Base board material

I'm happy with that on the subject of whether it _should_ be used, but not

Which is patently incorrect.

MBQ

Evidently, your experience of Sundeala on a single layout/environment has been successful and that is good. I think this really comes down to practical experience rather than defending one's personal choices. As previously stated in this thread, I have belonged to several clubs who have had layouts ruined due to the warping properties of Sundeala. I have also had to help out several people in fixing their layouts because of Sundeala warping disasters. If you had the experience of the product that I have, then you would not say that it is 'patently incorrect' for me to state that the material is not suitable for baseboards. As I wrote above, there are several materials which are suitable for baseboards such as chip board (with suitable support) and MDF (if you're not too worried about weight) and ply. My personal experience is that the latter is the best, but I accept that others prefer chip or mdf. I do not accept that Sundeala (or fibre insulation board) is suitable. Beyond your own layout, have you seen any other successful Sundeala implementations ? Do you not read egroups and forums such as this or attend clubs where you will find people constantly complain about Sundeala ? It is well known in the hobby that the material is pushed by a certain company as the 'panacea' but it is also widely known that its warping properties causes a lot of people a lot of problems. Unless you are one of the 'track pin brigade' (instead of gluing track down), there is really no justification for Sundeala. Your use of Sundeala was obviously successful. You are one of the few lucky ones!

Graham Plowman

In message , James Waterfall writes

I haven't got round to this yet, as you will see, but I reclaimed some signs at work that were lettering on a rigid foam plastic material. It is wonderful stuff, but I haven't been able to source more. I'd think it is closed-cell polystyrene or such.

It is exceptionally rigid, amazingly light, waterproof, non-warping, fairly heat-resistant (you can hot-glue onto it without any surface melt), machineable (much the consistency of dense balsa wood), sandable, dropable without corner damage etc. etc.

What I can't do is find out what it is; it is not foam-cored board, it is self-surfaced. Any ideas? Anybody used the stuff?

Laurie,

I don't know what the material is, but the one thing I would suggest is that if you propose to use it on a model railway in any form, you really should know what it is so that you can determine its flamability. You really don't want flamable materials on a layout.

Graham Plowman

In message , snipped-for-privacy@gppsoftware.com writes

Oh absolutely. Looks like it might be Foamalux,

all the details. If I had a need right now, I'd give it a try.

Anyone have experience, or can see obvious drawbacks?

I must say that its stated suitability for thermo-forming brings a whole new dimension to landscaping: "... then push your hot 'mountain' mould up into the baseboard..."

Well, I've taken a rather unual approach to my new-build layout. After a

20 year leave of abscence from the hobby I decided to make a return with more unusual methods. The last baseboard I made was a door coated with cork. I didn't particularly want to make a baseboard this round and I had, surplus to requirements, an Ikea desk table top and legs. Like this one: I'm modelling in N gauge and it's a 1500x800 table just large enough for what I want to achieve. I also thought it might be a useful modular approach - just buy extra tables ready made if I want to expand in the future. It is very light, cheap and the legs just screw in. Being hollow I can make cutouts in the top and bottom for point motors, cabling etc. I also wanted some scenic gradients, tunnels etc. Making gradients gradually rise and fall had been a problem in the past, so to technique no.2. I thought the 'cookie cutter' method of track bed raising seemed like a good idea. However my cheap ikea table would lose most of its structural integrity if I started cutting the top out in huge arcs. So I used poly-board from a graphic design store. This stuff is great. Use the 6mm board for gradients, just fix the ends down tangentially and let the board provide a smooth curve. Dead easy to cut with a craft knife too. The 10mm board is used to prop it up. Copydex holds it all together and also lets me pull it up when I absolutely have to. Yes it is a bit strong smelling, but not nearly as objectionable at cat-sick. The cats require quite a bit of prodding to keep them off though! Is anyone else using similar methods? Mark.