Plywood vs. Humidity - Page 4

CN_Fan · 08-07-2008, 11:42 PM

[quote=railwaybob;836906]Hi Xiong.

I live in Ottawa Canada

R U a member of OVAR??

lamasa11 · 05-15-2012, 06:01 PM

I live in Texas, The major concern is heat and Humidity. I use 1/2 inch obo plywood.
This is a marine type plywood that sign boards are used for. I glue and screw two
sections together making the size of 2' x 8' by 1" thick. The next step is to lay the roadbed. I use scottboard siding. This stuff is used for wall sheathing and comes in sheets of 50" wide by 9' long 1/4 inch thick. You can cookie cut it, make curves, any track design you want. After laying the roadbed. This stuff can be nailed or glued or both. Paint the entire board gray inculding the roadbed, then spread flitered dirt covering everything except the roadbed. While the paint is wet. This not only seals the plywood and the roadbed, it also provide a base for ground cover.
the table top and the roadbed. This will solve the humidity problem.

railwaybob · 05-21-2012, 01:40 PM

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've been here!!! Since then, I redid my module construction techniques. You can find them on my blog at
http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.ca/
And yes, I belong to OVAR, HOTRAK, BRS, ORHC, and the G-Men.

Bob M.

Bill Nelson · 07-03-2012, 09:53 AM

I am getting ready to make a small HOn3 portable, to show off my Blackstone C-19 with dcc and sound. I have some 2 inch Styrofoam that I will use to make a lightweight base, and to cut pieces to make my elevations. I have some high quality 1/8 inch plywood, that was once a soffit above a set of cabinets that was removed dirring a kitchen remodeling project . The plywood is unwarped in spite of being in place in a kitchen in a 130 year old hose for 20 years or so, and then being stored in a slightly damp garage for another eight or nine years.

I'm going to cut the former sofit material into cookie cutter roadbed. after I do that I will paint it on all sides before bonding it to the foam, hoping that this will help minimize warping. I'm not sure if I will use any roadbed; I usually like to build on homasote or homa-bed (comercially milled homasote) but unlike most of my project There will be no hand laid track (excepting bridges), and keeping weight down is a priority , so roadbed may not be used.

on a side note; A lot of my recent benchwork has been on upper levels. I have been making the upper level benchwork carefully with cavities to hold florescent lighting for the lower levels. I have found that painting the lumber used to make the upper level benchwork white, helps to reflect more of the light down to the lower level. so there is another advantage to painting wood before it is used. Good lighting really helps a layout.

Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson · 07-07-2012, 03:47 PM

I started my Hon3 minni layout. a photo of it's Styrofoam base, and the painted 1/8 th inch plywood subroadbed is over in the narrow gauge section.

http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthre...802#post947802

here is a link.

I was testing a procedure for painting old faded aluminum siding, so I used some extra high quality exterior latex to paint both sides of the road bed. I will probably get some cheap interior latex paint mixed up gray to paint the road bed foam and everything else as I start to build up some foam land mass.

Bill Nelson

08-07-2008, 11:42 PM	#46
CN_Fan Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 29 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	Ovar [quote=railwaybob;836906]Hi Xiong. I live in Ottawa Canada R U a member of OVAR?? __________________ I need a place to run trains. William To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-21-2012, 01:40 PM	#48
railwaybob Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ont Posts: 443 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Gosh, it's been a long time since I've been here!!! Since then, I redid my module construction techniques. You can find them on my blog at http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.ca/ And yes, I belong to OVAR, HOTRAK, BRS, ORHC, and the G-Men. Bob M. __________________ Visit "Railways of Eastern Ontario" at To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-03-2012, 09:53 AM	#49
Bill Nelson Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Clarksville Tn Posts: 1,982 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	ready to try something! I am getting ready to make a small HOn3 portable, to show off my Blackstone C-19 with dcc and sound. I have some 2 inch Styrofoam that I will use to make a lightweight base, and to cut pieces to make my elevations. I have some high quality 1/8 inch plywood, that was once a soffit above a set of cabinets that was removed dirring a kitchen remodeling project . The plywood is unwarped in spite of being in place in a kitchen in a 130 year old hose for 20 years or so, and then being stored in a slightly damp garage for another eight or nine years. I'm going to cut the former sofit material into cookie cutter roadbed. after I do that I will paint it on all sides before bonding it to the foam, hoping that this will help minimize warping. I'm not sure if I will use any roadbed; I usually like to build on homasote or homa-bed (comercially milled homasote) but unlike most of my project There will be no hand laid track (excepting bridges), and keeping weight down is a priority , so roadbed may not be used. on a side note; A lot of my recent benchwork has been on upper levels. I have been making the upper level benchwork carefully with cavities to hold florescent lighting for the lower levels. I have found that painting the lumber used to make the upper level benchwork white, helps to reflect more of the light down to the lower level. so there is another advantage to painting wood before it is used. Good lighting really helps a layout. Bill Nelson

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05-15-2012, 06:01 PM	#47
lamasa11 Newbie Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 1 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I live in Texas, The major concern is heat and Humidity. I use 1/2 inch obo plywood. This is a marine type plywood that sign boards are used for. I glue and screw two sections together making the size of 2' x 8' by 1" thick. The next step is to lay the roadbed. I use scottboard siding. This stuff is used for wall sheathing and comes in sheets of 50" wide by 9' long 1/4 inch thick. You can cookie cut it, make curves, any track design you want. After laying the roadbed. This stuff can be nailed or glued or both. Paint the entire board gray inculding the roadbed, then spread flitered dirt covering everything except the roadbed. While the paint is wet. This not only seals the plywood and the roadbed, it also provide a base for ground cover. the table top and the roadbed. This will solve the humidity problem.

07-07-2012, 03:47 PM	#50
Bill Nelson Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Clarksville Tn Posts: 1,982 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I started my Hon3 minni layout. a photo of it's Styrofoam base, and the painted 1/8 th inch plywood subroadbed is over in the narrow gauge section. http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthre...802#post947802 here is a link. I was testing a procedure for painting old faded aluminum siding, so I used some extra high quality exterior latex to paint both sides of the road bed. I will probably get some cheap interior latex paint mixed up gray to paint the road bed foam and everything else as I start to build up some foam land mass. Bill Nelson