foam or homeasote

[rich maiorano]

found this shuff on owen corning site and is the same thick as homeasote and looks a lot easier to cut than homeasote for roadbed heres the link what do you think

http://www.owenscorning.com/around/insulation/products/foamular.asp

 

[pcentral]

Hi Rich,
I used this for a 4'x8' O gauge layout I built. I used the 2" thick stuff for the table top instead off plywood. A freind of mine has a scenery business and uses this to contruct complete dioramas. It is great stuff to work with, real easy and lightweight. It works good for sound deadening. You will need to glue your track down to mount it though. I would recommend using pins to hold it while the glue sets up, then pull out the pins. If you put nails through the foam to the wood below this will carry the sound to the frame below and stop the sound deadening qualities of the foam. I say buy a sheet of foam and try it out. If you don't like it for roadbed you can always use it for scenery.

 

[Vic]

Hi Rich, Took a look at the site and it seems that the board would have possibilities. I'm sorta from the "old school" though and have used Homasote since the "year one"

Like PCentral said the track would have to be glued down, but beyond that it seems that it would work well on top of a plywood sub-roadbed. If I were building another layout I would certainly give it a try

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Foam, quicker, cleaner, cheaper and easier IMHO.

 

[rich maiorano]

it does look like it be easeir to use and can use any left over for my scenery with the 2 inch stuff and I have a couple of local suppilers near by too

 

[msh]

Next layout it will be foam. The 2" stuff is harder to get, so I'll probably go benchwork, 1/8" masonite and 1" foam sheet on top of that, but for having a carveable surface, along with the sound deadening factor, I like foam.

 

[jon-monon]

Any thots on the effects of temperature swings in a midwest garage when using this stuff (glued track) vs. nailing track to wood? Maybe more forgiving if the glue is good to low temps. Anyone had troubles with adhesives in other areas when it gets cold?

 

[rich maiorano]

jon dont know but the stuff for your basement walls and I think floors too so you would think it would hold up to any temp swings and msh theirs a dealer finder on that site so you can find one close to home rich

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by msh
Next layout it will be foam. The 2" stuff is harder to get, so I'll probably go benchwork, 1/8" masonite and 1" foam sheet on top of that, but for having a carveable surface, along with the sound deadening factor, I like foam.

On 16" centers 1/8" Masonite will sag when applied horizontally. Plus its difficult to glue any thing to tempered (slick) Masonite. Better go with something more rigid....3/8" or prefferably 1/2" plywood.

 

[rich maiorano]

I was thinking 1/2 inch foam on top of the 1/2 plywood for the road bed and use the 2" inch stuff for the scenery base rich

 

[TR-Flyer]

I recently watch a video where they were using a foam overlay on plywood for the standard benchwork. Then, for the mainlines with a raised bed, they used foam "sill sealer". It's used, as the name implies, to seal the gap between a platform framed wood house floor, and the wall sills sitting on top of it. It's about a 1/4-inch thick extruded foam, flexible, cheap, and readily available. The guys were gluing the foam down to the benchwork foam and then gluing the track down to the sill sealer foam. They used liquid nails for theirs, i'd probably used something a little more modifiable.

Regards,
Ted