# Attaching track to styrofoam



## zipper69 (Jan 11, 2010)

Tables are completed. Options to cover tables.
1. paint table
2. styrofoam sheets
3. indoor - outdoor carpet

What is best?
If one uses styrofoam, how do you screw your track down?? longer screws? I'm using the original metal tubular track.

I presume u can paint the styrofoam any color and carve it as well are the positives.

thx,
Mr. Bill


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Good question ...

I recently hot-glued cork "track bed" directly to pink foam with good success. Strong adhesion. But then, I wanted to fasten the track to the cork/foam combo. Little nails didn't have enough holding power / friction in the cork alone, and none at all in the foam. So, I resorted to the (not so great) nails in track, plus liberal dabs of Elmer's glue to hold the track ties to the cork.

But I'd bet someone else has a better methodology ...

TJ


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Ohh ...

There's different types of styrofoam ...

* The white stuff that is used as packaging material. I'd shy away from this, as it's made of compressed little round pellets of foam, all squished together. But there's very little structural durability here.

* The pink (or blue) extruded stuff that you'd buy at Home Depot for insulation. Carves / cuts easy. Very homogenous throughout. Paints nicely ... but use only water-based paint (acrylic), not oil-based paint, as the latter will chemically react with (and "goo") the foam.

I covered the principal flat area of my layout with Woodland Scenics grass and gravel (the stuff you shake out of a jar onto a layer of glue). But I pre-painted the board in dark green, first, to avoid any "off spots" of color showing through the "grass".


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

A lot of people swear by silcone caulk; you can even get it in black, if you look. The idea is to affix your purty pink sheets of foam to the table with adhesive, then use just lil dabs of silicone to affix roadbed to the foam and the track to the roadbed. That way, when you eventually change your mind, it peels off without a lot of trouble. Like, say, when you rework the layout, need to add a switch, or move and have to dismantle it all.


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