Fastening Track to Layout


idiot

Member
N scale track nails bend and difficult to nail down between rails....(layout top is hardwood.) Anyone recommend two-sided tape? What is the name and where can I buy "foam board" to make a better layout top? Actually, track connectors hold the track in place "fairly good." but not 101%.
 
Don't bend them unnecessarily, and don't use tape. Use DAP Alex Plus caulk available at hardware stores. Use the 'dries clear' variety, although it will come out of the tube white. I dries clear, slightly yellow. You put a thin bead of it along the centerline, then smear it with a credit card or spatula. Lay the rails, and weight them with soda and soup tins, or whatever is small enough to fit atop the rails and keep them in place.
 
If you are laying unballasted yard tracks or mainline "house" or set-out tracks, then fastening track directly to a hardwood (or foam) top might be ok, but if you are laying any sort of mainline tracks (or sidings) then you will want allow for a ballast profile, so using a cork roadbed (or layers of cardboard or mat-board) is in order. I've used all of these, and they all have their place.

That said, we'll assume the former. Just fasten the track [flex or sectional track, either one] down with a centerline bead of craft-type white glue (Elmers-type) and hold it in proper alignment using simple office pushpins until the glue dries. Weight it down between the pins if you have any worries about it not-lying-flat or if you need vertical curves, which will usually mean gluing tracks designed to sit lower than other nearby or adjacent tracks and their slope transitions (raising the track up gradually, or dropping it down--adding increasing layers of cardboard is one way).

Brush off any crumbs (particularly cork-type crumbs), sawdust, etc. before gluing the track down. Don't forget to clean the bottom of the ties too, not just the tabletop/cork.

The advantage of "functional adhesive" type white glue* is that you can remove or realign it simply be soaking it with water--typically a damp towel laid on top for a few hours will do the job. You could also use a furniture type glue, but make certain it can be softened again with water to facilitate removal--make sure the bond isn't permanent.

[*More details here: https://glueaid.com/is-elmers-glue-waterproof/]

This is my standard go-to method, and you can use it as well to glue down cork roadbed first, although it will require a lot more water--you will need to saturate or soak through the cork--if you want to move it.

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I don't see any advantage to using double stick tapes, but if you still want to try that for some reason, this is one place to get it:


The description says "activated with solvent," but what that really means is "activated to maximum tackiness (which lasts only for a minute or two) with solvent." You see some solvents there too, and you'll want one that is orange based...but the tapes stick just fine without it provided to remove the protective plastic layer shortly before sticking something down with it.

That said, I strongly suggest the white glue method first. :D
 
i myself did the dap adhesive routine, it does set in eight to twelve hours [depending on adhesive thickness], but is not water soluble. a not mentioned benefit to the dap is that it remains slightly flexible, cutting down on thermal expansion problems, and transmitted noise is less due to the slight flexibility ..
my layout has remained good for seven years now, and is glued down to plywood in some areas, foam in the rest of it ..it's fifteen by sixteen feet in size with a vertical change of up to nine inches...
foam.construction.jpg
 
My mainline (HO) track is laid on cork roadbed. The roadbed itself was actually stapled to the plywood base. The track held to the cork by nails. In yards and some sidings, I used a tar-like strip, but unfortunately it is not longer manufactured. There may be something similar out there. In a few other placed, I first painted the plywood with a relatively thick coating of acrylic paint, then laid the track on it while wet, and used a few track nails, predrilling the holes where necessary with a slightly smaller diameter drill bit. A thin coating of ballast or cinders can be sprinkled while the paint is still wet. You do have to work fairly quickly as the paint dries in about 15 minutes or so.
 
My mainline (HO) track is laid on cork roadbed. The roadbed itself was actually stapled to the plywood base. The track held to the cork by nails. In yards and some sidings, I used a tar-like strip, but unfortunately it is not longer manufactured. There may be something similar out there. In a few other placed, I first painted the plywood with a relatively thick coating of acrylic paint, then laid the track on it while wet, and used a few track nails, predrilling the holes where necessary with a slightly smaller diameter drill bit. A thin coating of ballast or cinders can be sprinkled while the paint is still wet. You do have to work fairly quickly as the paint dries in about 15 minutes or so.
I use black tac on occasion, that comes in strips, but amount you'd need to hold the entire track down would be ridiculous, only upside to using it, no need for glue to ballast. :)
 



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