Baseboard


K

Kiwibarge

New Member
Hi

A newbie planning my first layout. It will be a permanent 8ft or 9ft x 4ft (but the frame will be on lockable wheels for moving for access). PECO track, double oval with side spurs. Probably UK 1960's in OO/HO therefore Bachmann/Hornby rolling stock.

Obvious first question, what should I use as a baseboard 1/2 inch structural (treated and sanded) plywood or is there something better? I can get ply in 4ft x 8ft or 9ft sheets. I would prefer to pin track rather than glue as I will make mistakes but pinning seems difficult on plywood.

Second question track underlay. Peco track underlay (open cell foam) seems to deteriorate fast, is there anything better? I could perhaps cover the whole baseboard with cork tiles or a floor underlay?

Apologies for any spelling or name confusion (we were corrupted by the Brits) :).

Regards from NZ.
 
KIWI - That is actually funny! Welcome to the forum. We have a gentleman near you, calls himself Ray screen name is TOOTNKUMIN, from Queensland now but says he is from other places too!

If he does not answer your questions tonight - I will try in the morning. I have about run out of awake time tonight.
 
G'day Kiwi, as Sherrel (don't you dare call him Shirley). As Capt'n Weems when he was a commercial flyer, says, yes I am domiciled in Qld and I model American. Montana Rail Link (MRL) to be more precise.
Structural ply, if it's got a reasonably smooth surface would be good. It uses better glue between the plies than regular interior surfacing plywood. If you have the room for the 9', go for that. Peco track and points. Here, modelers call points, turnouts, to differentiate between the electrical switches you might have around the layout, switches being what the points/turnouts are called on the real US railroads.

To your table top. Half inch (12mm) is a good thickness for what you want to do. Build an open frame out of 3 (75mm) or 4 (100mm) on it's edge to support it around the perimeter with the same as cross members, 1 in the middle and 1 either side, evenly (being 4' (1200mm) across, you will want it to be strong enough to lean your weight onto.
A lot of modelers today are using a foam insulating board glued on top of the ply, not only as a sound insulator, but because rivers and depressions can be easily carved into it for scenery effects. 25-50mm thick, depending on how deep you want the channels etc. You can use the same material to make mountains, or in pieces glued on top of each other to create elevated surfaces for towns etc. Special glues are available for that stuff. A word though on the type of foam. Do not use the white, compressed bead type you find in foam cartons and parcel packaging, far to messy and doesn't cut nicely. Ask at your hardware where you get your ply and timber from. It's used in the building industry.

For your track underlay, most use cork strips of about 3-4mm thickness. Check with your track dealer, or the hardware. You can lay that to your track plan with berry pins (round coloured heads) (note I added the "u" to prove I haven't forgotten) along the edges, which will hold into the foam base sufficiently, temporarily.

With your track, do you intend to use the sectional type (fixed length pieces) or the 915mm long flextrack that Peco makes as well? Or a combination of both?
 
Greetings Kiwibarge.

Sounds like Tootnkumin has you squared away. My setup is similar to what he described, with 35mm thick foam (see I can do metric) on 12mm ply. I did glue cork roadbed to the foam by marking how I wanted to run the track and then laying the cork first and the track a day or 2 later. Makes lining up the track easier. One thing to remember, is that it does not need to be "perfect". Ever look down a real rail line???
 
Thanks Toots :)

That is really useful. I will go with the ply, with a foam overlay, on a 75mm frame. I assume you glue your track down on final assembly, can't see pins sticking well in foam

I think Peco flexitrack might be a step too far for my first layout so may go with sectional (Peco Setrack) which can be reused for hidden sidings on any future layout - though will probably need a mix.

I am trying to scale my ambitions down for this first attempt - difficult :) - so I don't stagger to a halt from lack of knowledge/experience or run out of money.

Next step is the layout - the decisions don't get easier LOL.

Thanks all
 
KIWI - Glad to see Toot responded to the call. He will steer you in the correct way (a very knowledgeable person). I wish I could have the opportunity to meet him in person! Besides, he needs someone to converse with when the up-above crew turns out the lights and you down-under boys take over, lol.
OK - back to the current subject. I think that most people "stick" the track (whether a cork roadbed is used or not) on the foam with a calk - I have not used that method - but it holds good and gives the operator the opportunity to move (salvage) the track if it needs to be arranged differently. It is my understanding that spikes - track nails - also hold fairly well into the foam too!

Please take most of what I say with a grain of salt! I have not had a layout for 45 years and lots of things are done much differently than back then. I built my layout using the "L girder" method with hand laid rail on a spline roadbed. I did have ply where there were yards and such with homasote on top which is an excellent roadbed. What track in the yards was mostly the fiber ties of old!

Just don't try and tackle too much at once .. it is easy to become buried and lose focus.
 
