Viability of foamboard baseboards?

[Guest jonte]

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

 

Think I'll test my hypotheses: I'll coat it with something suitable and leave it in my unheated and uninsulated garage for a few months and see what happens.

 

I'll let you know.

 

Jonte

[sn]

I've just started building a portable layout using 5mm foamboard as the main structural material.

 

 

Construction is fast and simple.

[The Stationmaster]

I've just started building a portable layout using 5mm foamboard as the main structural material.

 

 

 

Construction is fast and simple.

But you do need to take care when moving it about as the corners can get damaged when knocked.  Have you considered ant bracing as a matter of interest?  My high level shunting 'layout' on my SWAG module is entirely on foamboard built on top of the basic ply/softwood 'box' of the main module and its has few corner etc bracing fillets - all very durable and nice & light but does need care to avoid bashing various bits at the edges.  And take care where you lean on it!

[sn]

What is a bracing fillet if you don't mind me asking?

[The Stationmaster]

What is a bracing fillet if you don't mind me asking?

The various small triangular pieces you can see in various places in this pic - even when fairly small they help to stop twist or deflection in the various bits of foamboard.  You will see too that the area near camera has also been built into a 3 ply structure but that is basically only to add a bit of strength at the edge where it is more vulnerable.

 

The whole 'structure is built on the basic ply/softwood box  and the 'hills' are built mainly on foamboard contours with Modroc over them then - in a modification for this year - a skim of liquid (when it's brushed on) hydrocal to create a hardshell.  All the track on the top level is laid onto the foamboard 'base' - next year we might be able to get away from the 'snow scene' effect if Mrs Stationmaster will let me   

 

The whole thing is on a 4ftx2ft base and although it is far too awkward to carry it can be lifted with one hand (without the building in position!)

 

 

[60026to]

Last week I made my baseboards for my N Gauge adventure.

 

I used 5mm foamboard from Hobby Craft, the board measures 5' 10" x 2' 9" and used 6  whole pieces of FB. I still need to buy some too finish off the bracing.

 

It has all been glued with PVA and masking tape to hold things together while the PVA dried.

 

Of course its still early days but I have thought about completely covering the whole structure with newspaper/wallpaper paste or maybe watered down PVA as I think Jo Alder has used this method to good effect.

 

The layout will not be for exhibition purposes just for home use, so touch wood (pardon the pun) it should be okay.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

There is another type of foamboard (I think its called foamex) which is more plastic like which they use to make shop signs. You can cut it with a saw and drill it. I do believe this type of foamcore board sticks to it quite well and it's pretty light. Maybe I'll build a test piece with some. Most sign makers will have off cuts that they may well sell you cheap. I got most of my supply from a picture framers. They said I could have all their offcuts (some pretty big) for a fiver.

[sn]

Last week I made my baseboards for my N Gauge adventure.

 

I used 5mm foamboard from Hobby Craft, the board measures 5' 10" x 2' 9" and used 6  whole pieces of FB. I still need to buy some too finish off the bracing.

 

It has all been glued with PVA and masking tape to hold things together while the PVA dried.

 

Of course its still early days but I have thought about completely covering the whole structure with newspaper/wallpaper paste or maybe watered down PVA as I think Jo Alder has used this method to good effect.

 

The layout will not be for exhibition purposes just for home use, so touch wood (pardon the pun) it should be okay.

I suspect that I will come in for some stick for this but I have covered the top surface with hardboard in order to keep the whole structure nice and light. It is very well glued down and I am considering some sort of waterproof varnish finish, just worried that doing this may prevent adhesion of bits and bobs of the model proper to its surface...hmmnn

[BRealistic]

Last week I made my baseboards for my N Gauge adventure.

 

I used 5mm foamboard from Hobby Craft, the board measures 5' 10" x 2' 9" and used 6  whole pieces of FB.

I'd be really interested to know how you achieved/constructed the 5'10" board length... as aren't the Hobbycraft sheets about half that length. Suspect there's a clue there!!

 

Cheers

[PatB]

It occurs to me that it might be possible to use coreflute to make up box beams for the main, outer structural members.  It's less prone to permanent dents and distortion when knocked.  It can also be had in large chunks for free when temporary signage outlives its usefulness.  I don't think I'd use it for a board surface though.

[JCL]

Mine is an around the walls in a finished basement. 1" foam board on a ply frame painted with latex paint. The edges were faced with ply for sturdiness and to guard against knocking/gouging/marking it b accident. I think I glued the whole lot down with No Nails. I also carved a river into it, and have made quite complex platform shapes out of it in the Wainfleet thread in the link below.

