02-19-2011, 12:16 PM
Whiter glue doesn't stick well to either plastic or foam, one reason that it comes in a plastic container. 
The effectiveness of it as an adhesive is due to the fact that it soaks partially into the materials being glued - the label on mine states that it's "for wood, leather, pottery, and other heavy porous materials". It also goes on to state "for paper, cloth, styrene foam, and other light, porous materials...". From what I've seen, the foam used on layouts is definitely not porous, especially on the factory-finished surface.
I dunno: I count 9 nails in a length of flextrack. At a conservative 10 seconds per nail, that's only a minute and a half.
They also require no messy spreading of adhesive, no weighting (or waiting to run trains), allow easy viewing of track centrelines, and, until the track has been ballasted, easy re-positioning of minor (or major) irregularities. Of course, they're not of much use if the track is layed directly on foam. I use cork roadbed in some areas, but all track has a solid base of wood, either boards or plywood. I'm sure the caulk would work for my layout, but the spikes seem simpler: place them in the hole, push them home with the nose of your pliers.
As for securing the cork, I used yellow glue, only because I had a lot of it leftover from household jobs. White glue or caulk probably would have worked just as well. Partially-driven 2" nails (also leftovers from house construction - an almost-full 50lb. box)
held it in place until the glue dried.
For those using white glue to secure plastic ties to blue or pink foam, at least you have a built-in reason to not ballast your tracks. 
Wayne
The effectiveness of it as an adhesive is due to the fact that it soaks partially into the materials being glued - the label on mine states that it's "for wood, leather, pottery, and other heavy porous materials". It also goes on to state "for paper, cloth, styrene foam, and other light, porous materials...". From what I've seen, the foam used on layouts is definitely not porous, especially on the factory-finished surface.rrinker Wrote:Nails take longer
I dunno: I count 9 nails in a length of flextrack. At a conservative 10 seconds per nail, that's only a minute and a half.
They also require no messy spreading of adhesive, no weighting (or waiting to run trains), allow easy viewing of track centrelines, and, until the track has been ballasted, easy re-positioning of minor (or major) irregularities. Of course, they're not of much use if the track is layed directly on foam. I use cork roadbed in some areas, but all track has a solid base of wood, either boards or plywood. I'm sure the caulk would work for my layout, but the spikes seem simpler: place them in the hole, push them home with the nose of your pliers.As for securing the cork, I used yellow glue, only because I had a lot of it leftover from household jobs. White glue or caulk probably would have worked just as well. Partially-driven 2" nails (also leftovers from house construction - an almost-full 50lb. box)
held it in place until the glue dried.For those using white glue to secure plastic ties to blue or pink foam, at least you have a built-in reason to not ballast your tracks.
Wayne