I have Woodland Scenics 2% grade risers and I want to put something over them before I put down roadbed since there are spaces in the risers. What do I put over them?
Nothing if you want, or any sort of scenery material. WS recommends building the scenery form using thier plaster soaked cloth over the risers. Many just put road bed straight on the risers, then bring the scenery form to the roadbed. Your choice.
What I suggest is to use the woodland scenics plaster cloth and do the landfors around it as much as you can,and use the plaster cloth to cover the risers. Then roadbed…ect ect. on top of that. I put the roadbed down before doing the scenery around it and now I’m most likely going to have trouble when I do the mountains around it.
Andrew
If you don’t cover the risers with something before you put down the roadbed, you’re going to have ballast leaking all over the place. I like high roadbeds on my Yuba River Sub, so what I did is put down one layer of Woodland Scenics ‘N’ scale roadbed–parallel sections–then the HO scale on top of it. Not only does it keep the ballast from leaking, it double-deadens the sound. A little more expensive, and I keep getting weird looks from the guys at the LHS every time I go in for both N and HO roadbed, but it’s working for me. You might try it. I thought of using plaster cloth before putting the roadbed on, but the foam roadbed from WS is VERY sensitive to any irregularity underneath.
I have filled in my spaces with wadded up paper and Ive also used foam cut to fit and fill the spaces, then plaster over it, or you can use joint compound and make a nice irregular embankment, then lay your track and ballast. Doing this in that order firmes up the roadbed.
Can I get the plaster cloth at a place like Micheals or Hobby Lobby?
Yes, or medical supply, or make your own from coarse cloth or heavy duty paper towels and soupy plaster.
Let your fingers do the walking…a medical supplier will sell you a case of plaster gauze for about $2 a roll as opposed to $6-7 a roll from WS.