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Reply to "New Layout vs. Old (Build Thread)"

I wasn't supposed to, but I did get some track glued today.

 

I glued on a 5 foot section on the elevated section in the half-hour between getting home from work and dinner. There was a small dip in the left-hand upgrade portion of track on the elevated section. I took some of it out by relocating a cleat upward, but didn't eliminate it. Instead of worrying about it, I'm just putting some cardboard shims under the track to smooth it out. The dip worries me since it makes the engine think that it's going up a more severe grade for a short bit, and with a heavy train, can stall the engine. If I go digital and can run pusher engines, this is no problem, but running singly it could be one. The shims eliminate the dip.

 

The roofing company where I'm consulting has some surplus 4 x 8 sheets of 4" Styrofoam that they want to give me for the layout. I have a hot wire Styrofoam cutter, but it isn't up to the task of carving up something that big, so today I bought a heavy-duty, hot knife foam cutter from MicroMark. With this tool I'll be able to cut the stuff down to size. I'd rather use plastic foam instead of the alternative. The alternative is cardboard strips held together with hot glue, then covered with plaster cloth or window screen soaked with polyurethane expanding foam.

 

As you guys know, Styrofoam cutting is very messy if you attack it with saws and normal cutting tools, but it cuts like butter when you use hot tools, and it doesn't generate a gazillion little static-seeking beads. Normally, model railroaders gravitate towards the green or pick foam that not made from beads since it cuts with less mess.

 

My first experience with Styrofoam bead board was carving a crocodile head for a float in Michigan State's float parade that ran through campus on the Red Cedar River. They really were FLOATS. This was in 1966. It made a complete mess of the dorm room! It was a great float depicting Peter Pan, Captain Hook, the Croc with the clock and a pirate ship. I don't know if they still do this every Spring. It was fun. Anyone out there know if it still goes on? Or if not, when did it stop? Unfortunately, this was long before the age of everyone walking around with a digital camera and I have very few pictures from that era considering I almost spent five years there.

 

The foam will make up the bulk of the bases for the mountain and the elevated city. I'll hollow it out wherever I have to gain access to hidden tracks in tunnels. There could still be some plaster work needed to make a realistic surface, but that's going to be a very small part of the total mass.

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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