Almost there

[maczimb]

I started laying styrafoam today.
I picked up a sheet of 2" and a sheet of 1" at Lowe's. I asked the guy at a desk in that department, what I should use to stick it to plywood, he looked like he was doing me a favor by talking to me, his answer was somewhat surprising!
"There is no glue that works, the foam just melts" I ask myself, "Every village must have an idiot, what made him pick this village?"
I stopped in at our neighborhood hardware store and was advised to use "DAP Beats The Nails" adhesive, the stuff works great.
I applied a wavy bead to either the ply or the foam, no problem.
I also picked up an electric carving knife, that also works great, I did however get a bit worried about over working it so I tried a plain old, sharp steak knife and used a sawing motion, result, very little dust and pretty smooth cuts.
In the morning I will have to go back to Lowe's and pick up another sheet of 1". If I run into the idiot I will educate him about adhesives.
I should be laying track in about a week.
Mac

 

[hfd]

I'm new at all this so take what I say with a grain of salt...I just put styro on my table last week...Elmer's glue...worked great...

 

[Trucklover]

Mac, I used to work at Lowes in the Lumber/Building Materials department and i will say that your experience is pretty much what you will find everywhere lol. When i worked there, no body really knew anything about construction or materials, nobody but ME lol. Im 19 years old, so when you have people that work with you coming to you asking a question like that, and the guy works there in the department with you, just does not know the products, its kinda embarrassing that I, a 19 year old kid, answers the question of a grown adult in his 40's with a simple question like what kind of adhesive to use to fix foam to plywood.....

If you work at a hardware store or home improvement store like Lowes and Home Depot, you should know the products enough to answer the questions of customers (you being the customer). And the guy that helped you at your local Lowes is a typical example of just how stupid people can be lol

Makes me wonder how the guys that know nothing made it through all the training to be in that department. I came into the job already having experience in construction, so i had a jump on it, but i still learned alot when i worked there, both from training and contractors that came in and shopped with us.

Anyways, "Liquid Nails for Projects" works great for fixing foam to plywood. The stuff is cheap, holds well, and also comes up without to much of a fight if you decide to change the foam and move it..... Get your self one of the cheap $2.00 caulking guns and a couple tubes of "Liquid Nails for Projects" in the paint department and you will be set

When your done with the tub, take a pen and shove it into the end where you cut the tip to keep it from drying out to much

 

[NWCanuck]

"DAP Beats The Nails" adhesive

This is the same product I used for my table. And if I am right Trucklovers "Liquid Nails" is made by Macco. Lepage also makes a product called "PL300". All of which are heavy bonding construction adhesives good for a permanent bonding of foam to plywood among other things (I won't want to try and separate them once bonded). The only down side to these adhesives that I can see is that they give off pretty heavy VOC's when using them so ventilation is req'd or a mask.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but once the base layer is laid down and all you want to do is bond foam to foam regular silicone of any color will do and silicones give off allot less odors and chemicals.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trucklover,
I know what you mean about your big box hardware stores. I know HD and Lowes stock better than most of the people that work there. Seems like almost everytime I go there I end up helping some other customer find what they need or recommend how to do something.

As for gluing foam to plywood, I simply used "Liquid Nails for Foam" just like it says on the tube.
Doc

 

[UP2CSX]

I've used the cheapest latex caulk made for all my foam gluing needs and it works perfectly. Usually on sale on Wallyworld for 99 cents a tube compared to $8 for Liquid Nails. All you want to do is keep the foam from moving around on the plywood and latex caulk is perfect for this. If I was hanging it on a wall, I'd go for a more agressive adhesive but latex caulk works fine for most layout needs.

 

[maczimb]

Painting

Hi again.
Question! after I have the styro down should I paint the stuff with an earth color paint??
Or do I wait until I have the track laid??
I'm afraid that if I leave it till the track is down it might become a bit tricky to get into all the tight areas without getting paint on the track. I do intend to go in later and put in some landscaping.
Mac

 

[sparkyftw]

If using trackbed, I would paint it after the trackbed is down, before the track is down.

 

[UP2CSX]

I agree with Dan. It's probably too late now but the easiest thing to do is spray it with an earth color latex paint from a rattle can before you lay it down. Quick and easy and paint slopped around the layout room if you do it outside.

 

[Hobo]

I always paint it first before anything else goes down. That way you don't risk getting latex paint on anything important. I just paint it on with a large brush straight from the can. That way the paint goes on thick. You can sprinkle on foam ground covering directly on top of the wet paint. That eliminates the need for glue on top of the paint.

Oh, yea, BTW, I use a electric circular sander with coarse sand paper to shape the styrofoam into its final shape. Yes, it is dusty, but allows you to quickly shape the land form into very natural looking contours.

 

[Hobo]

I always paint it first before anything else goes down. That way you don't risk getting latex paint on anything important. I just paint it on with a large brush straight from the can. That way the paint goes on thick. You can sprinkle on foam ground covering directly on top of the wet paint. That eliminates the need for glue on top of the paint.

Oh, yea, BTW, I use a electric circular sander with coarse sand paper to shape the styrofoam into its final shape. Yes, it is dusty, but allows you to quickly shape the land form into very natural looking contours.