Type of glue to glue down tracks

[MattJS]

So im getting all my stuff together/planning and when its time I just want to know what glue should I use for the tracks?  Liquid Nails?  Elmers?    Im using Tomix track on foam board.  Thanks

[cteno4]

Matt,

 

the usual suspects are pva (Elmer’s) and caulking. Liquid nails may never come off the track (I’ve not tired it on track but others have said it sticks hard to roadbed track) and is also pretty thick stuff in application. I’ve used it in foam scenery construction as it’s fast drying and the foam board liquid nails is made to not attack foam, but it’s thickness makes it hard and messy to work with in detailed applications. Wokrks great in big construction where you use it in big areas and just slapping stuff in walls and such, but never been impressed with using it for smaller hobby stuff.
 

PVA is nice as you can take it up pretty easily by just flooding the area with moisture to soften the PVA for removal. But this can also happen with some scenery application, but if the track is not stressed it should just redry in place (flex track not pinned down is more the issue here). But mind the points and don’t get glue or moisture under them! 
 

Caulking (plain old bathroom caulking) can be removed by scraping up the track with a flat scraper and somewhat picked off the underside of the track (at least enough for easy reuse). It’s a bit flexible so some give a little if any stressed in the track and base foam later and not pop.

 

some feel the hardness of PVA glue transmits more sound to your sub roadbed base material, whereas the caulk is a softer interface to sop up some of the vibrational noise. In traditional flex track/roadbed I have noticed louder train noise when I fixed roadbed with PVA vs matte medium. Matte medium is a softer and more flexible material and also easier to mess with later as PVA dries the roadbed gravel rock hard.

 

some just use pins to hold the track in place on the foam (drill out the nail/screw pylons and also sink pins at an angle at the edge of the roadbed as sort of track spikes to hold track in place. Then if you do scenery like edge ballasting or ground foam the glue from that can hold the track in place. Even a little bead of clear caulk along the edge could work. Advantage here is you can get the track all set in place and happy and then glue it down, it’s harder to glue bottom of track and try to get it all positioned and happy all at once. Also let’s you see in advance if there is any crankiness in fixing the track using the pins as sometimes a layout design works if the track can move and flex but not happy fixed in place.

 

The above is kind of a review of all the pros and cons I’ve heard over the years from folks. I've never used PVA for glueing unitrak, just caulking to tack down some temp layouts in a few key points and it worked well as I could pick it off the caulking from the track with little mess. Held well enough for my purposes. I’ve used screws for most all of my track fixing to wood subroadbed. Hopefully others will pipe in with their experiences as we have had some talk here in the past. The noise issue is a hotly debated subject.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

I fixed the track in place by putting ballast on either side, and soaking that in 1:5 diluted Mod Podge (White multipurpose medium that dries clear/Matt). School Glue also works but may darken the ballast.

[MattJS]

10 minutes ago, Sheffie said:

I fixed the track in place by putting ballast on either side, and soaking that in 1:5 diluted Mod Podge (White multipurpose medium that dries clear/Matt). School Glue also works but may darken the ballast.

Thanks I like this idea

 

[MattJS]

2 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Matt,

 

the usual suspects are pva (Elmer’s) and caulking. Liquid nails may never come off the track (I’ve not tired it on track but others have said it sticks hard to roadbed track) and is also pretty thick stuff in application. I’ve used it in foam scenery construction as it’s fast drying and the foam board liquid nails is made to not attack foam, but it’s thickness makes it hard and messy to work with in detailed applications. Wokrks great in big construction where you use it in big areas and just slapping stuff in walls and such, but never been impressed with using it for smaller hobby stuff.
 

PVA is nice as you can take it up pretty easily by just flooding the area with moisture to soften the PVA for removal. But this can also happen with some scenery application, but if the track is not stressed it should just redry in place (flex track not pinned down is more the issue here). But mind the points and don’t get glue or moisture under them! 
 

Caulking (plain old bathroom caulking) can be removed by scraping up the track with a flat scraper and somewhat picked off the underside of the track (at least enough for easy reuse). It’s a bit flexible so some give a little if any stressed in the track and base foam later and not pop.

 

some feel the hardness of PVA glue transmits more sound to your sub roadbed base material, whereas the caulk is a softer interface to sop up some of the vibrational noise. In traditional flex track/roadbed I have noticed louder train noise when I fixed roadbed with PVA vs matte medium. Matte medium is a softer and more flexible material and also easier to mess with later as PVA dries the roadbed gravel rock hard.

 

some just use pins to hold the track in place on the foam (drill out the nail/screw pylons and also sink pins at an angle at the edge of the roadbed as sort of track spikes to hold track in place. Then if you do scenery like edge ballasting or ground foam the glue from that can hold the track in place. Even a little bead of clear caulk along the edge could work. Advantage here is you can get the track all set in place and happy and then glue it down, it’s harder to glue bottom of track and try to get it all positioned and happy all at once. Also let’s you see in advance if there is any crankiness in fixing the track using the pins as sometimes a layout design works if the track can move and flex but not happy fixed in place.

 

The above is kind of a review of all the pros and cons I’ve heard over the years from folks. I've never used PVA for glueing unitrak, just caulking to tack down some temp layouts in a few key points and it worked well as I could pick it off the caulking from the track with little mess. Held well enough for my purposes. I’ve used screws for most all of my track fixing to wood subroadbed. Hopefully others will pipe in with their experiences as we have had some talk here in the past. The noise issue is a hotly debated subject.

 

cheers

 

jeff

Thanks for the Detailed Answer Jeff!  Question I noticed on my Tomix track(what im using)  There are little holes every so often on all track peices.  Are these for track pins?

[cteno4]

Youre welcome.

 

yep the little cylinders below them keep the screw or track nail from pushing the roadbed down with too much pressure. Kato Unitrak they are not drilled thru the very top layer and you just need to drill them out a bit. may need to enlarge the holes if needed for your pins.

 

you can also drill a hole where the holes are (mark with a pin) and then use small screws from underneath to mount into the holes on the bottom side. then you dont have the screw head showing on the top.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

I have not gotten this far yet but I plan on using silicone caulking in small dabs.  We'll see how it works.