If you have read my other article on foam roadbed, you know why I wanted to try something different. I had read in the past about people using ceiling tile for their roadbed. So I went to Lowes and bought me a box of 1/2-inch ceiling tile for just under $11. It contains ten 12" by 12" tiles. The tile is made out of a man-made fiber. It should, therefore, provide some sound-absorption. There are various styles of ceiling tile, but the photo below shows what I bought, because it has a very smooth surface.

The photo below shows one of these tiles. It has a tongue-and-groove design so that each tile can be slid into the next one, thereby making a cohesive whole.

To use it, I snapped a handful of these tiles together on a flat workbench and laid my MDF subroadbed on top of the tiles. I marked off the MDF on the tiles using a pencil. Next, I used a utility knife to carefully cut out the matching ceiling tiles. Each cut requires about four passes. After attaching the MDF subroadbed back onto my layout using screws, I glued the ceiling tiles onto the MDF using Elmers yellow carpenters glue. I took advantage of the tongue-and-groove system as can be seen in the photo below.

The tile's surface is very smooth. However, I did need to deal with the V-groove left by the tongue-and-groove design. I filled it with Vinyl Spackling, which set in just an hour or so. I followed that with a light sanding.

To seal the ceiling tiles, I painted them with indoor latex paint. The ceiling tile generates a lot of dust if you even look at it funny, so keep a vacuum cleaner nearby. Since I had so many problems with glue and the foam roadbed, I made sure and tested the ceiling tile first. As stated above I glued a piece of scrap tile to a piece of scrap MDF using both Elmers yellow carpenters glue and Liquid Nails for Subfloors. Both provided an extremely secure glue joint. The Liquid Nails had a bit of an odor to it, so I chose to use the Elmers glue. Then I tested gluing a piece of basswood tie to the top of the ceiling tile. I used both Elmers yellow carpenters glue and Matte Medium. Again, both created a very solid joint. I wasn't able to pull either off the tile.