I finished my benchwork this morning (yay!!!)[:D]. So its time to order roadbed. I dont want to take the time and effort to cut my own from homasote or whatever so my descision is between the WS black foamy stuff or good ol’ cork. Thanks.
-Joe
Joe,
There have been several threads on this subject in the last month or two, but due to my own incompetence, I can’t seem to find any of them. In a nutshell, those who use cork couldn’t understand why anyone would use anything else. Those who use WS foam can’t understand why those who don’t use cork would not switch. Those who use homasote pretty much don’t understand the cork or WS foam users. And a few use wood (HO, TruScale roadbed) just smile and nod at all the others.
I used cork on my staging area, and have switched to WS foam on the upper levels. Both work fine, I lean a little towards WS foam because it can be had in 24’ rolls. But if cork came in 24’ rolls, it would probably be a tossup.
Not much help, but I don’t really think there is a right or wrong answer to your question. One of those rare cases that, no matter what you do, you really can’t miss.
hmmm, well Ill have to do some research and see which is cheaper. Im on a pretty tight budget
Mark is right. Matter of personal preference. I still say cork, as always.
Here is the link to one of them.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37839
I agree with the posts above. Like most things in this hobby, everyone has their own personal preferences. I use cork, and have had good success with it. But I haven’t used the other options and therefore cannot comment on them.
It all works. I used cork in the past, on my current layout I’m using Woodland Scenics. Having used both, I prefer the WS. YMMV.
–Randy
So, it seems, Joe, that you should look for the bargain price, and buy whichever is the cheapest. I, too, have not been able to discern from the dozens of responses to this question over my short four-month time on this forum that one is better than the other.
If I could make a hopefully reasonable request (to Jarrell, too, when he gets to this point), is stick to one, but buy/borrow a small bit of the other, incorporate both at some point, and do a comparison for cost, ease of use, limitations, and durability. Oh, and silencing ability would be a big issue, too.
I think a key to silence is to not fasten down whichever roadbed you use with somethign solid - glues that dry hard, or nails. Thus we start the Great Latex Caulk Debate - but seriously, the stuff never set up rock hard and thus serves to help deaden sound.
–Randy
That’s very true!
I use foam. It bends very easly. I don’t know how easy it is to break cork but foam never breaks. (In the quote I’m one of the foam users.)