# Laying Foam Roadbed



## Flash53 (Dec 19, 2009)

I am about to start laying track and have 2 questions that I would like help on. The track will be on 1" extruded foam sub roadbed which is laying on 1/4" plywood.

- I plan on using WS foam as the roadbed and I'm not sure that best way to attach the WS foam to the extruded foam? I'm guessing liquid nails or some other type of glue.

- Should I be putting plaster cloth or a skim coat of plaster over the extruded foam before gluing or whatever the foam roadbed?

Sorry if this is covered in another thread.

Steve


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Steve,

Fuzzy partial answer (thought, really) on my part ...

Home center stores (Home Depot, etc.) sell an adhesive (in a caulk-gun style tube) specifically formulated for pink-stuff rigid foam insulation. You might experiment with that, before you go the Liquid Nails, route. That said, Liq Nails actually offers several products, some of which might be formulated for use with insulation foam.

You might consider quick-tacking the WS foam down with a few dabs of hot glue (for a quick grab), in addition to the base adhesive.

Best to check adhesion / material compatibility on some scraps before jumping into the real job.

Cheers,

TJ


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## swiggy (Jan 25, 2010)

i used low temp hot glue - you have to be somewhat quick, but it works well.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

Standard Liquid Nails will not adhere to foam. You need to get Liquid Nails for foam. Liquid Nails is just a brand name. There are other companies that also make adhesives for foam.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

For track laying on foam board, I use Liquid Nails or similar brand made for foam board compatibility. I use cork to raise the track above grade, Look at the real thing. Since you can't nail track into foam, I laid my track on the cork and used thinned Elmer's white glue to fasten my ballast down after spraying the surface with thinned dish soap or straight 70% rubbing alcohol. That was 10 years ago and the track hasn't moved. Since I am an American Flyer collector/modeler and use Flyer track, the track size doesn't matter. It has stayed put. Of course there was a lot more ballast needed. When I was in HO a life time ago, I used the same method then too except 45 years ago we didn't know about foam board. Just glued the cork to the plywood and used the glued ballast method to hold the track in place. Saved me from having to use those little bitty nails. 
Oh and another thing. When using the glued ballast method I described, invest in some "T" pins to hold the track in place while the glue dries. 

Kenny


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Whatever adhesive you use, use it SPARINGLY. Just a dab here and there is sufficient. It is likely that you
will make changes later and by going easy on the glue it will be much easier to do.

Don


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I'm sure the original poster, after a 10 year absence from the boards, will be looking for this advice shortly!!!!


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## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

CTValleyRR said:


> I'm sure the original poster, after a 10 year absence from the boards, will be looking for this advice shortly!!!!











Lighten up, Francis.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

CTValleyRR said:


> I'm sure the original poster, after a 10 year absence from the boards, will be looking for this advice shortly!!!!


Well, he was back 4 months ago... From his profile...

*Last seen 4 mo ago*


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