I thought this had been discussed, but couldn't find it in the search. Sorry if it's a repeat. I'm wondering what the best way is to glue buildings to foam board. Would liquid nails be sufficient? It needs to stick real well, since my layout will move periodically.
Liquid Nails for Projects would do it, but do you really want to do that? Are you covering the foam with ground cover, grass or whatever? You might be better off doing the following. What I did, and am still doing bit by bit, is using a dab or two Squadron Green Putty to affix. I think this can be used on foam, as well. Only a few dabs are needed. THEN, you should cover the seam at the bottom of the building with whatever ground cover you are using so it looks blended in and natural. LN for Projects can be done in a few little places, if you want. The goal is to not have it fall off when moving, but you may want, in the future to move the structure. I still have a bit more covering to do up to the bases of the coal mine and the factory behind it, but they are both attached with the Green Putty onto painted plywood.
I use Aileene's white glue in case I want to remove the structures. It's much easier to do than using Liquid Nails. One glue you shouldn't use is "Gorilla Glue". Stay cool and run steam.....
Mark, Squadron putty is solvent based and will melt a hole in foam. I second Bob's rec. of Aileens tacky glue. From anything that I can tell, it is the same exact thing as Woodland Scenics "Foam tack glue" but at about 1/2 the price at Walmart or almost any craft store.
Hi Richard, Just an suggestion, and this is what I do. Glue your building to a piece of styrene, which gives the building a foundation, then glue the foundation to the foam which give it a whole more to adhere to. I take a .040 sheet of styrene and outline the building onto it with a pencil. Then I cut out the shape and sand it to form it the size of the footprint of the building. I then paint it concrete color, glue the building on and it's good to go on layout using white glue. In my larger industries i put a .100x.100 strip around the inside edge of the building to create a light baffle and i don't glue the building to the foundation. That way I lift the building up anytime I wish plus I put interiors inside these industries, and then I light them up. On the left you can see the .100x.100 strips. The rest of the cannery I've actually made a raised floor for the main part of the plant, which match the height of the loading docks. This is the Portland paper box co. This is as elaborate as I get. This is the interior showing the plant operations going on. I can lift the building off any time I want to show or work on it. So as simple or crazy as you want to get Richard, I think foundations are the foundation to mounting buildings on the layout. Sorry for the bad pun there Just my thoughts fotobob My rail images
I usually use a dab or two of plain old white glue, then scenick the edges with WS or other materials. When I glue that down, it holds the building pretty well, but it is removable with a little force. Nice scenes, Mark and fotobob!
I usually only glue small stuff down. I sometimes use white glue and sometimes Walther's Goo. All the big buildings come off and are packed away in foam lined boxes before I take down my NTRAK modules.
I guess only my wife asked me about going a bit too far with the grill work, hubcaps, license plates and the rear lights on the cars.
Thanks for the responses. Fotheringill and fotobob, to save me the trouble, just come over and finish my layout. Your layouts are excellent! I'll experiment with tacky glue and white glue, and some other items. My biggest concern is that the buildings don't come off when I move the layout.
