above my plywood base… specifically for modeling ravines… ditches… streams… etc. I have read how to attach the foam to the plywood (liquid nails and such) but I have not seen anything on how to go about attaching other things like buildings, people, trees, landscape, track etc…
My guess would be glue such as scenic cement would just absorb right through the foam? Is this true and if so what kinds of glues have you used and had good results with on foam. I am looking for glue to not only hold down scenery but to hold down structures, details, trees, people to the foam…
Also on the question of track work and foam. I am thinking about gluing down cork roadbed on top of the foam and then track. My problem is I really want to nail the track down? Is this possible using foam and cork? If not what do you do to hold down your track on foam? I really want to try to stay away from gluing the track.
1- Use the same glue and same techniques that you would if you didn’t use foam.
What I try to do on my layout (that also has a foam base) is paint the foam with a dirt color (Latex house paint) and then sprinkle on a layer of fine ground foam while the paint is still wet. I work in 6 to 9 inch areas at a time so the paint is still very wet when applying it. (I do that after laying all the track and before anything else.)
As for attaching buildings, I use white glue. I use that because if I ever want to remove the building, I can spray wet water around the building , let it set for about an hour, and then remove the building without damaging the scenery or foam.
2- I presume that you don’t want to glue your track down because you think you may want to reuse it later. Are you going to ballast your track? That is actually gluing it down too. The type of glue you use can make a difference. I use DAP brand clear caulk. That really sticks good, but also makes a mess when trying to reuse the track. On the other hand, if you use DAP colored latex caulk, say gray or tan, that comes up easier. So in your case, I would glue down the cork, then glue down the track with DAP gray caulk, then ballast using a dilute white glue and water mix. ( Don’t use a lot of caulking and spread it thin with a palette knife.) Then if you want to take the track up. Wet the track, and pry it up using a putty knife. Then to clean the track up good, wash it with soap and water, then use a small wire brush and remove the old caulking on the back.
To hold the track down while the caulk dries, put some weights on it overnight. To hold it in place (side to side), you may have to use some straight pins.
What you should really do is do a small section first to see if that is going to
A couple of things. The common varieties of Liquid Nails are solvent based and the solvent can eat the foam board. There are water based construction adhesives made, and they will say “Safe for foam board” right on the package. I used something called PLZ300 and it has been fairly good at sticking my 2 inch foam board down on plywood.
Another good stickum is latex caulking compound. It bonds well to foam, wood, cork, and to the plastic ties on flextrack. You can get it in clear, and various colors. Phenoseal is a good tradename. It takes some hours for caulk to dry, track glued down with caulk needs some weights to keep it in place until the caulk hardens.
I don’t use white glue on foam 'cause I think latex caulk sticks better.
Foam won’t hold fasteners of any kind, adhesives are the only way to attach things to foamboard.
I don’t fasten my structures down. They just sit on the layout, held in place by nothing more than gravity. This allows me to pick them up and move them to the workbench for repair or modification, or cleaning. I get the dust off structures with a household vacuum cleaner. I can’t use the vac on the layout 'cause it sucks up the ground cover, the “grass” and a lot of over stuff that I want to keep on the layout. But a careful vacuuming of structures sitting on the workbench freshens the roofs, the window sills, and all those places that dust settles on.
I totally agree with you w/ the exception of the Phenoseal. It is basically like the Dap Quik Seal on steroids. Although not completely “water proof” it is rather water resistant and will prematurely start to “skin” over will trying to spread the thin layer that we need for track securing. I feel th
There are also adapter/ attachments to reduce the “tube size” for managability as well as a vacuum break to control the amount of suction. Some household vacs already have this feature. Use the pantyhose as Marlon suggests. As I vac, I will also use a soft small paintbrush to “sweep” off delicate items all while directing the dust to the nozzle.
There is a “Liquid Nails for Projects” that is foam compatible, just read the label and look for the foam safe note mentioned above. Liquid Nails also is available in a tube size like a large toothpaste tube if you want to use it for smaller jobs.
Yellow carpenters glue also works.
To assure buildings do not move around on you, you can add a small piece of wood or styrene at the inside corners of the building, glued down with yellow glue or foam safe adhesive. That way you can remove the building for cleaning or if messy work is underway nearby, and be sure it is placed back where it belongs.
Whatever adhesive you use, spread it in a broad “S” pattern, so that no bead of adhesive is completely enclosed by any other. This will ensure that air can reach all parts of your adhesive and allow it to cure.
I use G Paine’s method of fastening down structures: I either press them slightly into the damp Sculptamold (which is what I use as my scenery base0, creating a slight indentation which holds the structure, or I glue pieces of strip wood just inside the corners (trace a light pencil line to see where they go). Either of these methods holds the structure in place against the accidental bump (or the cat [:(]) but still allows removal for cleaning or maintenance of the layout.
I’ve used white glue for years without problems. Lately, my brand of choice is Aleen’s Tacky…it’s white glue that’s thicker than Elmer’s (and might be a bit more flexible when dry too). I use it to glue 1/2" foam to 1/2" plywood, cork roadbed to foam, and even ME track to cork, but not the turnouts. Scale spikes are used every 9"-12" (more on the turnouts) and I figure the ballast will hold everything down permanently after I’ve run fresh track ‘through-its-paces’…this is why it’s important (at least for me) to thoroughly saturate the ballast and track (being careful around moving turnout parts, of course).
If anything needs to be removed, soaking the area in water (sometimes for many hours) will soften the glue enough to remove without damage. I’ve also had success soaking complete turnouts in water overnight to soften up all the glue so I could scrub it with a toothbrush to make it like new again.
Everyone seems to like caulk more and more these days, I like white glue…whatever works best for you (and is available in your area) is what you should do. As long as you take extra time to be sure the track is ‘bulletproof’ and realistic before securing the track, you (and your trains) will be happy.