Mudkip Dentetsu 2.0!

[Mudkip Orange]

I've passed my 90-day with the tech support gig and have moved to an apartment within an easy bicycle ride of work. This means there is now once again time to resume layout construction.

I've got a space earmarked for the module I started building at the last pad, but it's a little shorter. So I marked out the new space (1st photo), stripped off the foam (2nd photo), and cut it down to size (3rd photo). I also fashioned a workbench from some scrap wood left over from another furniture project (4th photo).

I was all ready to start playing with spackle when I noticed this weird hump in the layout (5th photo). Of course there's only one thing you can do, drill an exploratory well! (6th photo). You can see how the two layers of foam have separated; I think this might have something to do with how wood glue cures in an airtight environment, and I'm thinking I might need to find another adhesive if I want to continue with "wedding cake" foam construction.

I hollowed out the inside of the reverse loop and went down to the next level (7th photo), where everything is as it should be. A little trimming and I got part of the mountain piece to nestle in the hollowed out portion (8th photo). Rather than rejigger the tunnel I'm just going to go with an open cut at this point.

[Kamiyacho]

I generally use a silicone adhesive like Liquid Nails. Takes a while to completely set, though.

[Bernard]

Muddy - I like Curt use either "Liquid Nails for Foam projects" or PL-300, whichever my Hardware store stocks. PL-300 comes out as a purple cream and smells, but I like the way it cures. 

[KenS]

I've used yellow carpenters glue (Tightbond brand) for foam to foam connections without any problems.  Without pores as there would be in wood the bond isn't as strong, and the glue may never fully dry if there's no path for the moisture to get out as it cures, but neither of those really matter for scenery under most circumstances (although in a portable layout a stronger bond might be preferable).

The way the foam buckled up with a gap suggests that either there was a volatile compound that reacted with the styrene (not likely with a wood glue) or that perhaps the wood changed shape due to a significant change in humidity. If it was very humid when you glued the foam down, and it's much drier now, the wood would contract and the foam wouldn't. I painted my baseboards (both sides) before attaching foam to minimize that risk. That reduces the effectiveness of the glue as it plugs the pores on the wood that the glue can attach to, although there's still enough surface roughness on both painted wood and foam to give it a grip.

[cteno4]

yes it a good practice to seal your wood base up with some sort of sealer, varnish or paint before adding something like foam like this if you have a thin base as humidity changes can cause things like this to happen! it can also happen if the ply was not fully dried when you got it and then it just slowly drys out over times. the luan and birch ply has been all over the place the last few years from the big box stores. had one batch of birch 1/4" ply delaminate with painting, luan that has so much formaldehyde in it that i had to drive with the windows down in the car with eyes tearing!

the jrm 2.0 layout modules were nice and flat when constructed so we sealed them with two coats of verathane and they were perfect. then we painted the tops with some latex paint and they all warped a bit. looks like the latex paint shrunk up some when it dried and puckered the bases some (like 2mm or so). with time most of this went away, but it is amazing how little stresses like this over a large surface area can then cause humps, puckers, warps, etc...

like curt and bernard, ive liked the liquid nails or other insulation caulking glues for the foam the best. takes a couple of hours to cure, but very good bond and the stuff made for the foam insulation does not eat it and seems to not cause any warping with curing..

cheers

jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

Thanks for the advice y'all. Will definitely consider liquid nails (and other ways of mitigating the effect of Houston's humidity on 5mm hardboard).

I love spackle. Got 12 pounds of it ready go. And with that, the makings of a coastline, a highway underpass, and some convenient beach parking.

Tentative track plan is attached. No AutoCAD, because that's installed on the other computer, which is... not working at the moment.

[Bernard]

Muddy - You're really moving along at a good pace, and it looks great!
I also like spackle, are you using the light-weight spackle?
I found it to be the easiest and best results when I made my tram track lines. Also I like sculpt-a-mold, it's a paper mache material that adds texture to coastlines, mountains, etc. and very easy to use and to clean up.

[cteno4]

i also like the sculptimold as its lightweight and easy to, well, sculpt! cheap when you get the big bag at the craft store with one of the 40 or 50% off coupons.

i guess im not a fan of spackle after repairing the skim coat on our old 1915 house's plaster walls on the cove ceilings! i got way too intimate with 5 gallon buckets of spackle to re-texture the areas where the skim/texture coat had come off!

have fun sculpting your coastline!

cheers

jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

As it turns out, el cheapo drywall compound takes FOREVER to set when you spread it on an inch thick and leave it in a cool apartment to dry. It also cracks.

We made extensive use of sculptamold on the HO layouts I built as a kid, and while it was fun then, the lumpy texture isn't something I'm really going for. I like smooth slopes, and this preference is especially accurate in Japan, where it seems like there's no coastline untouched by retaining walls and tetrahedrons.

Plaster of Paris? Sculptamold with a "topcoat" of spackle to smooth things? Who knows... in the meantime I'm just going to apply it in smaller layers.

[Mudkip Orange]

The beach, road, and surrounding environs are beginning to take shape.

But it's taking long enough that I'm considering the possibility of building a parallel, unsceniced layout to run trains on while I take my sweet time with the module I'm working on now.

[Mudkip Orange]

Here's the current state of the layout.

I haven't worked on it much in the last month, because (i) I was waiting for my track to show up from Hattons, and (ii) by the time I got the track I was seriously being considered for a job in PA.

They've now awarded me that job. Finally, a salary that will allow me to pick up the Keihan 3000 before it goes out of production forever and ever. They want to start me right away, so by the end of next week both this layout and most of my other non-essential possessions will be in storage here in HOU, and everything else will be in a cargo hold on its way to Amish Paradise. I may drag the first layout I built out of my parents' basement to have something to play with in the interim.

[Martijn Meerts]

Congrats on the new job!

Of course, we now expect you to post more often in the "what did the post deliver" thread =)

[Bernard]

Congrats on the new job.....do you have to re-locate? 

[Mudkip Orange]

The last two months have been difficult... I left the power tools and the bulk pack of flex track in storage in Houston, so I've had an income, spare time... and nothing to build a layout with.

All that is to change soon though.

[Bernard]

How do you like the new job?
It can be frustrating having your layout and tools in one place and you're living in another, I know it all too well. 

[Mudkip Orange]

Layout is on hold indefinitely pending my potential deployment to the middle east...

[Bernard]

Layout is on hold indefinitely pending my potential deployment to the middle east...

You're going to the Middle East?

[Mudkip Orange]

I have a "contingent" offer from a contractor, pending security clearances, background checks, a physical, 2 months of hoops to jump through. If it pans out, I'll spend a year over there and - barring explosive death - will return with enough money to pay off my student loans and invest in a decent fleet expansion for the Mudkip Electric Express Railway.

Of course if it doesn't pan out I'll just build the 3x6 I've already got most of the supplies for already.

[Bernard]

I afraid to ask, but....where in the Middle East would you possibly be deployed?

[Mudkip Orange]

95% chance it'll be Iraq, although the thing you sign basically says "I'm cool with whatever" e.g. Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, etc.