MRH
Questions, Answers and Tips
(click here)
Q: For DCC decoder installations, do I really have to use expensive Kapton tape instead of black electrical tape from the hardware store? What’s the difference? A: The difference? DuPont’s Kapton film is used in the outside layer of space suits; electrical tape is not. Kapton tapes are made from Kapton® polyimide film with silicon adhesive. They are compatible with a wide temperature range from -269°C (-452°F) to 400°C (752°F). That may be overkill for a model train environment. The adhesive peels off cleanly. There is one caution: Kapton can wear through with rubbing from braided wire or
Q: I’m just starting out in model railroading and a how-to book recommends I use Homasote under the track. The clerk at the big-box home store looked at me like I’m from Mars. What is Homasote, why do I need it,and where do I get it? A: Homasote became part of the model railroading tool kit in the days when hand-laying was the only way to have decent-looking track. The tightly compressed paperboard holds spikes well and is dimensionally stable when handled correctly. It can be cut with a fine-toothed saw blade (generating a lot of fluffy gray dust) or a sharp knife.
Reader Feedback
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
thicknesses and differences are measured in mils (a thousandth of an inch). — MRH
Figure 2: Recycled newspapers and cardboard are ground up, saturated, and pressed to form Homasote, a building board product popular for quiet roadbeds on model railroad. does result in a quiet-running model railroad. The Homasote Company, based in New Jersey, is more than 100 years old and makes several products – the one modelers use is 440 SoundBarrier and is usually bought
other rough or sharp objects, so some care has to be taken.
One of its main commercial uses is for sound-deadening, and Homasote
Electrical tape costs a lot less. A 66’ roll of 3/4” 3M tape sells for less than a dollar. $8 will buy a 36” roll of 3/8” wide Kapton tape.
Figure 1: Gold-yellow transparent Kapton tape is ideal for trapping wires and insulating DCC decoder installations, as on this Proto 2000 GP9 chassis.
Top quality electrical tape – like Scotch® Super 33+ Premium Vinyl Electrical Tape from 3M – will have a non-gummy adhesive, and the vinyl will stretch over irregularities. It does not have the high heat resistance of Kapton and will melt at 176°F. Other makers’ tapes melt at even lower temperatures, and their adhesives can leave a gummy mess inside your locomotive. In general, electrical tape is thicker than Kapton tape, though the Figure 1
Page 15 • Mar 2012 MRH MRH Questions, Answers, and Tips, page 1
Tell a friend ...
Contents
Index