One side was fat, the other thin ... now no more?

[robert3985]

Well, if someone has the time and equipment to cut the Masonite sheets into uniform strips, make jigs or something to form curved sections, glue, then form them into pre-made curves and clamp it all together to let it dry ... I assume you can't make long splined straight sections already set with glue curve easily to any bend you want. I would imagine changing a route already set in splines would be a chore, also.
I'm lazy.

Your assumptions and imaginings are wrong.

First, I pay the local cabinetry shop to cut the tempered Masonite 4X8 sheets into 1" strips even though I have both the time and equipment to do it myself.  The dust gets everywhere, so I let the shop deal with it rather than sneeze out Masonite dust for a couple of days.  Last time I paid to have 6 sheets cut for a good supply of 8' long 1" tall strips, the cost was $55, but that was about four years ago (2015).  So, you don't need either the time nor the equipment to cut the strips. Have a cabinetry shop do it.

Second, since I am modeling prototype scenes (LDE's) and my track conforms to Union Pacific System Common Standards when possible, and most of my LDE's have track plans that match the prototype in depth, if not length...I spend the necessary time using Cadrail to precisely position the track centers in relationship to each section's end plates.  I then develop a free-form front fascia that generally doesn't run parallel to the trackage except at the section ends.  After I'm happy with my track plan, I develop a quite exact plan of the splines, representing each strip in relationship to the track centerlines, (NOTE: Tempered Masonite or hardboard is not always the thickness it's sold as.  Use a micrometer to get the actual thickness when developing your CAD drawing) and then I reverse my CAD drawing so that it represents me looking up at the underside of the subroadbed splines, and I print out the whole thing 1:1, then tape this precise spline plan to a straight and sanded 3/4" sheet of plywood that is mounted to a sturdy 8' long conference table. 

Photo (1) - Printed out spline plan taped to 3/4" plywood sheet mounted to conference table:


I then drive 1 3/4" long finish nails through the paper template, into the 3/4" plywood along one side of the spline printed on the paper, making sure that the edge of the nail is even with the outside of the printed spline on the spline plan.  I use a small square to make sure the nails are standing at 90 degrees perpendicular to plywood top.  I then take two 1/4" thick 1" tall strips and start clamping them to the vertical nails I've just driven into the plywood upon which the 1:1 printed template has been taped.

Photo (2) - Close view of how the first two strips are clamped to the 1 3/4" finish nails aligned with one side of the spline plan's printed spline:


Note in Photo (2) how closely the Masonite strips follow the printed curves on the printed spline plan template.

I then remove the clamps progressively one by one and brush yellow carpenter's glue between these first two strips, re-clamping them both at the nails and in between working from one sideplate position to the other. 

In this particular track plan, the only straight sections are those at the ends of the sections and where the twin bridges crossing the Weber River widen the track centerlines for the required clearance for two parallel curved tunnel bores through the granite ridge at Taggarts, just west of Devils Slide.  Using the simple printed paper templates reversed and taped to the smooth plywood table top, with carefully driven finish nails on one side of the spline acting as registration pins for precisely gluing the spline together upside down, makes it easy to get both straights and curves exactly positioned and exactly the correct radii as needed.

Of course I can't bend already glued together splines...why would I want to do that?  There is no reason to do this any more than there would be a reason to bend cut plywood subroadbed which has been cut from a pattern.  I make the splines conform to the curves and straights on my paper template when building them, so using this construction method any need to bend the glued-up spline for any purpose is nonsensical.

Photo (3) - One five-strip spline glued and clamped upside down on printed paper template:


I build the splines upside down so the tops of the spline assembly are firmly clamped against the paper template, which is taped to a smooth plywood table top.  This ensures that the top of the spline, which the cork roadbed gets glued to, is as flat as possible even if the strips are not identically an inch wide.

After the spline assembly is dry...overnight...I remove it from the paper templates, which usually rips up the template which gets glued to the top of the splines.  I then make another trip to the cabinet shop, and in five minutes, they plane both sides of the spline assembly for 5 bucks.

I then take it back home and install the risers (with pre-drilled screw clearance holes), get everything leveled up with the section's benchwork and glue and screw it all into place:

Photo (4) - Planed spline assembly leveled up, glued and screwed to pre-drilled premium pine risers:


My minimum mainline visible track radius is 24", so 1/4" thick Masonite works very well for those large radii.  However on my Devils Slide/Ideal Concrete LDE, the industrial trackage will have very tight radii, and I'll be using splined subroadbed made from 1/8" thick Masonite because each strip is thinner and it bends much easier. 