 

As mentioned above, the only problem I have on the baseboard is with sound. The problem I had with the platform was that I used a layer of PGA to glue a texture sheet to the top of he platform. This caused the platform to bend up like a banana. The second platform had texture glued on it with Pritt Stick with no problems.

 

That said, there seems to be different types of foam board, I've used be stuff *not* made of polystyrene balls.

 

Hope that helps.

[chaz]

I have never used foamboard for a baseboard but I have made quite a lot of use of it for big structures on my O gauge exhibition layout, Dock Green.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58132-dock-green/

 

 

 

The basic structure of the bridge above is in 5mm foamboard. Plastic sheet brickwork and Plasticard girderwork were glued to the faces with Timebond. The bridge is totally stable and very light.

 

 

Both huts in the snap above have foamboard shells. The one on the left is "planked" with 0.8mm ply'.

 

 

 

The warehouse, bridge and arched retaining wall in the pictures above all have foamboard shells. As the material is so light two or three layers can be laminated together to produce desired thicknesses. The stairs in the picture above have a solid foamboard core.

 

As others have said it's very light, very quick to use. It's also very easily damaged. Just careless finger pressure when marking out or cutting is enough to leave a permanent dent. Corners bruise easily. I have always cut it with scalpels - but the blade must be sharp - a blunt one will result in tearing of the paper facing - "V" snags along the line of the cut. I have used a glue gun to assemble foamboard shells but I don't like the lack of precision that the unpredictable thickness of the glue produces so I do all assembly of shells with PVA. I use dressmakers pins to hold joints together while the adhesive sets - put the pins in dovetail fashion - the material is so soft they will not hold otherwise. If the boards get damp they warp - the paper facing shrinks and causes bowing. So if you want to use acrylic paint, do both sides.

 

All the structures in which I have used foamboard have one thing in common - no foam edges are visible - when an edge is to be seen I glue at least a strip of thin card to it with PVA.

 

Hope that's some help.

 

Chaz

[Guest jonte]

Hi fellow modellers and friends.

 

Well it's been a couple of years or so, apparently, since I started this topic and to be frank, I'd forgotten all about it - age 'n' all that - so thanks to Rich Brummit for the prompt.

 

Which got me thinking: what happened to the foamboard baseboard pictured in the opening post?

 

Well, after crawling around the floor of my outside modelling room - does anybody know how to remove shards of bullhead rail and brass wire from kneecaps and why did I insist on performing this search and rescue mission in shorts? - and rummaging through the detritus of cast off lengths of balsa, obechi, foamboard and God knows what else that lurks beneath and behind my modelling desk in the corner, I eventually turned up friend baseboard coated in the ubiquitous dust and cobwebs, the bodies of one or two of their creators, and their unfortunate prey, still within for posterity (I kid you not, just check out the accompanying photos).

 

Now, looking back, I can't hail this experiment a total success as I both failed to paint it as promised or store it in the garage, however, to be fair, the room remains unheated throughout most of the winter months, and as the door at times is ill fitting and fails to close properly, the garage has probably the drier atmosphere of the two. I suppose when you look at it this way: kept in moist cold atmosphere and without protective coating, said baseboard has gone above and beyond the call of duty, so there would be no surprise to discover, therefore, that it had succumbed. Moral of story should read: provided all such boards are adequately protected and kept at room temperature i.e. indoors, they should enjoy a long and successful life, at least until you get board of your current project and move on to the next.

 

However, and this is the surprising bit: ol' chum baseboard is as flat and true as the day the glue went off

 

Yes; I kid you not! Check out the photos, replete with fossilised spiders, if you don't believe me.

 

 

 

Looks like the way forward after all, hey, folks?

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jonte

[60026to]

Now I don't claim to be the bees knees at baseboard design or construction but this is my effort that I started to build last week.

 

As I stated earlier I still need to buy some more foamboard for extra bracing and completely cover the boards with newspaper/dilute PVA.

 

 

Its basically three sheets of FB with three more sheets used for the 'frame' and bracing.

 

Cheers.

[BRealistic]

I'm wondering how you might go about fixing point motors or whatever to the underside of 'top' surface. Hope there's an answer as I really fancy using foamboard for a little shelf layout.

[60026to]

Hi Alan,

 

Re point motors, I'm thinking of using something like 'No More Nails' I haven't got much choice really unless I secure pieces of plywood or thick plasticard for the point motors to be screwed to.

