I have a few questions: -What kind of adhesive do you use for cork roadbed? I have Loctite contact cement. -Is a soldering gun good enough for attaching pieces of flex track to each other? -How can flex track be attached to non-flexable track, like turnouts? -Is it difficult to wire the track? Thank you for your assistance.
I have never used cork roadbed so I will let someone else answer that. The track should be joined together with rail joiners which are sold for the size of track that you are using. If you wish to solder the sections together after using the joiners you could but the joiners will hold the track together. The best way is to solder a wire from one rail to the next as a "jumper" wire to insure electrical contact.
Moose....I use Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue. I run a few feet at a time & kind of spread it out with my finger before putting the cork down. I have a small hand-held roller to apply pressure to the cork for a better bond. I use thumbtacks to hold everything in place until the glue dries. Remember to stagger each side of the cork roadbed so no two pieces have a common joint. This is for plywood applications. If attaching to foam, I use the Original Liquid Nails adhesive and apply it with a caulk gun in squiggly lines. I gently use the hand-held roller to apply pressure once the cork is in place and also use thumbtacks to hold everything down. There are some excellent Model Railroader Magazine articles in past issues complete with photos showing how this is done. I'd check the Model Railroader archive site. Cam
Moose: The railjoiners willhold the track in place. I solder feeders from the rails to common bus lines under the benchwork. Stay cool and run steam.....
A soldering gun might not give you the contol a pencil type iron would due to its size and weight. They are typically a lot hotter than a pencil iron so there might be an increased risk of melting ties. I pencil type iron is not that expensive. My recommendation is to give the gun a try on some scrape pieces of track and see what you think. Wiring is not diffulcult but this depends on your soldering skills. I learned to solder when I was a kid and have had quite a bit of practice so it has become second nature to me. The best advice I can give about soldering is practice, practice and then practice some more. If you need to use two pieces of flex track to form a curve you will need to solder the rail joiners with the track straight and then lay it. If you don't solder the pieces together the track will kink. I've been happy with Alleene's Tacky glue for cork to foam and track to cork. This glue is simailar to Elmer's glue but I think it is a little thicker. If you use Liguid Nails be sure you buy Liguid Nails for Projects if you are gluing to foam. The regular Liguid Nails will disolve foam.
On my last little project I used Liquid Nails to secure cork to the subroadbed, which was pinkboard. Haven't tried may hand at soldering yet. So I leave that to others.
i had great success with common contact cement from the hardware section. apply to board and bottom of cork and let it sit a few minutes. then put on side down, laying it as you go. if you use split cork and have a good radius line, you just follow it around curves and it works well. when it's down you don't have to wait to lay track on it. in denver n scale club they use some kind of latex caulk that dries clear to lay their track. lay a bead, smooth and thin it out with a putty knife, and lay the flex trak on it. track stays where it's laid, but is not too difficult to remove later if needed (slipping a flat blade or putty knife under the ties). i tried it on my home layout and it works just great! dave f.
Also be aware of the tracks dilatation. On a previous layout in HO, I didn't let any small spaces on straight sections between the tracks. Everything ran fine but when the temperature went higher, I couln't run a train without having it derail. Train Fan
