Jeffrey, For MDF you will need a jigsaw; it's pretty tough. If you buy it at Lowes or Home Depot, you can get them to cut it for you to your specifications, if that helps. Also, I bought a cheap jigsaw at Harbor Freight. I wouldn't recommend it for furniture work, but it was great for doing the cookie-cutter method. I also used it to cut my front fascia Masonite board panels which follow the scenery's undulations.
My experience with 3/4" insulation (blue) foam on one of my N-scale layouts about 10 years ago turned out that it needed support. I suspect that with the additional weight of S-scale, you will need support similar to using homasote or ceiling tile, i.e. plywood, etc. For my small switching layout I made my extensions at least 18 inches from the end of the turnout's points. That allows me to fit a small switcher engine and one 40-foot car, which is my layout's restriction. They fit comfortably with enough leeway for uncoupling. If you are going to run anything bigger than a small switcher engine or 50-foot cars, you're going to need more space. Here's what I did to help me design the layout (after drawing out some CAD designs): I bought and measured one 40-foot SHS boxcar. I then cut a small piece of wood roughly that size. Actually I cut about 10 of them. I then printed my design out full size and taped the sheets to the sheet of MDF that was going to become my subroadbed. I then used the blocks of wood as my imaginary engine and cars and did some switching on the printed pages. It helped me to decide how long to make the spurs, how big my run-around needed to be, and how far to keep the tracks apart from each other to allow cars to pass each other. You can see all this at the top of this web page: http://pmrr.org/Layouts/Chartiers/CanonsburgSubroadbed.htm HTH - Peter. On 08/21/2010 2:31 pm, Jeff Ngowe wrote: > I am now between Peter and Pieter's (Vanvliet and Roos, respectively) > methods. However I do not have a jigsaw, so unless a handsaw can be used to > cut MDF, I will be using Pieter's method. I am also wondering, do I need > plywood (or OSB) underneath the 2" foam? Would 1/2" foam be fine? I think > I'll use ceiling tile for roadbed. Can it be cut by a utility knife? > I have also uploaded version 2 of the plan > http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad248/jfrydom/SwitchingLayoutversion2.jpg > Variation 2 features are present as well as the replacement of a turnout with > a wye (I want to know if I can build one)at the right and an additional > crossing at the top. An extension for operation was always intended just not > depicted. I will probably scenic this and place them under the layout when > not in use. They are 12" long on each side. Is that sufficient? > Also I not thought of which industries will be on the layout. It is somewhere > in PA/WV Somewhere on my freelanced R&O. Any input on industries SMALL enough > to be modeled would be appreciated. > Jeffrey Ngowe -- Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected]) Houston, Texas "It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..." http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad) http://fourthray.com/ (my company) http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club) -- ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
