Woodland Scenics Track-Bed and Plaster Cloth

I'm a beginner too, but I can't see any reason you'd need the cloth if you don't plan to scenic the layout using it. The idea for laying the roadbed on top of it is to get a nice clean terrain vs trying to cut the cloth to fit tightly against the roadbed after the fact. It'd be hard to cut cleanly, would cover the base of the roadbed reducing its height and probably leave gaps as it dries. AFAIK, folks use it as well as cork and other foam/vinyl roadbed without laying it on top of cloth.

Rick,

I have been using Woodland Scenics Track-Bed for a few years now, and here is what I have found:

You can glue the Track-Bed directly to your plywood base. It does a good job of cutting down the noise on its own. (Obviously, if you use 2" pink foam or homasote, the result will be better.) If you are using the Woodland Scenics glue, that will hold the Track-Bed in place. Give it time to set before running trains. You should skim the area of your layout where you plan to lay track to make sure it is level, even if you think it is. If not, you risk bowing the track when a train runs over an uneven spot. The foam Track-Bed is not rigid enough to support trains.

You mentioned you ordered nails. Did you order the 2" Foam Nails ST1432? For future reference, these are also called T pins and can be bought in a greater quantity for less money. They can be found in most stores with an office supply area. Expect some grief if you try to push them directly into plywood. An alternate is to use track screws (I used AtlasO) to hold the Trak-Bed in place while the glued dried. Just get one bag and lay the next section after the first dries. Give the track screw a couple of turns until it holds.   

Make sure you have a hobby knife with a curved blade (I use an X-acto with a #10 general purpose blade.)

Here is a Woodland Scenics Video introducing Track-Bed that can help get you started. There are also many videos on youtubeland that show how to work with it.

Here is a video of a former layout that has Track-Bed glued directly to OSB.

If you have any more questions, let us know!

Thank you Dave and Stewart for your input. 

Dave,  If I decide to use plaster cloth, do I put it on just where the tracks are going to go or do I put it on the entire 4x8 plywood?

Stewart, Yep those are the nails I bought. Afterwards I realized that WS is assuming that I’m laying track onto a thick piece of foam, ergo the foam nails. Until you mentioned it I didn’t even think about the foam nails not going into the plywood. I got some great ideas from your excellent video, such as using staples and brads to hold things in place while drying.

Thanks again guys for your excellent help in my attempts to start building my own model train railroad. I look forward to learning as I go.

Regards,

Rick