Hello everyone, My blue board order just arrived at the lumber yard yesterday. I plan to pick it up tomorrow. I am building an N-scale switching layout incorporating a switch back leading 2" below grade. I have never used blue board before. My question is I am looking for suggestions on how to construct the grade. It checked out on my plans. I don't have a hot wire cutter and don't plan to buy one for this project. I was thinking about just marking a cut line on the side to match the grade and carefully sawing away with an old steak knife. I plan to do my best to smooth the roadbed using a surform tool. Has anyone encountered this issue and what has your solution been. Thanks in advance for all of your posts. Regards, Clifton Linton
Unless it doesn't work for your purposes, I highly recommend Woodland Scenics Subterrain products. I'm not sure exactly the scheme of your layout, but if you use the blueboard as a base and for rough terrain shapes and flat areas, you can use the WS risers and inclines for your track right of ways. They have 2' lengths of various heighths of "risers" and incline starters available in 2, 3, and 4 percent grades. They're made of a dense foam product that's really inexpensive. Go to the website and check the stuff out...unless you've already heard of the product? It's available at most hobby stores I've been to. http://www.woodlandscenics.com Good luck!
I used blue foamboard on my layout, and I had a similar place where I had to have a slight grade. My mainline (I was in HO) was on coark roadbed which was on top of .5" foamboard that was on top of the 2" foamboard base. This meant that I had to get the tracks down a half-inch to the ground level, and then a little bit further down to where I wanted them. The first part was pretty easy. I just cut pieces of foam that were progressively shorter (starting at a half inch tall) and then I glued them in the path of the tracks that I would lay. It looked- ah it might just be easier to show you some pics: Here's a diagram of what I was trying to describe above. This is the only picture I've got that shows part of my grade before I covered it with sculptamold (near the top of the picture). I really can't say enough about sculptamold. It's cheap, lightweight when it dries, easy to mix and apply, all kinds of good stuff. Works good with foamboard to fill in gaps or oddly shaped areas. Here's my mainline after putting the sculptamold on it. Where my grade met the 'ground level' 2" foamboard, I has to scrape out a path that dug into the foam. This was just kind of hit-and-miss at first, but if you cut a big enough path, filling it in with sculptamold and using a piece of wood or something to smooth it will give you a good subroadbed. Anyway, hope this helps. Again, all of my stuff is HO, but it'd work for N scale too, just different measurements. Good luck!
I've seen lots of mentions of Sculptamold in articles, but I never knew it was light. I need to make a long curved grade and have been pondering how to do it - the baseboards are portable so weight is a factor. This system of foam blocks with infill looks like it might fit the bill Which Sculptamold do you use Dave? I'm sure they come in several versions (-I, -II, -III ?) and presumably they are different.
Mike, Yes, sculptamold is very lightweight when it dries. Until it dries, it's just like plaster. But you'll be happy with it I think. I found a good link for it on Dick Blick's site: http://www.dickblick.com/zz331/04/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=2034 I don't remember seeing different types of sculptamold, but the one pictured in the link above is the type I have used. The only major tip I have is that if you are trying to achieve a smooth surface, you must wait until the sculptamold has partially dried, somewhere around 10-20 minutes. Then use wet fingers to smooth it, or the back of a wet spoon or something. It can be tricky to get VERY smooth, but after it's dry, you can sand it. It is kind of hard to sand though, and I would not recommend trying to carve it, as it is VERY strong. It goes fast though. I probably went through four 3lb bags of this stuff working on my 4'x8' layout. But it's cheap, so it's not bad.
I have the WS inclines and risers too... the big advantage is, your not guessing about the incline, and you dont have to do any smoothing afterwards. Using the foam block method would work, but theres a bit of guesswork to make sure you dont end up with gaps between the blocks large enough to let the track flex. Whre can I find that stuff Dave? Looks great! Us poor deprived Aussies will probably have to import it :>(
Good afternoon, Thanks everyone for your great suggestions. I may be using the cut-the-foam-out method rather than Woodland Scenics. The reason, I do not have a grade that falls nicely into their pre-made product grades. I like the idea of using sculptamold to fill in between my risers because once done, I can put a final layer of sculptamold on the top and give it a smooth with a surform tool and hopefully have a nice smooth grade. (I'll report back hopefully in a while on how this worked.) I should have mentioned I am building a 1x4 switching layout for my office with a dogleg on the right. The track drops from regular mainline grade (middle of the layout) to below grade, via a switchback. The switchback will lead to street trackage running under my mainline at an angle. I'm pretty excited about this, because I think the switchback should be a nice feature and I plan to make a fairly gritty street trackage area. Anyway, thanks again for your help. Regards, Clifton Linton
You can make your own - just get the nichrome wire from the hobby shop, and power it with a transformer. More speed = more heat = cuts easier. Rig a frame for it and you're set. If you clamp or screw 1x2s on the sides of the foam insulation, you will have a guide for cutting. You can also make a curve by cutting wedges out of one side, and cutting a slot in the opposite side. Just like the WS risers... The wire is only about $3, versus about $65 for the cutter from Woodland Scenics. The problem with the steak knife is that it is very difficult to control and get a finished surface that is even in all directions. Be sure to ventilate your workshop well, or cut outside. Andrew [ 30. September 2003, 20:35: Message edited by: MasonJar ]
