cork bed

tealplanes wrote:

Fruitless search in Medford.

Well Dave, I used up a lot of gas and energy looking for black tape here in Medford.

I tried all the major big box stores like you suggested only to strike out on the color and size I wanted. Also tried Michael's craft store, Walmart, to no avial.

Oh they all had some form of it, but none in black. I did find a nice roll of 1/2" by 72" white at our own locally owned Ace hardware store for a decent price, but I'm concerned the white may show through the ballast. What think ye?

I did go on line as you suggested also and found what you are talking about, but I don't need near as much as minimum order from what I could see.

So, I guess in this particular case I'll either stick with cork, or wait for you to tell me the white will be ok once I cover it with ballast.

What do you think chief?
Loren

Sorry you wasted a lot of gas looking for the tape in black. It doesn't have to be. It is true that there was a risk of it showing through on my layout, but that's because the handlaid track is much shallower than conventional flex.

I've used white in the past; in fact, I used miles of white tape on several N scale layouts--



It never showed through anywhere.



If you still have a concern, spray paint the track before ballasting. This will improve the appearance of the track as well as prevent any possible show-through.

Dave,

I just finished up laying the cork roadbed for this small BYOZ. It actually went pretty fast, short of an hour I figure.

I have learned a little trick using contact cement......the directions say to apply cement to both surfaces to be bonded and then let dry until the shine is gone, (in other words, pretty dry). I've found that after applying the cement, I take my heat gun I've used for Bragdon scenery construction and 'quick dry' the cemented surfaces. Takes almost all the wait time away and I can then bond the cork to the surface about 2 minutes after applying the cement.

No grass growing under these toes......

Time to spray paint the track and then....."Track laying crew please report for duty..."
Loren

Charles, you can use 4 sources of cork:

1) Flat sheets from most arts, crafts, etc, stores. Cut it as you need it but, this stuff is usually rolled up and who wants to cut 'random' strips or curves. Lots of waste.
2) Itty-bitty lines: www.iblproducts.com/roadbed.htm#ZCork
3) Midwest Products N scale cork cut in half www.midwestproducts.com/item_detail.asp?item_id=123
(comes with the two beveled outer edges 'outside in'. Simply pull apart and you'll have 2 Z scale strips (one edge will be straigh down, the other beveled). Don't worry, you are going to ballast it so you won't see the straight down edge)
4) Woodland scenics N or HO scale foam roadbed. Self adhesive to module.

None of the cork makes easy curves. Itty bitty lines is the worst. Midwest Products curves fairly flat with >12" radius. You can get it flat on MTL-Märklin radius if you weight it down while the glue dries for 2-4 hours. The Woodland Scenics foam isn't designed for our radius.

All track has to be glued down. Märklin or Peco Flex can be white or yellow glue will hold it down. So will CA (a.k.a. Crazy glue). MTL flex needs a more tacky glue. You can also get better adhesion if you wipe the bottoms of the track with alcohol or better, acetone (don't flood it with the Acetone !). Or sand it to roughing it up (I use a 1 inch belt sander, running the length over the top loop of the revolving strip. I then CA it down in spots, make sure it is FLAT (use push pins between the ties to JUST hold the tops of the rails down [NOT to push it down hard] or you'll bow the rail here and there from them), then put more CA on at strategic locations.

When you get done with any method, the ballast will be DROWNED in diluted white glue so THAT will hold it down.

Note: MTL flex track has the last 4 ties held parallel. If you are splicing in a curve, I suggest you cut off about an 1" or more so you get a smooth flexible curve. Prebend it first, then cut as it is hard to get the radius smooth all the way to the end. Märklin flex does not flex without cutting notches in between every few ties (read the instructions in the box). You must COMPLETELY cut the space between the ties so there is a gap. You don't have to do this with Peco flex.

Solder a feed every few feet / sections. I solder to the bottom of the rail joiner. No need to solder the rail at the joiners, unless it is in a tunnel. Power requirements are nothing in Z so even a crappy connection will run trains.

Oh, prepaint the rail with ROOF Brown from Floquil (Testers), not Rail brown. Use that on spurs as it is definitely NOT the color of weathered track. Put several sections of track down on a newspaper or better, a piece of carboard (doesn't blow in wind or stick as easy to the track). Wrap a good paper towel or rag around a wood block (to make a flat surface that does touch below the rails, wiping the paint off the ties. Wet it with 100% Isopropal Alcohol (IPA), or 91%, so it is stronger against the paint that watered down ordinary 70% IPA. Spray the rail from an angle and then go do the other side. Wipe the tops of the rail IMMEDIATELY so it comes off easy. 1 minute later and you'll really have to work at it. I paint before I lay but make sure your MTL flex is prebent as you won't be able to easily do it after. Märklin or Peco Flex you can. Itf you lay first, then paint, mask all your pink or blue foam as it will desolve it somewhat.

sorry, I just wrote an essay and see that I was replying to a post 2 weeks old. ZCS does NOT show me the most recent post when the thread gets too long.

SJ-BAZ-man wrote:

...prepaint the rail with ROOF Brown from Floquil (Testers), not Rail brown. Use that on spurs as it is definitely NOT the color of weathered track.

A minor point... real rail appears in a veritable rainbow of possible colors. To be sure, both Roof Brown and Rail Brown are fine for weathered rail. Some years back I compared a chip of Rail Brown paint to the rail of an active mainline near my home, and it was a dead-on match... but you can also find rail that ranges from a ruddy orange-reddish color to nearly black, with all sorts of shades and hues in between. It all depends on the locale, age of the rail, amount of use, and a myriad other factors.

I like the idea of using double side tape:woohoo: , thank you, Charles