homabed

[asciibaron]

Hum, should us tranction buffs start a gas fund for you?

just have him take the bus

[Hiroe]

Bummer, too. That was the weekend i found out that Jimmy Sparkman (who built the Fallon St. Elevated) lives across the street from my new place. Guess who got to help transport it back to his house, and finagle it through the window into his basement? Like i need another scale to play trains with. Psht, i'm almost as bad as you are, ed.

...Although i must admit, i'm tempted to rent a bigger van and drag Sparkman to the Timonium Pandemonium show. The Elevated would probably be extremely well received there.

Hum, should us traction buffs start a gas fund for you?

Actually, if you want to step up to help make it happen, that would be most welcome. However, i just discovered i've got a conflict for that day, as both pandemonium and dunn's october strasburg show are on the 10th.

[ednadolski]

Does anyone know - isn't Homabed supposed to be milled to a consistent thickness (as opposed to regular sheets, which can vary)?

yes, it is sold in milled thicknesses

Interesting, can anyone comment on the longevity of this stuff compared to cork?   I've heard that cork can dry out over time, for me that's a concern here in the Denver area which is semi-arid.  OTOH  I've heard homasote should be painted/sealed to protect against shrinking/swelling.  So I'm not sure either one has any clear or inherent benefit over the other. (BTW I glue flextrack with adhesive caulk, with matte medium for ballast that hopefully ought to reduce the sound issue.)

Maybe I should just paint/seal the cork and forget about it....

Thanks again,
Ed

[asciibaron]

not sure why cork drying out would be an issue, your not going to reuse it.  it will be covered in ballast and have track in it.  i doubt it will compress under the weight of a train and it shouldn't break apart.

as for homasote swelling, i have lived in only in houses with cenral A/C and never had a problem with humidity affecting homasote.  seems pretty stable to me.

[Hiroe]

Interesting, can anyone comment on the longevity of this stuff compared to cork?   OTOH  I've heard homasote should be painted/sealed to protect against shrinking/swelling.  So I'm not sure either one has any clear or inherent benefit over the other.

Ed,
Over at CV, even with all the recent flooding (and resultant humidity) in the basement due to bad roof drainage at the church, we still haven't had any problems with expansion of the homasote, despite it being unsealed and unpainted. No track gaps closing up, no expansion kinks.

--Drew

[Mark5]

Interesting, can anyone comment on the longevity of this stuff compared to cork? 

Been using Homasote for decades. I glue (carpenters "white" glue) and screw it to 1/2" plywood. Never had a problem.

I still have an unfinished module that I started in the mid-1980s - stuff still looks great despite being stored in attics and basements.

[Chris333]

Are we talking about where Perez Hilton sleeps?




 

[One of One-Sixty]

To solve all of this, just get foam and lay down some Unitrack......  Easy peasy

[asciibaron]

To solve all of this, just get foam and lay down some Unitrack......  Easy peasy

right  :

[Sokramiketes]

WoW! This stuff is expensive!

$38.40 for 48 feet of 45 degree curvable N scale mainline.. 80 cents a foot before shipping.

I think I will stick to cork..

i put cork on top of the homabed.  it's the best way to get things like this ballast fill:

It's one way anyway.  Another way is spline roadbed surrounded by foam:

[asciibaron]

It's one way anyway.  Another way is spline roadbed surrounded by foam:

why use the foam - you could have saved a ton of money and used cardboard and plaster soaked paper towels.  the spline allows you to drop below the grade easily, adding the foam seems to run counter to that - you have to hack away at money to get below the grade.  i just don't understand why foam is an attractive terraforming solution - i understand the weight savings aspect, but once you coat it all in sculptamold, it will probably weigh the same.  

[Sokramiketes]

It's one way anyway.  Another way is spline roadbed surrounded by foam:

why use the foam - you could have saved a ton of money and used cardboard and plaster soaked paper towels.  the spline allows you to drop below the grade easily, adding the foam seems to run counter to that - you have to hack away at money to get below the grade.  i just don't understand why foam is an attractive terraforming solution - i understand the weight savings aspect, but once you coat it all in sculptamold, it will probably weigh the same.  

Cutting away foam for scenery contours is much, much easier than cutting away wood benchwork.  I don't believe in gluing track to foam, hence the spline.  But yeah, I suppose cardboard and plaster soaked towels is cheap. And if you're doing a cookie cutter roadbed home layout then there's not much advantage to the foam/spline.  Modular layouts are a different ballgame.

There is no sculptamold used on that module.  I've carried enough 50+ lbs plaster soaked modules to last me a lifetime.  Sculptamold is a heck of a lot lighter than plaster/hydrocal though since it has fillers.

I use that same type of argument when people start debating various subroadbed choices too.  Really, how quiet is it going to be in the end when you get done gluing rocks to the track?   

[asciibaron]

Cutting away foam for scenery contours is much, much easier than cutting away wood benchwork. 

and thus the use of cookie cutter and splines - hacking away at foam only to toss it in the trash seems like a waste of money that could be better spent on Exactrail models

[Sokramiketes]

Cutting away foam for scenery contours is much, much easier than cutting away wood benchwork. 

and thus the use of cookie cutter and splines - hacking away at foam only to toss it in the trash seems like a waste of money that could be better spent on Exactrail models

Cut a piece out and it turns into a hill.  Is foam really expensive?  Cause I've not heard this argument before and am curious where it's coming from?

And how many Exactrail models are you buying for Sept 1967?   ???

[ChrisNH]

Is foam really expensive?

It costs more then cardboard and plaster..

"Expensive" is relative. I find that while I wouldn't call it "expensive" it can add up quick. I belong to a HO modular club that has gone through hundreds of dollars of foam sheets.. more then I can afford. YMMV.

Chris