The cork roadbed gets glued down eventually with a latex sealer/filler like Selley's "No Gaps". Once you know where it's going, you paint the foam base or any exposed plywood with an earth brown acrylic matt/low gloss paint. This not only covers the foam etc's colour, but makes a good basecoat for the scenery. You run a bead of the No Gaps along the center line of where the cork roadbed will go, spread it sufficiently and press the cork down onto it. The Berry Pins will hold it in place till it sets. Track nails are available to press through the sleepers into the cork. You may have to drill holes in them if they don't have them. A small battery powered drill will become your most handy tool. Make sure it has variable speed with soft start trigger control. The most important thing with both the cork and track laying is that it is well supported, without sharp dips or peaks, especially under the joints.

With a 1200mm width baseboard, the maximum track radius you will be able to use is 22". One of the disadvantages that occurred in changing from the Imperial 48" to the Metric 1200mm, was the loss of width and length in sheets of plywood etc, i.e. 20mm in the width and 40mm in length from the old 8 x 4. Makes train engine and rolling stock security along the sides less. Going down to 18" radius, limits the lengths of those train bits more. It can be overcome with side extensions to the frame. But more on that later.
 
Hi. It will go into my workshop against a wall, with ready access to the front and one side. It will be on castors so I can pull it out from the wall to give all round access when needed (but not in normal use). The baseboard will be 2700 x 2400mm.
 
While I have great respect for the member's input, I feel I must say this: Building a MRR on a flat 4x8 board is an old archaic method that became the most common way in the late 1940s or early 50s..But It's a very problematic choice for several reasons.
It makes making grades very tough, rescuing stalled/derailed trains very difficult to get to (I know you're going to put yours on casters. But when you come to rolling it out from the wall, you stand the chance of trains, structures bouncing out of place place).
Since you seem to know about various types of construction material tells me you are not, say 8 years old; that you are instead at least in your teens or older and thus capable of understanding different approaches to benchwork, track laying, and scenic aspects..Thus I ask you to at least look into either 'open-grid' or 'L girder' benchwork..If you do you will hopefully see the greater advantages these have over the flat 4x8 style.. At first it may look complex. But it's really simpler than it looks, and actually can be fun to do once you get into it...
There are many places in either this forum or in books which show how to do this..If you don't mind waiting you can purchase "Model RR Benchwork" by Lynn Wescott, online...which is kind of a bible of this technique...
My aim here is not to dis you or anyone in the thread..It's only because when I was a kid I too, like so many of us, did the 4x8 thing and eventually, due to all it's restrictive properties, went over to the grid type bench/framework.. and didn't look back...
If you still continue with the flat board type I do hope you are able to remain content with it..It's not that serious an issue; just something newbies tend to go to not really aware of the alternatives..Or they are aware of, but mistake it for being too complex and thus see the flat surface easiest, which in mine and many others' opinions turns out to be the hardest..not to construct, but to put a railroad on.....
I do wish you joy in whatever choices you make in this great hobby....M
 
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MHinLA said:
While I have great respect for the member's input, I feel I must say this: Building a MRR on a flat 4x8 board is an old archaic method that became the most common way in the late 1940s or early 50s..But It's a very problematic choice for several reasons.
It makes making grades very tough, rescuing stalled/derailed trains very difficult to get to (I know you're going to put yours on casters. But when you come to rolling it out from the wall, you stand the chance of trains, structures bouncing out of place place.
Since you seem to know about various types of construction material tells me you are not, say 8 years old; that you are instead at least in your teens or older and thus capable of understanding different approaches to benchwork, track laying, and scenic aspects..Thus I ask you to at least look into either 'open-grid' or 'L girder' benchwork..If you do you will hopefully see the greater advantages these have over the flat 4x8 style.. At first it may look complex. But it's really simpler than it looks, and actually can be fun to do once you get into it...
There are many places in either this forum or in books which show how to do this..If you don't mind waiting you can purchase "Model RR Benchwork" by Lynn Wescott, online...which is kind of a bible of this technique...
My aim here is not to dis you or anyone in the thread..It's only because when I was a kid I too, like so many of us, did the 4x8 thing and eventually, due to all it's restrictive properties, went over to the grid type bench/framework.. and didn't look back...
If you still continue with the flat board type I do hope you are able to remain content with it..It's not that serious an issue; just something newbies tend to go to not really aware of the alternatives...Or are aware of, but mistake it for being too complex and thus see the flat surface easiest, which in mine and many others' opinions turns out to be the hardest..not to construct, but to put a railroad on.....
I do wish you joy in whatever choices you make in this great hobby....M
Click to expand...

Understand where you are coming from, but this will be my first layout (one guesses of a number) and the 'flat board' approach will permit max interim variation/recycling downstream.

I think a grid approach would be too limiting/rigid (and beyond my carpentry skills) at this stage :).

Thanks
 
OK. Though it's easier and quicker to make than it sounds, I accept your decision...But if you are a lifer in this hobby as the greater percentage of the members and me are, you will likely build an open grid / L girder frame at some later date..My suggestion was based on just getting it over with from the get go...When I look back I wish I had been shown this alternative to my flat '4x8' snap track brouhaha when I was a kid.. Actually I was exposed to it when I visited my first club open-house; The Nassau MRR Club in Long Island, NY..But it just didn't click in my 10 yr old brain that that's what was underneath supporting and enabling all the magnificent track and scenery above it that had awed me so in 1957-ish !! M
 
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