any disadvantages ?

I have just stopped working for myself and have a load of bench's built into the loft these are ideal for my new layout apart from they have 6mm MDF tops,  there very strong with easy access underneath for routing cables
They are strong well put together and it would be a shame to pull them out so,
I thought about gluing 5mm Foam Board onto the MDF to create a new surface and use double sided tape to anchor the track down. Can anyone see any disadvantages to this method.

p.s. the layout will never move out of the loft

George

Lucky you with all that bench-work - heavy but very solid. :thumbs

I'd tend to go for cork for the surface George but you'd still have to drill the MDF to get the pins in - it's too hard to nail into.

Max uses MDF in Australia - I suspect it might be very slightly softer than the UK stuff but he always drills first. 

Of course, with the double sided tape, there's no need to pierce the surface with anything (except point motors) but re-positioning the track might be a problem.  I've never, ever laid track in the right place first time around …………..

George, I'm not clear why you feel the need to put a surface on top of the mdf.  I have used 9mm mdf for baseboard tops (left over from lining the shed) and haven't had any problems.  A cork trackbed has been stuck down onto the mdf with pva glue bought from the £1 shop.  Buildings have been stuck down with the same glue.  I can't recall any problems in getting track pins into the surface, but maybe I pre-drilled as recommended by Peter.

Terry

i used a mixture of plywood and mdf for my baseboards and i used the sort of pins you use on a pinboard,the sort with plastic heads and they went into mdf ok.i did use a mini tapometer but no problem.

Rather than foamboard or cork I'd go for closed-cell foam sheet, similar to what is marketed as trackbed by the likes of Woodland Scenics and DCC Concepts.  But their products are very expensive, and for my layout I bought Plastazote foam in 2m x 1m sheets from here:-

http://www.thamesvalleysupplies.co.uk/plastazote.php

The LD33 density is about right and I used 5mm thickness, and this is almost identical to the WS product. It's also black so the right colour for a track base. It's very easy to cut, and for the scenic areas I just cut it roughly making sure it was wider than needed. This allowed for adjustments when tracklaying, and once the track was fixed in place it was easy with a craft knife to cut at an angle along the sides to create the ballast shoulder.

The foam is simply glued to the baseboard with builder's PVA, and a slightly better PVA (Evostik Woodworking Adhesive) used to glue the track to the foam bed, with a bead of glue every 2-3 sleepers.  This is more than adequate to hold the track in place, even in my storage yards where there is no ballasting. 

In my view track pins are difficult to insert, don't look too good and can easily distort the track if you're not careful. The pins also act as sounding posts and will transmit all the track noise to the baseboard.

Morning gentlemen and thanks for all the reply s,

The thoughts behind using 5mm foam board where.

1/ the ability to scribe lines into it for cobbles/sets

2/ improved sound insulation ( so I am told )

3/ the ability to remove a small area and insert buildings rather that sit them on the top

4/ Light weight, takes paint well
5/ the ability to remove the paper on a small are to re-create different surface textures

disadvantages there are always some

1/ easily dented by dropping something onto it 
2/ not sure there are any more

Plastazote is a material I have had experience with in a previous life and to be honest had not consider on this occasionbut may well now. interesting how you fastened the track down to it

Anyway must disappear as breakfast calls

George

My opinion, for what it's worth George, is that none of those "advantages" are sufficiently important, or unique, to warrent the use of foam board.

In fact, to me, in modelling a railway, some could turn into disadvantages.

Just goes to show you always pick up different ideas from forums.Well George I hope your loft is dry, and well insulated. I hate MDF with a passion, on about the same level as Sundeala. Use MDF in the slightest damp area and watch your boards 'creep', especially if your using a modular baseboard system, may be ok for a permanent layout. I only use good quality exterior grade plywood for baseboards, topped of with the composite cork as supplied by;-http://www.charlescantrill.com/model-railway/index.html to get a realistic track bed profile.

I hope the loft is dry too ?,  time will tell,
Well after due consideration I am going to try this out on a small section of the layout first just to see how it pans out and will report back later


Thanks for all the feedback its what these forums are for


George 

I know that in Australia we have MDF sheets available for use in damp areas. These are commonly used as partitions in bathrooms/toilet blocks in schools, work place bathrooms etc, to seperate each individual cubicle.

Cheers, Gary.