Midwest Cork Products N-scale Cork Roadbed gets glued to the planed Masonite surface, and gets sanded, including superelevation which will look really interesting as the tunnel bores are curved...and so the curved track inside the tunnels will be superelevated, very obviously tilting the trains coming out of the portals.

As complicated as this may seem, it provides an extremely accurate and stable platform for N-scale C55 and C40 rails, especially on a portable layout.  Truth is, in actuality it doesn't take very long to put the spline assemblies together for my 6' to 8' layout sections even including drying time, and even less time on non-sectional/modular large layouts where the full length of the 8' Masonite strips can be utilized instead of traditional and expensive plywood subroadbed which wastes a good proportion of the plywood sheet it's cut from.

I have changed the subroadbed on certain sections up to three times so far, mainly to correct mistakes I made in the original trackplans when I find historical information that nullifies my guesses.  Of course it's a PITA, especially if there's finished scenery, but when I build a section, changing it after it's mostly finished isn't high on my priority list.  The Masonite both cuts and then glues up with the new spline very easily for nice, seamless track up above in its new position.

If my main object in building a layout was to change the track plan all the time, then I'd use Kato Unitrack on table tops.  However, I build LDE's with very close to prototype track plans, so it goes against my modeling philosophy to change my track plans too much.  Some of my sections are hitting 17 years old, and changing my track plan on them is the last thing I'm thinking about since they work just like the prototype did.

The 1" strips, including kerf, are 1.135" wide giving me 42 ea. 8' long strips.  My subroadbed spline is 5 ea. 1/4" thick strips wide, giving me 67.2 feet of subroadbed per each 4'X8' sheet of Masonite...the only waste being the kerf.  At about $8.78 per sheet (including cutting at the cabinet shop) that makes my splined Masonite subroadbed cost a bit more than 13 cents per foot if you include glue, printing ink, printing paper and tape costs.  On a "standard" 6' section, with double tracked mainlines...that's about 12' 6" of track, so if there are no siding or spurs and the rails are fairly straight, my total cost for splined Masonite subroadbed is $1.63. I'd say that was pretty damn good!

The last time I built a layout on a table top was when I was 13 years old...and I'll hit 70 this year.  Since that time, all of my modules and layouts have been L-girder with splined subroadbed on risers.  I don't find building my benchwork to be a "chore" as the qualities of dimensional stability, low cost, versatility, strength, automatic spiral easements and quiet running bring a big smile to my face and a make the extra effort well worth it for me.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore



 
 

[Doug G.]

I don't think any of us should really be too critical of Bob's track platform or track.

Doug

[peteski]

I don't think any of us should really be too critical of Bob's track platform or track.

^^^^^^

[davefoxx]

I don't think any of us should really be too critical of Bob's track platform or track.

Doug

Critical?  I can't speak for the others, but @robert3985 has convinced me of the advantages of spline roadbed with his construction techniques in a single post!  I'm sold.  I would absolutely consider this subroadbed construction method on a future layout.

My current HO layout was built along the lines of a hollow core door: cork roadbed on 2" foam on 1/4" lauan plywood.  It's louder than I would like, and this last batch of 2" foam was not flat.  I'm all for 2" foam as landforms, but I will happily consider spline roadbed next time.

DFF

[basementcalling]

Apparently I've been the only one during the last 50 years who got irregular cuts of cork roadbed. In fact Atlas roadbed was like that too back in the '60s -- you split the cork strip and one side is always a bit narrower than the other. I always put them side by side back to back and one obviously was wider than the other. And all this time I was the only model rail getting every defective cork strip ever made!!
However, my curse of only getting factory reject cork strips has now been broken -- both of these half strips are the same width.
Yes, you can curse cork roadbed but it does deaden sound. Laid on top of homasote which is then glued to plywood always guarantees silent running -- I've run layouts with track directly on top of extruded foam or plain plywood and I can always "hear the train a-coming" as it vibrates the surface under it. Does DCC/sound mask that noise?

I just assumed this phenomenon of you hogging all the "defective" cork roadbed was a law of N scale, like Ed's Law.

[OldEastRR]

I don't think any of us should really be too critical of Bob's track platform or track.

Doug

Not critical, just saying it is a lot of effort and time to do (compared to cookie-cutting homasote and cork slapped on it). The results are excellent, I have no doubt, and anybody who wants to do it that way is their decision. People choose their construction material and methods to their own tastes, is all.

