Baseboard Materials

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=>HICJHH wrote: =>

=>> Hi. What is Sundeala? I see reference to that material in British model =>> railroading magazines that I receive. John Hudson. Portland ,Oregon, USA What =>> would it be comparable to? Homosote?? =>

=>What is Homosote? ;-) =>

=>Sundeala is a medium-soft compressed paper board. It's almost rigid enough to be =>used framed as a baseboard. =>

=>Regards, =>Greg.P.

Homasote (NB spelling) is the trademark for a similar product made in the USA. A similar product called Beaverboard was made in Canada in several thicknesses; it had a textured hard paper layer on one side (which I believe was intended to be the side for painting when the stuff was used as wallboard.) I used the the 1/8" thickness for ballast strip many years ago - worked well.

"Dick Ganderton"

Why would I want to make my benchwork light? It isn't going anywhere. Besides, 1 x 3 and1 x 4 lumber is cheaper than plywood, at least over here were we grow and or manufacture the stuff.

-- Cheers Roger T.

of the Great Eastern Railway

Opps, I missed out the switches ;^)

I've only handled a sheet that a friend slipped into his furniture container when he emigrated to NZ. I certainly wouldn't have used it except as a sound deadener over a rigid board.

Why do you place so much importance on lightness? In my opinion the extra mass is an advantage unless you're going to bolt your baseboard to the wall.

I've achieved all that with my very basic method - I just don't go out of my way to reduce weight. I'll add the point here that I'm disabled (ak leg amputee) and that I often take my small industrial layout to the local exhibition - the additional weight in a

4'x2'6" module is not really significant as far as transportability is concerned for me.

You need more trains!

Our "Pinex" is obviously similar but only comes in 12mm(1/2") thickness.

Homasote is pretty expensive. You can also get corkboard in 2'x4' or

4'x8' sheets, which is similar with a layer of cork. I chose 2'x4' fibreboard plain ceiling tiles @ $3, finished with 2 coats of latex floor enamel I happened to have around, on top of 11mm plywood. The surface is soft but easily repaired with Polyfilla. I use rubber cement to glue down cork roadbed - it holds but can be removed without damage; white glue for the track and dilute artists' matt medium for ballast.

"Gregory Procter" wrote

Then I'd need a bigger house! ;-)

John.

Multi-level baseboards and a stepladder!

"Gregory Procter" wrote

Want to borrow the tee-shirt?

John.

We often read about use of cork/Sundeala/Homasote between track and subroadbed. As the layout is ballasted the crust of ballast and hardened glue connects the trackwork around this soft material to subroadbed (supposing one is using a combination of plywood/chipboard etc AND cork/sundeala etc.). I've been a bit sceptic about the capability of soft materials used under the track to actually reduce the sound of running trains as it is often totally enclosed with hard cover of ballast.

Has anyone investigated the effect of ballasting as "vibration conductor"? Different kinds of glues helping in making the ballasting more or less elastic. Would that noticeably affect the amount of sound being generated?

Pekka Siiskonen

I've run my trains before ballasting (it's called testing) and after ballasting with various ballasts and white glue. The sound increase is considerable, which lead me to use 12mm softboard over 12mm chipboard base construction. The sound created is not great in volume and has a good "heavy railway like" quality.

=>We often read about use of cork/Sundeala/Homasote between track and =>subroadbed. As the layout is ballasted the crust of ballast and hardened =>glue connects the trackwork around this soft material to subroadbed =>(supposing one is using a combination of plywood/chipboard etc AND =>cork/sundeala etc.)

Only if you make that "subroadbed" too narrow. It should be wide enough so that you have 1 to 2 scale feet of flat space between the ballast and the edge of the roadbed. The ties are deep enough that ballasting to the tops of the ties, and within a scale foot or so of the tie ends will look just right.

The best method IMO is: Track + Roadbed + Subroadbed. The roadbed should be about 60mm for HO/OO, or wider if you need room for trackside signal rodding, etc. The subroadbed should be at least 90MM wide, so that there is plenty of room to attach the scenery-skin material, and wider if you need space for the ditch in a cutting. A ballast strip could be used between track and roadbed to help differentiate between heavily travelled main lines and branches or sidings, but for the kind of rialway most people model it's not needed.

By and large, most track structures are too narrow; but I guess that is part of the "selective compression" that we must all use to fit out railways into small spaces. Eg, in opne country there should be at least scale feet between rail and the nearest fence. That's about 2" in HO, about 60mm in OO. Etc.

This has been extensively discussed in the past. The conclusion was that the best kind of glue for ballast is one that is flexible when dry, e.g. bookbinders' glue, or artists' matt medium from artists' supply stores.

I have laid track directly onto plywood in some of my yards, and have had no problems. The main reason to use cork or other 'road bed' material is to easily model the ballast profile and drainage ditches and make pinning of track easier. If you use white glue to hold down your ballast, the sound deadening ability of the road bed material is negated. I have noticed that if you have scenery on your layout the sound is decreased. Then again trains make noise.

I used larger timber for my layout, 6"x 1" and 5/8" plywood. The advantages are less legs and less supports to get in the way of point motors. It also means less time cutting timber, which makes it quicker and easier to make.

The base board method described on the above web pages is great for stiff light weight portable layouts, but it has a number of disadvantages if building a permanent layout, the main one being it is complex and requires lots of accurate cutting compared to the US style L girder system. I also notice it has frequent supports below the track which get in the way of under the track point motors .

If you use a flexible glue (e.g. artist's matt medium or bookbinder's glue) on top of cork for your ballast, it won't transmit as much noise.

Well, you'll just have to learn to cut accurately, won't you?

Terry,

The use of tape at the joins - whether it's glass fibre tape as in Dick Ganderton's original idea, or bandage and glue in my later developments, means that your joints only have to fit where they touch. They certainly do not have to be made to cabinet maker's standards.

As for supports under the track bed, then in almost every type of construction, you are almost guaranteed to get a support where you want to put a point motor - it's called Sods Law :-) In reality, I avoided conflicts with supports and point motors by planning out the supports with respect to the track plan. I also did that on my larger 7mm layout as well.

However, I'm just coming to the completion of fitting point motors (Tortoise) and wiring up the 7mm Timesaver layout, and the great advantage of being able to turn over/manoeuvre the lightweight baseboards makes the work extremely easy - it's virtually a one hand job to lift and turn one 4' x 2' board.

Also, the principle is most suitable for portable layouts as well as permanent ones since the baseboard assemblies are inherently 'solid' - which cannot be said for the "L" girder method which needs a flat floor for its stability.

Jim.