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Help with removing ballasted track and plaster from ply baseboard

Hi.

I'm going to reuse one of my existing layout baseboards in my new layout. I need to remove the scenery from it first. The board is 6mm ply top.

Is there an easy way to remove the track (not going to reuse as it's code 80 and am now on code 55). The track has one or two pins but is mainly held in place with ballast stuck with pva/water mix.

I also need to remove some balsa wood that is pva'ed to the board and a load of plaster directly applied to it.

Is there an easy way to remove this? I've been scrapping with a stanley blade and a wallpaper stripper and it comes off but its taken me an hour to strip a small six inch square!

I can't easily replace the top as the baseboard has integral sides and backboard that is formed around the top.

Any ideas welcome!

Reply to
Richard
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Warm water ... plenty of it.

Next time put cellophane down as an interlay between the plaster and the baseboard.

HTH

Reply to
Chris Wilson

I was going to try that, but will it not damage the ply? I had an idea to use a black & decker wallpaper stripper (big hairdryer) and didn't as I though that might de-laminate the ply...

Richard

Reply to
Richard

About a month ago I was stripping baseboards at the club, we had to use water there and the boards were ply ... having said that because of work I haven't been back in a month to check on how they turned out, but they should be ok. With ply the grain of the various layers goes in opposite direction so when the wood tries to warp the various layers tend to pull in opposite directions and as a result it doesn't warp all that easily.

What I'd suggest is that you work on around 2' feet at a time, that is have one square foot soaking whilst you're scraping away at the other. In any event you'll find that if you work quickly enough only the top layer of the ply gets really wet. Afterwards wipe off as much water as you can, lay the wood flat and let it dry naturally ... a garage floor would be ideal.

The plaster might just chip off, have you tried flexing the ply?

Reply to
Chris Wilson

G'day, A soak with water should loosen the PVA glue and allow you to reclaim your Track & Baseboard. Graeme Hearn

Reply to
Graeme Hearn

Thanks for the help. I will soak a 12 inch square tomorrow, leave it a bit and see if it comes off. I'll let you know how I get on

Richard

Reply to
Richard

Water will usually get PVA soft enough to scrape off, I've lifted track that way a few times. Next time use the PVA sold in Early Learning Centres for the kids to play with. Its formulated to wash out! It does a perfectly adequate job of holding track and ballast but needs about 10% of the soaking when change is needed. Its cheaper too. Keith Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

Reply to
Keith Norgrove

A thinned down coat of varnish seems to work reasonably well for me, and still leaves a good key for the scenery.

Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?

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