well i tried to bend the roadbed and it does not want to lay flat. If i bend the ends it pops up in the center?????? what am i doing wrong do i need to cut the center of the curve?
cork roadbed trouble
- Thread starter plbab
- Start date
I'm not for sure but it sounds like to me you are trying to lay the cork roadbed without splitting it. If you will note that it has a cut in the center of it. Thats used to split the piece in half. Starting at one end of the piece just pull it apart. Then each piece is laid bevel side out with the butt ends against each other. Hope this helped.
The cork roadbed I use does not have the "split" line or markings. I had the same prob on sharp curves of it "buckling" on the inside of the curves. I had to cut nothces ("V") shapes out of it to get it to sit flat. To glue it, and keep it flat, I had to tack it down on each piece (inlcuding the corners of each "V") until the glue dried, then pulled the tacks out.
The cork I use is made by model power and it works just like Vic was saying. The nice thing about it is that the outside edges are beveled for ballasting. It also forms the radius very well.
Cork roadbed
Anytime I've used cork roadbed, I've soaked it in warm (Not Hot) water for 10 Minutes. It makes it very pliable.
Yes you can soak it longer. I just put the entire box in the water, when the water gets cooler, just add more hot water.
My first N gauge layout, I didnt even have to split the cork in the places that were not visible. We stapled down about 50' of cork in an evening (2 people). Just line it up & tack it down, we held the stapler so the staples would line up with the center line, that way they were covered by the ties. We used a magic marker to color them black. No-one ever saw them once the track was laid.
Soaking it makes a world of diference. Let us know how it works!!! -- Mikey
Anytime I've used cork roadbed, I've soaked it in warm (Not Hot) water for 10 Minutes. It makes it very pliable.
Yes you can soak it longer. I just put the entire box in the water, when the water gets cooler, just add more hot water.
My first N gauge layout, I didnt even have to split the cork in the places that were not visible. We stapled down about 50' of cork in an evening (2 people). Just line it up & tack it down, we held the stapler so the staples would line up with the center line, that way they were covered by the ties. We used a magic marker to color them black. No-one ever saw them once the track was laid.
Soaking it makes a world of diference. Let us know how it works!!! -- Mikey