Best material for covering a wooden viaduct

[trebor]

hi

I have a 8 meter long viaduct in my garden layout made out of exterior ply, does anyone have any ideas of what I can use to cover it with to create a stonework effect, I've tried using exterior polyfilla which works in principal but doesn't seem to adhere to the wood very good, any ideas be much appreciated

[mick]

That takes me back a bit to the days of the Selby Garden Railway.

I too tried the exterior Polyfilla method and it seemed to stick okay for me. I found it fiddly to apply but in all honesty I didn't make a very good job of it. I do remember dismantling the viaduct when we moved home and the Polyfilla still wouldn't come off! The main problem with the plywood viaduct was keeping it protected from the rain and I had to use a large tarpaulin which eventually became a bit of a pain. That was the reason I decided to use the aerated block method on Worlsey Dale so that it could be left permanently outdoors and uncovered.

I assume your viaduct is outdoors? Do you have it covered when not in use?

Other than exterior Polyfilla I'm not sure what else to suggest that could be made to resemble stonework. Hopefully someone will be along with some ideas.

[trebor]

Thanks for info Mick yes it is outdoors and open to the elements I've given three coats of preservative it seems to be standing up well so far

I think I'll give the polyfilla another go then coat with a matt varnish or something similar to help protect it

[IanR]

Maybe the preservative is preventing the filler from sticking to the wood.

[Baimor]

Hi Trebor and welcome. Have you tried brushing on a mix of pva and water? Dilute the pva 2 parts water to 1 part pva and either brush or roller it on. when it's dried the pollyfiller should adhere to the ply. Hope this helps mate. Mark

[TheQ]

Whilst agreeing with Baimor, I've also had success with pollyfilla by adding PVA to the polyfilla mix. If you've used the preservative on the wood preservatives tend to be wax or oil based, which not a lot sticks to, you would need to do some light sanding to give the pollyfilla something to grip to.

[Baimor]

Failing that I'm sure I've sen another viaduct on another site somewhere ( can't for the life of me think where it was) that had been covered with our old friend roofing felt to give an impression of concrete.