Gluing Track To Foam

[rrinker]

At least in Atlas code 83 flex, the holes for spikes aren't already cored - you have to drill them out. If I measure and fit my track pieces first, I can spread an awfully long bead of caulk in a short time and get all that trrack in in one shot. Ditto the roadbed. I usually position turnouts first since those are the most critical, then fill in between turnouts. The onyl messy thing about it is my scrap piece of wood that I used to scrape off the putty knife after I was done - that looks like some really strange outer space blob from repeated use.
And this 'waiting' thing - I use push pins to hold things in place, just a couple on a straight section, more on a curve. But no sooner to I have things in place then I will often run a loco over the newly laid track. Caulk has enough tack that there's no need to wait until it fully dries. Nice thing about the clear, it comes out white and turns clear as it dries, so when everything is clear, you know it's dry - that takes maybe an hour depending on humidity, but again, it's tacky enough right fromt he get-go that you don't really need to hold it down unless there are irregularities in the surface or it wants to straighten out on a curve. You can still nudge it around to get it lined up, but it's not likely that it will pop off before the caulk dries. I built half a dozen layouts in the past all using track nails and a nail set and a small hammer. Sure, they all worked fine, but last time I read the articles about caulk prior to starting it (and foam - all the rest had been on plywood - except one N scale layout on homasote) so I decided to give it a try and found it truly to be faster and easier, and also with no chance of the beginner mistake of driving the nails in too hard and altering the track gauge.

--Randy