Issues with Felt?

try seamless paper...from a home school supply company or order on-line...wide widths...lots of colors...cheap...quick and easy...

howard...

Mike,

My main layout, Christmas layout, and portable layout(s) all have felt spray-glued over plywood.   Works great, so far no "fuzz in trains issues". I also have a kids layout for my grandnephews and they play a lot but haven't done any damage.

With Fastrack on felt, the noise is a bit quieter, and I don't attach the track except for a few places where I use a ty-wrap to loosely hold down track.

I get the felt at JoAnn fabrics - most of the time it's on sale or you can use a coupon.  The felt is 6' wide so not many seams.

I use black naugahide (fake leather) or black felt for roads.

Ed

I have had no problems with using felt.  I no longer use it for O, but am still using it under an N gauge layout (16 years).  No loose fibers or wear.

I have used it under N and it worked well. For the O layout I went to Lowes and bought a piece of Indoor/Outdoor carpet. Got some that was all fiber (no plastic), it's a bit to green but usable and less than a .80 a square foot (table is 6 X 10). I tacked the edges down with some PVC corner molding to protect the edges. Had to vacuum off the loose fibers from unrolling it but so far seems to work. I haven't tacked the back to sides completely but haven't seen a fiber yet.

I'm using Supersnap and it is pretty quiet, at least my wife hasn't complained about the noise since installing it (table is in the living room).

I used felt but did not glue it down.  That caused a big problem when I drilled holes on the table top.  The felt wrapped itself around the drill bit.  O My!  Next layout I used green carpet which worked really well but i was building a prewar toy train layout not a model railroad.  At the Children's Museum we used 50"x100" grass mats (http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/woorg5122.htm)  and that worked really well. From the start the layout had a finished look. It was easy to put in roads and to detail the scenery later as we had more time.

Al,

I glue the felt down but also try to pre-drill most of the holes before "felting".  A lot easier that way.  When I need to drill a new hole, I cut a small square where the hole will be, then drill... no snags.

Ed

Pre-drill the wood for the holes.

Then lay the felt, feel for the holes, and just slice the felt over the hole and run the wires through. This way the hole will close up if you re -position something.

If all else fails, plant a tree in it.

I've used white felt for my Christmas layout several times.  Other than getting really dirty this year with all the kids, it has been fine.

Mike,

   I put the felt down 1st then a cheap piece of gray or green inside/outside

carpet over the felt, it keeps the FasTrack noise way way down, on the living room Christmas layout. 

Russell,

   I like the idea of the white, might give that a try some time, on the christmas layout.

PCRR/Dave

regarding felt and drilling...go "really old school"...use 1/4" thick pegboard instead of plywood...no drilling...use an ice pick to punch a hole through the felt...there will always be a pre-drilled hole near by...not more than 1-inch away...like i said..."really old-school"...

howard...

i use 7/16" OSB then 1/4" cork then green felt. the cork and felt are glued down using thick white carpet glue from home depot. when drilling small holes 1/8" or smaller have a rag with mineral spirits to clean off the glue after drilling. for larger holes i use a hollow punch properly sized to punch through the felt and cork then drill through the OSB. harbor freight sells a 12 piece punch set for $10. 

This thread got me thinking-I had a 4 x 8 this holiday for a Polar Express and I used the Woodland Scenics snow. What a mess! So, now I checked out the premium felt at Joann's and found that it is synthetic and when firmly pinched and pulled only release a couple of long strands.

I found my snow for the new layout(larger of course) and would say the felt works.

It all depends on what visually appeals to your eye. Lots of good ideas in this post.

Thanks! 

rj,

Thanks for the info on the HF punches... been thru the store a hundred times, never saw them!

They would be perfect for drill-prepping the felt.

Ed

to moonman and eddiem: joann fabrics is where i got my felt, i chose the medium green. the punch set from harbor freight was purchased on their websits.