# Laying Roadbed



## THE TYCO MAN (Aug 23, 2011)

I'm building a 4'X6' layout in HO. Sectional track and 22" curves. How do you get the right figure for the road bed so it follows the curves? Also, can the cork be glued down to plywood with wood glue or is there something better?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

I used hot glue to adhere my cork ... works great and quick ... a few dabs of hot glue every couple of inches. Split the cork into left/right halves. Draw a centerline down the middle of your track path. Begin hot-glueing one half of cork abutting that centerline, but apply glue (to the ply) for only about 18" of length. Once that's down (it'll only take a few seconds to hold), leave the remaining length of cork dangling (unglued), and now work with the mating half ... hot glue that down for 18" of length. As you go around curves, stagger the end-joints of the left and right halves.

TJ


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## THE TYCO MAN (Aug 23, 2011)

How can I draw a center line? I know the nail holes are in the center.


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## JPIII (Jun 24, 2012)

The easiest way is to make a compass or use trammel points.
A nail thru a small board for a center pivot point then attach a pencil or magic marker of your choice 22" from the nail.Swing a radius with your cheep compass. I had a heck of a time finding a set trammel points (removable/adjustable attachments for each end of the board) & when I found em' they weren't cheep.......but I can (once again) swing a radius or make one line square to another using any board length you can find.
Not much use for an old layout guy these days........


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Ditto.

Or, tie a string around a pencil. Hold the other end (or nail it) at the center of your curve circle. Swing an arc. It's that simple.

HO track radius is measured to the CENTER of the rails. (That's not the case with some other gauges ... O, for example.)

TJ


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## txdyna65 (Aug 17, 2012)

tjcruiser said:


> Ditto.
> 
> Or, tie a string around a pencil. Hold the other end (or nail it) at the center of your curve circle. Swing an arc. It's that simple.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this TJ, Im in the process of laying my corkbed and was having a heck of a time with marking centerlines, going to go give it a try


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## dfischer (Nov 14, 2012)

JPIII said:


> The easiest way is to make a compass or use trammel points.
> A nail thru a small board for a center pivot point then attach a pencil or magic marker of your choice 22" from the nail.Swing a radius with your cheep compass. I had a heck of a time finding a set trammel points (removable/adjustable attachments for each end of the board) & when I found em' they weren't cheep.......but I can (once again) swing a radius or make one line square to another using any board length you can find.
> Not much use for an old layout guy these days........


This is really a dumb question I guess....but I know now to draw the curve. But, how in the world do you locate the point that is the center of the circle? As near as I can tell, in most cases on my layout, that point is in the aisle somewhere! I'm sure I must be missing something here...

Thanks.

Dfischer


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## broox (Apr 13, 2012)

If the centrepoint is in the middle of the aisle, get a clamp or 2 and a length of timber. hang the timber into the aisle, clamp it, and use your string and pencil from the centrepoint on the timber.


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## fotoflojoe (Dec 31, 2011)

I used DAP Alex Plus 2 caulking for setting roadbed and track. Lay down a paper-thin layer, then set roadbed using tjcruiser's method listed above. Roadbed is held in place with push-pins until caulking sets - which takes about 60-90 minutes. I was too nervous to use hot glue, I didn't think I could get everything in place fast enough before it would set.

I've since had to replace a couple sections of track, due to being too optimistic about minimum radius . Even though the caulking holds very well, it's still easy to remove both track and roadbed using just a putty knife.


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

I will second using hot glue. Try and pick up a dual temp got glue gun, they have them at walmart for about 9 bucks. I prefer the long sticks.

With using a dual temp you can glue anything.

High setting for cork,wood,metal, materials like these.
Low setting for using say foam roadbed or gluing roadbed to foam, you dont want to burn through it, because you will have one big hole using the high setting 

I personally think hot glue is the way to go, its easy, fast, and it gets you running trains faster:thumbsup:

My second option would be caulk since i always have a abundance of it.

I just never understood gluing down track and having to find all sorts of heavy objects just to keep weight down on the track, while waiting for the glue to dry, although many people prefer this method using push pins etc..


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