FOAMBOARD QUERIES

I’ve just come across the method of laying track onto foamboard, as demonstrated by Chris Nevard and George Dent in recent issues. I notice that George used strong double-sided carpet tape to hold his track down, before ballasting. If I didn’t want to use this method, what glue would you recommend? Also, when glueing the foamboard sheets together and then onto the wooden baseboard, what glue would you recommend? Finally, point operation – if I wanted to surface-mount point motors, how should I do it? And if I wanted to use wire-in-tube point operation, what’s the best way?

Steve Richardson, by email.

A: George says: The great joy of using foamboard is its lightweight nature and the ability to join the rails, add the wiring and test everything from the comfort of the workbench, rather than leaning over a layout baseboard. It’s best suited to smaller layouts, or those built in separate sections. Once the track work is complete, the foamboard is then fixed to the baseboard.

I’ve used double-sided carpet tape to hold track in position before ballasting only on dioramas, as I’ve been wary of employing it on working layouts, lest it damage the delicate finescale track I usually employ. It works very well holding down track, but it’s very difficult to reposition or adjust the track once it’s in place.

When fine-tuning is needed, as is usually the case on working layouts, it’s far better to glue the track to the foamboard. Any Pva-type glue is suitable for fixing track, spread evenly over the surface with a flat brush.

The same glue is also suitable for fixing foamboard to itself and to the timber baseboard. Again, spreading the glue evenly is important and clamping the parts together with books, old magazines or other heavy objects will help keep everything flat while the glue dries.

For point operation, it’s necessary to secure the motors to a solid surface with screws. Accordingly, foamboard is not suitable and they’re best fixed to the underlying wood baseboard surface instead. For surfacemounted point motors, they’ll need to be level with the points, so a small sheet of plywood of the same thickness as the foamboard (usually around 5mm) can act as a mounting block.

For wire-in-tube point operation, the task is a little simpler. Channels can be cut into the foamboard, into which operating cables can be buried. Once the track has been fixed to the foamboard and ballasted, it will be secure enough for the point blades to be switched by the wire. Chris Nevard employs the wire-in-tube method on many of his layouts, each of which feature foamboard as a sub-base for the track.