# Fits and starts



## beachbum (May 1, 2010)

After several cycles of, "I could do this or I could do that", I've decided to go with an L-shape HO shelfie in my train room. 

The legs will be approx. 9'8" each. One leg is limited since I don't want a duckunder or liftout (yet) and the other leg is limited by a 16-in bump out in the basement wall. In retrospect, I probably should have walled off a square or rectangular space, but...

I originally hung doubleslotted shelf stanchions but for whatever reason, I couldn't get the bloody things to line up across the two walls so I had an unwanted slope. Took the stanchions out and tried $2 L-shaped shelf brackets. Nope. Even with a ledger line around the room, I couldn't get those things level and you need something wider than a wall stud to anchor them if you want to use all three screw holes. Finally got ticked off enough to buy the $10 steel brackets. 

Now I wonder if I should have just built L-girders, which I've done for a couple layouts in the past. Might have been quicker and cheaper.

I have several surplus hollow core doors, which I snagged for free, so I'll be using those for benchwork. I'll probably glue 1-in foam on them and caulk the track to the foam, but I might just use 1/4-in fanfold for roadbed on "naked" doors. Regular cork is too thick for my tastes and I don't like WS foam roadbed. HoPoLo roll sheet cork is too thin and I'm not sure I want to order a bazillion square feet of thicker cork underlayment.

I've used 2-in foam in the past, but it's a hassle to cut in the Lowes parking lot to fit into my car, so if I ditch the HCDs, I'll be laminating a couple layers of 1-in for subroadbed.

Track plan will be something modified out of a Mindheim book or I might model a transload spur in Miami that I stumbled on - several different tankers and hoppers with railserved warehouses "in back".


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

If you haven't made your final decision on what to overlay your
wood surface, check out the 1/4" paper covered foam in the
Walmart Crafts department. Some is black, I used it as the
track base in my yards. It's also available in white and...gasp...pink 
WM has 2 crafts sections, adult and childrens, they have
different versions. All of it is very cheap.

I assume Hobby Lobby and Michaels will also stock this stuff.

Don


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## beachbum (May 1, 2010)

How does it stand up to water and glue? Does the paper swell or peel off?

To my eye, 1/4-in looks about right for the ballast profile unless it's a heavy duty mainline. I have a cheap matte cutter from Michael's that I would use to bevel the sides of roadbed. Fanfold foam is about $35 around here for more foam than I'd need.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Elmer's glue will warp the 1/4" paper covered foam but that is easily
resolved with a tack or two. Glue does not distort the surface and the paper does not
peel off. It's so cheap you could buy a sheet or two and see if it meets your needs.

Another plus, it's very easy to cut with a hobby knife and it does
not make any foam bead mess when you do so.

Don


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

*Extreme lateness to thread*: Just thought I'd mention, HO cork is not 1/4" thick like the crafts foam, it's 3/16" thick...
Can be a headache to try to match the two later on... Either go all that type foam, or all cork or the Woodland Scenics track bed foam (also 3/16" I believe (or bevel-ieve !).... *M*


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

There are quite a few links out there on how to build a shelf layout. Not sure why you're tryin to reinvent the wheel with other material.


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## bewhole (Dec 31, 2016)

Or You can go with something like this.


https://www.amazon.com/Quartet-Corkboard-Bulletin-Natural-103/dp/B003H93FFS


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