Balsa Concrete

[Signalman]

Hi everyone. I am building a "concrete" area on my HO layout in a factory area., using balsa as the "concrete". Between the rails I am gluing a ½" wide strip of 1mm balsa to imitate the "concrete" between the rails. The straight section is not a problem as I can cut strips ½" wide and glue them into place on the sleepers. Now comes the problem I have. Three of the tracks have a curve in them, to come out of the "factory" and through a level crossing, to the mainline. I want to glue ½" strips of balsa in between the rails of these three curved tracks. My question is this. How do I cut the ½" balsa to go around the curve. These curves are not a standard curve, and one has a slight "S" bend curve. Any tricks or ideas will be most helpful. Regards. Col. (Creamshed Col).

[bapguy]

Cut sevral lengths of balsa wider than the idth of rail. Figure out how long to make them. Put the wood on top of the rali and gently pound each side on top of the rail. This will leave an impression in the wood to use as a guide to cut the wood to shape. Trin a little at a time to get it to fit between the rails.  Joe.

[Doneldon]

Sig-

You can't bend 1/2" balsa around a curve. You'll need to use a half-inch stack of very thin pieces which you coat with slow-drying glue, like Elmer's.

Use a piece of track the length of your curved section and curved to the same shape to make a template. Coat the top of the rails with chalk, pencil graphite, crayons or something similar and then turn it over and scrub it a little bit into a clean piece of stiff paper. Glue a strip of 1/16"x1/16" wood on each inner edge of the resulting graphic. (Gluing the 1/16"x1/16" strips to the inner side of the rail marks will result in your crossing having 1/16" flangeways on both sides.) Let it dry. Add some reinforcement every couple of inches so the form can't be pushed out of shape. Then put some plastic wrap over your form. Flex your stack of still-wet glued strips so they fit between the forms, put more plastic wrap on top and hold it all down with some weight atop a flat surface. When it dries, take it apart and you'll have a laminated, flexed strip of wood the exact shape of your curves. You can sand one side to remove the extra glue so you can stain it like a wood crossing or you can sand it smooth and paint it to represent concrete. You can also use the form to make a plaster piece to represent concrete. Test fit your crossing and run some six-wheel trucks or long wheelbase steam locos over it to make sure you don't need to sand a little more clearance for wheel flanges.

Alternatives are to use plastic for your base and forms. Then your water-based glue won't stick so you omit the plastic wrap. Or you can skip the forms and just cut out the plastic 1/16" in from the rail lines, rough sand it and use that for a concrete crossing.
                                                                                                                                              -- D

[electrical whiz kid]

The operative phrase is "laminate and stagger".  Use 1/32" square balas and stagger the ends so as to present a flowing structure.
Give a coat of sanding sealer and sand down to rail height.  Finally, "texture" as you wish, and then finish.
Rich