Wisbech Model Railway Club have used cork tiles and they were extremely reliable to use. So reliable in fact, unless you already knew, you would never know.
Cork underlay
I thought that some of you may be interested in what I have used as cork underlay on the layout that I recently started. I bought from Wickes for £7.55 a packet of nine cork floor tiles 1/8th inch thick. They are 1 foot or 305mm square. I cut them into strips 38mm wide and so got eight strips from each tile. This gives me 72ft of underlay at a bargain price I think.
I found that on my 3ft radius curves it was best to divide each strip in half and lay these separately as it was difficult to get the full width strip to bend to that radius. Some may not like the idea of using such short strips, but I found it easy to lay a foot at a time. Glueing it down while accurately placing it to the pencil line on the baseboard was pretty simple with such short lengths. I used peco's long, very fine pins, pushed in only half way, to hold it down while the glue set. These are then easy to remove later.
I found that on my 3ft radius curves it was best to divide each strip in half and lay these separately as it was difficult to get the full width strip to bend to that radius. Some may not like the idea of using such short strips, but I found it easy to lay a foot at a time. Glueing it down while accurately placing it to the pencil line on the baseboard was pretty simple with such short lengths. I used peco's long, very fine pins, pushed in only half way, to hold it down while the glue set. These are then easy to remove later.
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I also use cork tiles but for O they are 3in wide and to get round curves I have cut the across at 3/4in to within 1in of the width and this allows them to be slightly opened out on the outside of the curve. Most of mine were 4mm thick and about £1.99 a pact of 9 when bought. Still have enough lengths to do the layout again almost. They were bought in the early 80's! how times change.
regards
mike g
regards
mike g
Sorry for the late reply as I've been away for a few days.
I tried cutting a bevel on the first piece but it wasn't very successful so I decided not to bother. The sloping edge will be formed by the ballast when I do that.
I tried cutting a bevel on the first piece but it wasn't very successful so I decided not to bother. The sloping edge will be formed by the ballast when I do that.
QUOTE (Robert Stokes @ 14 Oct 2007, 20:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I tried cutting a bevel on the first piece but it wasn't very successful so I decided not to bother. The sloping edge will be formed by the ballast when I do that.
Same here. The bevel seemed like a good idea at the time, and in theory was straight forward to do, but it was a lot harder than anticipated. The ballast that I have put down so far creates a nice bevel anyway.
Same here. The bevel seemed like a good idea at the time, and in theory was straight forward to do, but it was a lot harder than anticipated. The ballast that I have put down so far creates a nice bevel anyway.
I have been using Laminate flooring underlay, the dense form type. Works really well.
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