[CRL]

I don't think any of us should really be too critical of Bob's track platform or track.

Doug

I don’t know... It looks entirely too precise and bulletproof to be considered a valid model railroading methodology. Imagine no derailments from dodgy trackage or interrupted operations. What are we going to do with all that spare time on our hands? 

We might have to spend it with our wives and families. 

The HORROR!!! 

[Angus Shops]

Bob's construction technique is probably the 'gold standard', and obviously he's used it to the best advantage because it allows him to achieve his goals. You can't argue with the results. His trackwork is of the same standard. However, I'm satisfied with my 3/4" plywood roadbed; it's good enough for me and I don't find myself looking at the results and wishing for better. In all aspects of this hobby there is somebody out there (often a regular RW contributor) who does whatever I'm trying to do better than me, which is fine with me; I'll learn what I can and incorporate the lessons into my work. That's why TRW is such a great community - better modelling through (gentle, encouraging) peer pressure.
Geoff

[robert3985]

Just to make it clear, I present my splined Masonite subroadbed as a viable alternative to the other common methods. If your present layout and construction method bothers you because it's too noisy, not stable enough, too much wasted wood, or too expensive, then I can't think of a better subroadbed method than splined Masonite. 

However, if you're happy with your present construction methodology then good for you.

One thing you might try is to sit down and actually write up exactly how you build your track...subroadbed, risers, styrofoam, gluing, following a plan, free-forming, roadbed, track attachment, painting, weathering, ballasting, etc. and see how long that explanation gets and seemingly complicated it becomes.

Sure, you can write "cut the homasote, slap on the cork and track" but if you actually write about each step in the process, it'll be MUCH more complicated than that.

I have a tendency to attempt to write about each step in a process so that my mistakes and learning curves are things an interested modeler doesn't have to suffer through....which means that the explanation is long...sometimes taking me longer to write about it than to actually do it.

Another way to make splined Masonite subroadbed is to use a hot glue gun, and yellow carpentry resin hot glue instead of yellow liquid carpenter's glue.  My friend Kelly Newton (no longer with us) and I developed this method to make the splining process faster and several notable layouts in the USA use this method for their subroadbed.  Here's Kelly's explanation of his hot-glue splining method that was used on Lee Nicolas' Utah Colorado Western HO layout: http://www.ucwrr.com/construction.htm , and here's some unfinished subroadbed on my friend Gregg Cudworth's complete double-decked Rio Grande Southern in Nn3, with just the center strip laid on risers to get the final track location before gluing and clamping the four additional splines to it.  This method goes very quickly using the hot glue gun method.  But, using yellow liquid carpenter's glue is almost as quick.

Photo (1) - Splined roadbed being located on risers on Gregg Cudworth's basement filling Nn3 RGS, using C30 ribbon rail hand-laid track:


You'll note that Gregg doesn't do the CAD thing for his layout, nor does he lay his splines out separately off-layout.  He builds subroadbed integrally and progressively with his benchwork as his layout progresses since this layout is definitely NOT portable nor in sections.

2" Styrofoam is used for Gregg's (me too)  landforms, and they make the trains noisier until the scenery is applied to them.  Gregg also uses cork roadbed, which he cuts himself, to further isolate any noise generated by his Nn3 engines and cars.

Having sturdy subroadbed for Gregg's hand-laid Code 30 ribbon-rail track is essential, since the smaller the rails, the less room for error there is.

Just letting you know that I'm not the only one out there doing this, although I may be the loudest proponent.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[CRL]

I think the beauty of seeing the different approaches discussed in detail allows different modelers to mix and match the various approaches to the skill set of the modeler and the type of geographical area being modeled. Using a spline roadbed wouldn’t necessarily be efficient for a flat plains location, like Dave Barrow’s Cat Mountain & Santa Fe. However, modeling mountain grades would be much easier using the spine approach.

[prr7161]

Spline always struck me as labor-intensive until I saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MJ2eH_SlTg

Amazing what a little elbow grease and carpenter's glue will do!

If I were modeling a single or double track line out in the country I would definitely build this way.  But since my prototype is a big ol' spaghetti bowl I'm sticking with plywood + homasote for now.

[Point353]

Spline always struck me as labor-intensive until I saw this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MJ2eH_SlTg
Amazing what a little elbow grease and carpenter's glue will do!

All you need is a buddy with the equipment to cut the splines and a large open porch on which to do the messy woodworking tasks.