# The best type of wood for a 4x8 layout



## juststartingout

What do you all use?


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## Reckers

Most of us go with either plywood or the multiple-strand board, topped with a sheet of extruded foam insulation. Screws and nails hold well on the board, and the foam deadens sound and allows terrain and accessories to be readily installed. Thickness of each is determined by the size of your layout, scale, and what sort of terrain you plan. A plaster mountain adds weight and you don't want your underlayment flexing. 

Best wishes on it!


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## raleets

Hi,
I'm using exterior grade 3/4" plywood for a base with a 1" pink foamboard from Home Depot ($12.98) on top of that. I painted the pink foamboard with grass-colored latex-based paint applied with a smooth roller.
It looks and works pretty decent. I'm running three trains and the noise level is reasonable, particularly when I crank up the oldies on the stereo! I'll be soon adding lots of buildings and scenery. I plan to sprinkle "grass", "dirt", etc. on top of the green paint, which should provide a pretty good cover.
Not "pro grade", but OK for a noobie so far! 
Bob


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## shaygetz

Furniture grade red oak and poplar...:thumbsup:...a little pricey but it goes over well with my beloved


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## raleets

WOW!! Double WOW, WOW!!!!
Now, that's what I call classy.
Way cool. Thanks for sharing.
Bob


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## cabledawg

MDF for the smoothness (I dont have foam on top of mine), its sturdy, and cheap. But if you have high humidity issues, I wouldnt use MDF. Anything like a garage or some basements.


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## juststartingout

shaygetz said:


> Furniture grade red oak and poplar...:thumbsup:...a little pricey but it goes over well with my beloved


HOLY COW!

I think I'll be sticking with something a bit less expensive.....hwell:

It's going in the garage.

Thanks for the help.
:thumbsup:


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## jzrouterman

juststartingout said:


> What do you all use?


I used a couple of insulation/sound panels mounted to frames consisting of 2 x 4s. It's a two level 4 x 8 layout. The legs are 2 x 4s also. For the frames, I originally was going to use 1 x 4s, but I got such a great deal on the 2 x 4s, I just went ahead and used them instead. The entire table from the ground up (not counting any train stuff) cost me $85.00 in material to build, partly because of the addition of a 2 x 6 cap I put around it, the paint for the cap and the extra wood it took to build the control panel, some cloth hanging around all four sides and some velcro. I bought all the wood at Lowes. I bought the insulation/sound panels at Home Depot, for $7.90 a 4 x8 sheet. I bought the cloth and the velcro at Hancock's material store.

I chose this insulation/sound material because it was cheap, very light and it holds track nails very snug, but at the same time allows me to pull up the track if need be and relay it somewhere else without tearing up the ties while doing so. Plus, with it already being a sound insulating board, it cuts down the sound of the train running accross the track. I'm very pleased with it and with how the entire table turned out. 

My wife suggested to me, the other night, of running an extention from it to along the wall. Sort of a shelf layout, if you will, around 18 inches in depth and along three walls for the construction of a rail yard along with maybe a few other interesting immedities. Bless her heart, she knows a lot about trains. She grew up next to the St. Louis freight yards. 

Routerman


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## juststartingout

jzrouterman said:


> I used a couple of insulation/sound panels mounted to frames consisting of 2 x 4s. It's a two level 4 x 8 layout. The legs are 2 x 4s also. For the frames, I originally was going to use 1 x 4s, but I got such a great deal on the 2 x 4s, I just went ahead and used them instead. The entire table from the ground up (not counting any train stuff) cost me $85.00 in material to build, partly because of the addition of a 2 x 6 cap I put around it, the paint for the cap and the extra wood it took to build the control panel, some cloth hanging around all four sides and some velcro. I bought all the wood at Lowes. I bought the insulation/sound panels at Home Depot, for $7.90 a 4 x8 sheet. I bought the cloth and the velcro at Hancock's material store.
> 
> I chose this insulation/sound material because it was cheap, very light and it holds track nails very snug, but at the same time allows me to pull up the track if need be and relay it somewhere else without tearing up the ties while doing so. Plus, with it already being a sound insulating board, it cuts down the sound of the train running accross the track. I'm very pleased with it and with how the entire table turned out.
> 
> My wife suggested to me, the other night, of running an extention from it to along the wall. Sort of a shelf layout, if you will, around 18 inches in depth and along three walls for the construction of a rail yard along with maybe a few other interesting immedities. Bless her heart, she knows a lot about trains. She grew up next to the St. Louis freight yards.
> 
> Routerman


Sounds nice. I'd like to see a picture of that!


