underlay ?

[jimikelly]

a bit of a silly question but here goes , what would be a good underlay ,I have a large roll of polystyrene used for insulating walls laying about .or should I go down foam or cork 

[darren01]

a bit of a silly question but here goes , what would be a good underlay ,I have a large roll of polystyrene used for insulating walls laying about .or should I go down foam or cork 

Hi 

I use C+L foam 3mm, the only trouble using polystyrene is that it dents very easy, it also is not a good idea to run wires through it.

As i have been told that the wire outer casing reacts with the polystyrene, also if you glue it down with PVA it will just set rock hard.

When i laid my track using the 3mm foam i glued it down with carpet glue, this allows the foam to still have some give in it.

Hope this helps

Darren

[Il Grifone]

The PVC insulation of wiring certainly reacts with polystyrene foam, but it's not of great importance on a model railway. It's only necessary to strip back the insulation and run the bare wire through.

 

I prefer cork underlay, but have used bubble pack under tinplate (Dublo) track and I can't see there would be any problem with 'scale' track, though I would put a paper layer between the plastics to avoid any possibility of reaction (as I did with the Dublo). Avoid any type of contact adhesive (e.g. Evostick or mounting spray) with polystyrene foam as it dissolves the plastic. I believe fabric adhesive is OK, but, not having tried it, I can't say.

[jimikelly]

Cheers Guys , I think I,ll just leave it in the garage for some other project.