quick question from a newbie. i'm working on my first layout (somewhat based on NTRAK standards). Have a 3' x 2' module framed with 1x4 and topped with 3/8" plywood. Having tracks on one edge that sit directly on the plywood (cork roadbed) and am planning on building up the other side about 3" higher and running tracks down the other edge (simulated river bluff). I'm planning on using the heavy blue foam (if lowes carries it around here). my question is how do i glue the layers together? will liquid nails work? sorry for the long description. thanks!!!
Liquid Nails will work, just be sure to get the kind safe for foam, otherwise it will eat the stuff up ("Liquid Nails for Projects", I think). On the other hand, Elmer's carpenter's glue works also. [ 04. September 2002, 13:27: Message edited by: Bill Kamery ]
I just finished attaching blue foam ( got it at Lowes) to a 2 1/2' x 5' board with "Liquid Nails for Projects" and so far haven't noticed any damage to the foam. Seems to have worked fine. If I notice any problems, I'll let you know.
You were actually able to find it at Lowes ?. I have checked Home Depot in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Lowes in Chatsworth, and none of them carries the blue or pink foam, only the white and some yellow foam boards from MJ (I'm not sure, but I think it was MJ). Did you have to order it, or did they have it in stock ? Jesper
Hi Jesper, I live in south Orange county. I went to the Lowes off Peco Ave in San Clemente. The blue foam board came in 2' x 8'x1" sheets and were tongue & groove. They use it on rooftops. I've seen 4'x8'x1" sheets at Home Depot before but haven't looked recently. They were in a bin next to the white styrafoam boards. The 2'x8' sheet is called "skyrafoam" and the item number (for Lowes) is #14539. It costs $6.43 per sheet. HTH, John
Use LIQUID NAILS for your foam board glue. Look at the lable on the tube, make sure that it DOES NOT SAY FLAMMABLE on it. FLAMMABLE means that the Liquid Nails is the petroleum based formula and that type will eat up your foam board. (Trust me on this one!) Get the LATEX based formula, it will say NON-FLAMMABLE on the label. To find new foam board, go to a real lumber yard. Ask around where the homebuilders, and contractors go for their materials. 84 lumber carries foam board around here. (So. Indiana) Look around and see if anybody is building any new buildings, or homes. See if they are putting up foam board on the outside walls. If they are , GO ASK THE FOREMAN if you can have any scrap laying on the ground. Usually I offer to pick up the jobsite if I can have the scrap foam board. I try to pick up on the weekends so I am not in the workers way. MAKE SURE YOU THANK THEM. This alone will make the next pickup trip a lot easier. Foam board works great for layouts, I just wish I had built more on my layout with it. But it wasn't well known till about the past 5-7 years that it could be used for contures on layouts.
i had found some liquid nails for projects and some that is not. the stuff for hobbies didn't say if it was specifically for it or not. the other i found is weatherproof and said it was for foamboard, but i will check to see if its flammable or not (the weatherproofing stuff might make it flammable if it normally wasn't). thanks everyone for your input.
I finally checked the Liquid Nails canister and it said "extremely flammable" on it but it didn't do any harm to the blue foam. Bill is right about petro based chemicals eating foam but I think the blue foam is a different compound than regular styrafoam.
well i stuck it all together on monday night and it seems to be working great. now i just need to do some trim work and do my plaster overlay so i can lay down my other stretch of cork on the foamed portion of my module. thanks for your input!!