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## MattyVoodoo

Good One Side Plywood 3/4".


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## jbsmith966

this
http://www.lowes.com/pd_12271-99999..._prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1


stay away from particle board!


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## 74charger

I've got some really cheap stuff, but I'm going to cover it in something that doesn't have lint. I'm also keeping my table in my basement. It's all made of crappy wood that I pulled from a dumpster untill I get a better idea of what direction I want to go in.


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## tjcruiser

Just a quick note on identifying plywood quality ...

Look at the number of wood plys in a sheet ... the more the better, for dimensional stability. Also, make sure each layer is fabricated with all voids (i.e., any knot holes filled).

TJ


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## skypup

jzrouterman said:


> I used a couple of insulation/sound panels mounted to frames consisting of 2 x 4s. It's a two level 4 x 8 layout. The legs are 2 x 4s also. For the frames, I originally was going to use 1 x 4s, but I got such a great deal on the 2 x 4s, I just went ahead and used them instead. The entire table from the ground up (not counting any train stuff) cost me $85.00 in material to build, partly because of the addition of a 2 x 6 cap I put around it, the paint for the cap and the extra wood it took to build the control panel, some cloth hanging around all four sides and some velcro. I bought all the wood at Lowes. I bought the insulation/sound panels at Home Depot, for $7.90 a 4 x8 sheet. I bought the cloth and the velcro at Hancock's material store.
> 
> I chose this insulation/sound material because it was cheap, very light and it holds track nails very snug, but at the same time allows me to pull up the track if need be and relay it somewhere else without tearing up the ties while doing so. Plus, with it already being a sound insulating board, it cuts down the sound of the train running accross the track. I'm very pleased with it and with how the entire table turned out.
> 
> My wife suggested to me, the other night, of running an extention from it to along the wall. Sort of a shelf layout, if you will, around 18 inches in depth and along three walls for the construction of a rail yard along with maybe a few other interesting immedities. Bless her heart, she knows a lot about trains. She grew up next to the St. Louis freight yards.
> 
> Routerman




Great idea. Think I'm going to use it too. I just checked and had a piece. I've used this stuff for years to cover my benches for building model airplanes. It's the best for holding pins. How would I secure flex track? Spikes?


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## jzrouterman

skypup said:


> Great idea. Think I'm going to use it too. I just checked and had a piece. I've used this stuff for years to cover my benches for building model airplanes. It's the best for holding pins. How would I secure flex track? Spikes?


Though 1/2 track nails work well, on curved sections of flex track however, my experience has been that 3/4 inch nails work even better. Lowes sells these as BRADS rather than as nails. Same thing though.

Routerman


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## skypup

jzrouterman said:


> Though 1/2 track nails work well, on curved sections of flex track however, my experience has been that 3/4 inch nails work even better. Lowes sells these as BRADS rather than as nails. Same thing though.
> 
> Routerman


Just the brads or do you also glue the sections once spiked? Thanks.


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## jzrouterman

skypup said:


> Just the brads or do you also glue the sections once spiked? Thanks.


I just use the brads. I've never glued the track down. As long as the curves don't have a smaller radius than 18 inches, there are enough nailholes in it to secure it with brads. Of course, if you feel that it's not enough, then you can always drill through a few more ties. Either way, in the future, the track can be easily removed if desired. But then of course, if you desire, you can glue the track down. A lot of model railroaders do. I've just preferred not to.

Routerman


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