[BRealistic]

Sounds a good idea (No More Nails) as it sticks anything to anything and allows a minute or so for adjustment before it sets.

 

I make my own 'Turn Out Units' for manual operation and they're really quite light... so weight isn't a problem... it's getting the alignment spot on, and in this regard using screws allows me to make fine/future adjustments. Thinking out load, I might look to screw my TOUs to small pieces of ply first... and then stick the 'ensemble' to the board. Not sure whether foamboard would enjoy having things screwed into something stuck to it???... so best to get the screwing done first??!!!

 

Not that it's relevant, but what I've said might make sense if you knew what my TOUs look like!!.... post #121 on this page reveals all

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54069-manual-point-control/page-5

[TheQ]

I won't use  foam board for my layout of a lifetime as I hope it will last at least 30 years and I live in a high humidity area. But I would use it for a portable layout. A friend had a 10ft wing span  radio controlled model he used to fly regularly and the airframe and skin was entirely built from the stuff except for a small engine bearer of ply. Though last time I heard he was considering a ply reinforcement to the skin for the undercarriage as it was ripping off in landings. 

The Q

[Guest jonte]

Sounds a good idea (No More Nails) as it sticks anything to anything and allows a minute or so for adjustment before it sets.

 

I make my own 'Turn Out Units' for manual operation and they're really quite light... so weight isn't a problem... it's getting the alignment spot on, and in this regard using screws allows me to make fine/future adjustments. Thinking out load, I might look to screw my TOUs to small pieces of ply first... and then stick the 'ensemble' to the board. Not sure whether foamboard would enjoy having things screwed into something stuck to it???... so best to get the screwing done first??!!!

 

Not that it's relevant, but what I've said might make sense if you knew what my TOUs look like!!.... post #121 on this page reveals all

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54069-manual-point-control/page-5

 

Hi Alan.

 

Love the TOUs: will have an indepth read later!!

 

I've used Mercontrol in the past from GEM which required the lengths of copper tubing pinning to the board with Peco track pins. I would surmise that this is also the case with yours.

 

In that case, just mark the route of the tubing or whatever along the top or bottom of the baseboard and then glue quarter inch ply (marine is the best if you can afford it but not essential) to the marked path and then pin the 'pins' to the ply - if you use brass pins used for garment making which you can purchase from Ebay for a nominal fee, their much finer and will tap home using less force.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Jonte

[Vanders]

I'm wondering how you might go about fixing point motors or whatever to the underside of 'top' surface. Hope there's an answer as I really fancy using foamboard for a little shelf layout.

One solution is to glue a square of thin wood E.g. strip pine, to the bottom of the board with something like No More Nails, and then screw into that.

[BRealistic]

Hi Jonte

 

It's a long thread, I know, (the one about manual control of points, which I'm so grateful Gormo started) but elsewhere I explain I'm using plastic snakes instead of copper tubing (or anythong else) see http://www.sullivanproducts.com/GoldnRodContent.htm and a lever made out of a plastic 'flosser'!! (set up in post #146 on page 6). I shouldn't have much trouble taping the snakes to the underside of the foamboard, or at least I think I shouldn't! That's instead of the saddle clamps I was intending to use if the baseboard top was ply (http://www.slecuk.com/catalogue/Saddle-Clamps.html)

 

PS I'm so grateful you started this topic as well. Good on yer, as it's solved another headache of mine!

 

Cheers

[Joseph_Pestell]

I am thinking of giving this a try for a new layout project. Has anyone constructed a board longer than 4'?

[JCL]

I did 3' x 8' using two 1" x 2' x 8' sheets of insulation side by side with ply bracing every 2' a few years ago. The bracing was done in a similar way to post #38 above. I'm about to start the layout again, so this time I'm using ply as a base and then gluing the sheet insulation onto it after cutting the contours into it. This will help when trying to attach electrics to the underside and hopefully cut down on noise.

 

Edited to add some reading for you: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/6858

[TheQ]

I think we are talking of two different products,  there is Foam board which is up to 1 cm of foam (normally about 0.5cm) which is between two sheets glued on sheets of cardboard (sometimes plastic) as supplied, this is the original subject of this thread.

And insulation board, which is normally 1 inch to 8 inches thick.

After much experiment I have gone for the insulation board method, of construction for my home layout. I use a 2 inch thich base board of extruded polystryrene foam and glue further layers on top of that for hill sides. it is then edged in Ply to protect the foam.

 

If I were to be building a portable layout from scratch then I would be severely tempted to use the foam board method.