Track bed preparation
Following the purchase of two rolls of 3mm cork at the St. Andrews model railway exhibition, the rolls were cut into 35mm wide strips.
The track locations that had been marked of the baseboard were checked and the first area of straight track markings was painted over with undiluted PVA glue.
A piece of cork was also painted on the underside with undiluted PVA, placed over the marked location and stuck down.
This was allowed to dry before the next straight piece was laid.
The next experiment with cork was to get some glued down on the outside rail curves, which are third radius.
For this, a cork strip was cut lengthways into three pieces and each piece laid on PVA glue separately.
High-level goods track
For the higher level end to end track at the back of the layout, Kingspan insulation was cut into 30mm wide strips, the insulation being 90mm thick.
These strips of insulation were fixed to the baseboard with a grip adhesive, and coated on the front face with undiluted PVA glue to seal in the dust.
A 60mm wide strip of 9mm plywood was fixed to the top and held in place until the adhesive had dried.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The insulation being cut to 30mm wide and the plywood to 60mm wide was deliberate - the insulation is against the wall and securely fixed, the plywood overhanging by up to 30mm. This is to allow the middle (low level) track to have the maximum clearance at the 'stations' - a measurement which I have not worked out yet, but giving a few extra mm under the high level trackbed at this stage will not hurt, and allows for more creative ways to fill in any gaps.
The plywood sections for the corners have been marked out, cut and fettled. All of the plywood has since been painted a dark brown colour. The corner pieces have, for now, not been fixed into position, as I think that it will be easier to fit the cork before fixing the wood in place.
More cork is needed to complete the track bed as there are only about four pieces left, however another two rolls would probably complete this part of the work for all three tracks, and another roll would be useful for bringing items up to track height.
Materials:
2x Rolls 3mm thick cork 900mm x 300mm - www.cm3models.co.uk
3x Rolls 3mm thick cork (on order).
PVA glue - Wickes.
Sika Stixall adhesive / No More Nails original adhesive. (Sika stuff sets faster)
Plywood 9mm - remains of original sheets from B&Q.