Model Railway Forum

In prep for a new layout build I have been looking at plywood and the variety of type and size has put me back to square 1.

You can get so many types of ply ‘wood’ and so many facings that it makes buying a sheet of simple plywood anything but simple.

One that caught my eye was sound isulating plywood which has a layer of rubberised cork bonded into the centre of the plys which I thought may help solve the eternal model-rail noise problem. There was also rubber faced boards used for vehicle flooring which may do the same.

The largest available sheet is king size a massive 13.7 metres x 2.8 metres, that is almost 45 feet long by over 9 feet wide. Lets see you strap that onto your roof rack. It sprang to mind someone double heading a pair of Morry Minors each mounting those 1950s Webasto rubber sucker roof racks.

I think I will stick with simple 8 x 4 ft sheets of plain birch ply - delivered to my door.

What a size! Need two bicycles to strap that on with!

Imagine manoeuvring that into the loft

I would recommend 9mm Birch plywood, but I would also suggest having it cut to size by the merchant. They usually have cutting machines that will do that in minutes for no additional cost, and will allow you to take the boards home in the car.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:01 am Imagine manoeuvring that into the loft

You'd need one hell of hatch!

RFS wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:20 am I would recommend 9mm Birch plywood, but I would also suggest having it cut to size by the merchant. They usually have cutting machines that will do that in minutes for no additional cost, and will allow you to take the boards home in the car.

My builders merchant delivers for free to the door.
9mm may do for the top but the egg-box framing will be 12mm.
I won’t go into details as its the wrong forum.

Not quite all do - around here the price varies, but can be £9.99 for what they determine as local deliveries. It depends on the amount to be delivered (ie the final cost).