Progress

It took a while to sort out the intricacies of the PVC "stand". In the end, I probably spent more than I meant to. There was some trial and error and if it was wrong I would redo with new fittings. The final result, however, was a very sturdy and light structure...

PVC "Stand"

The PVC was tearing up the foam slab so I added a subtop of 5mm underlayment to make a flatter surface to mount the foam on...

5mm Underlayment

The support frame probably needs adjustment but that's just a matter of turning a leg up or down to level things out. The foam slab isn't fastened to the subtop yet, but will be if and when I find the Liquid Nails I bought. In the meantime I decided to lay the slab down and start gluing the track plan...

Track Plan Glued in Place

In the past I've used wall paper paste. I don't like what happens to the paper when it gets wet. This time I glued the plan to the foam using a spray adhesive. I bought the cheapest I found at Home Depot. I made sure to try it on some scrap foam first. Nothing like having your new layout dissolve into goo on the floor. I carefully laid out the two halfs of the plan and rolling up one end covered about 6" of the foam with adhesive. I placed the paper down and used a dust brush to smooth it out. I kept going like this a foot at a time until both sheets of paper were fastened to the foam.

I actually impressed myself with the results. I must be getting the hang of this.

I laid out some foam roadbed strips to get an idea how the next step would go. I made my own foam pins using piano wire. I cut a 4" length of wire and bent the last inch 90 degrees...

Foam Pin 

I pinned down the on strip making sure it matched the center line on the track plan. This will form the center of the spline...

Foam Roadbed

At this point I modified the track plan by running the spline in a different direction. Rather than have the double loop shown in the track plan I decided for a single loop on the outside. The inner loop will form a branch that serves the mine at the top of the grade...

Modified Plan

I then laid out the adjacent strips, staggering the joints. At this point nothing was glued down yet so the joint looks bad. This is OK, this section of the spline isn't complete yet...

Staggered Joint

To glue all this foam together I use Aileen's tack glue. I accumulated quite a bit building the last layout. A lot of people insist it's not a permanent adhesive. They should try using it. I've had excellent results...

Tacky Glue

 

To build the spline I ran a bead of glue down the track center line of the plan. I placed the foam down and then slid it back and forth to spread the glue evenly. I pinned the foam down temporarily and stated on the outside strips...

Building the Spline

I ran a bead of glue along side the center strip and then anothe bead down the side of the strip. Again I slid the strip back and forthe and up and down to spread the glue. I did the same for the other strip. You can see that the loose joint shown earlier has now tightened quite well...

Three Strip Spline

In previous projects I used drywal screws as clamps to hold the strips together. I usually left the screws in. This time around I have a bunch of real clamps. I got out my clamp box and went to town...

Box O Clamps

As you can see, I made liberal use of them...

Spline Glued Up and Clamped.

The roadbed for the branch up to the mine will be laid after I put down some ballast strip and track. I want to run some trains!

Regards

Frank Musick