Hi,
this is not in the spirit of "foam", but works quite well for me:
I built the usual wooden frame with plywood on top. In the hilly areas I
used packaging carton and plywood leftovers to model the terrain
contour. The track bed is assembled from a thin cork plate, cut into 7mm
stripes and glued down three stripes for each track. The terrain itself
is made from old newspapers, cut into small strips and glued down using
the glue offered for wall-paper (don't know the name). After a few
layers this gets real stiff and can be finished using (a small amount)
of plaster (or anything like plaster, probably plaster with sawdust?).
The whole thing is quite easy to work with (drill, sand, saw...) and you
can simply cut the paper if you don't like the form (before the plaster
;-)
Actually my layout consits of two parts, the back part is placed in an
open cupboard and the front part hinged and removable ;-)
As to fire-safety, I don't think plaster burns that well ;-) Thanks to
the stiff paper the thing stays reasonably light and is stable for
movin' around a bit.
Total cost (for my 150x80cm - that's about 5'x3' - layout):
- wood: ~20$
- packaging carton: free
- old newspaper: free
- 1 or 2 pack of glue: 1-3$ each
- 5kg plaster: ~8$
- cork: ~5$
- colors, scenery, whatever ;-)
The only thing I'm still worrying about is the mountain-range in the
back. It has to be removable as to facilitate access to the hidden yard.
So I have to do a construction of some kind as a base for the removable
sections... At the moment I'm fitting infrared light detectors to the
hidden yard, so I'll know when a train is blocking a switch once it's
closed ;-) Signalling at it's best ;-)
Just to add my ideas ;-)
Ciao..
PS: Yesterday I did run my first train with the self-made control pult:
a "touch screen" for the switches and on-off-on switches for train power
combined with two throttles ;-) Nice thing... I had to short the "safety
circuit", though - it's not yet connected properly... It will only allow
train power, once both the front and back parts are connected properly.
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