Good picture
.
Please tell us what you have used for the sleepers... and for the formation... and the infill...
regards, Graham
Hi Graham,
When I first built my oval test track some years ago (the remains of which you can see in the photo), I laid all the track on strips of 3mm thick foam in order to try and eliminate the 'base-board' rumble that often occurs when track is laid direct onto the boards. This was quite successful, and that is the dark grey stuff you can see under the sleepers in the pic. The track is just standard Peco Flexitrack.
I didn't want to use the traditional approach of applying ballast to the whole depth of the sleepers and secured with dilute PVA, as I felt that this might compromise the sound deadening aspect of the foam, so I experimented with using further strips of the 3mm foam between the sleepers, with a fine layer of coloured grey sand applied to the surface to represent the ballast, and stuck with latex glue.
As I said, the pic above is just a mock-up, and it is my intention to cover the whole base-board with a layer of foam in the future prior to laying the track. A ballast shoulder (or just an additional flat area alongside the sleepers), will be created using further foam, with any join hidden using silicone as a filler, prior to adding the sand ballast covering.
The whole lot can then be weathered using a combination of acrylic paint and or washes of acrylic.
Scenery and or buildings can simply be added on top of the first layer of foam alongside the track bed as required.
Hope that's helpful
Cheers
Mike