Foam “Bluffs”

With the table finished, I added the first layer of foam. Olin wants a river with a bridge, so the base layer needs to be built up a bit so there’s room for banks. I put 1 1/2″ foam insulation down and used some spray adhesive to attach it…. Or tried, anyway. My spray adhesive won’t actually stick to my foam, and I’ve discovered that Elmer’s glue doesn’t really work, either. We need to get out of the house this afternoon, so I suppose I’ll go see if I can find some rubber cement and try that, next.

For now, I’ve used 1 1/2″ foam to build my hills/bluffs up to 3 inches. The advice that I’ve read suggests no more than a 2% grade, but I’m not sure what that mean functionally for a model this size, so I’m going by what my example is capable of. I’ve also read no more than an inch of elevation for every foot of track, and that seems reasonable, too. I think I’ll just have to keep experimenting and running the train on the track every time I make an elevation change. Ultimately, the point is a functional track for Olin to play on, not so much a perfect track for Mama to obsess over. Although…. A little of both is probably okay!