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2FS Easitrac - Part 1

2mm Andy

Entry posted by 2mm Andy

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Hello,

 

Things are moving! Admittedly I still have to push them with my finger (does this make it digital controltongue.gif ?!), but there is now track on the layout, and, with the aid of a 9V battery, trains have been runcool.gif .

 

blogentry-8055-127947318635.jpg

 

As I mentioned in my first posting on this blog, I used Templot to generate a track plan. This was printed, cut out and stuck down onto the trackbed, then given a couple of coats of shellac to try and stop it crinkling-up.

 

First up for tracklaying was the headshunt for the loop. The sleeper spacing on the Templot plan varies - the sleepers at the ends of each track panel are more closely spaced than the standard Easitrac moulding, so first job was to cut the mouldings to fit the plan. It wasn't necessary to cut every sleeper - those in the middle of each panel on the plan are fine as they are. The rails were then threaded in and enough of the Easitrac glue spread on the plan to allow about 5 or 6 sleepers to be fixed down. The glue dries quite quickly, so it's best to do a small area each time. The glue gives you enough time to sight along the rails and adjust the sleepers to follow the plan and get a smooth curve, but dries quickly enough that you don't have to worry about the track being moved or knocked out of alignment. I weighted the track down with a couple of offcuts of brass bar.

 

Every so often I added a brass sleeper to provide power feeds. These were cut using a piercing saw and slid onto the rails like the other sleepers. I will drill a hole in the trackbase below the rail to feed the wire through and solder to the brass tags below each rail. The gaps in the sleeper were filled with a small strip of paper glued in with superglue - I have no idea whether this will work, but it seems OK so far.

 

blogentry-8055-127947327161.jpg

 

Once the plain track on the headshunt and siding was done, I moved on to look at the turnouts (I'll leave the plain track on the loop and main line until the turnouts are complete so I can make sure the track follows a nice smooth curve).

 

These are being built using the sleeper strip method - being curved, they don't match the geometry of the milled turnout bases. Progress so far has been limited to the cutting and laying of the sleeper strip to match the plan (apart from the two visible in the photo which I moved slightly), again using the Easitrac glue.

 

blogentry-8055-127947349684.jpg

 

I hope to start adding the stock rails and soldering-up the crossing unit this week. For this I'll be using the natty tufnol jigs available from the 2mm Scale Association.

 

So there we have it - my first real bit of Easitrac. Much nicer than soldering titchy little chairplates to PCB sleepers!

 

Andy smile.gif

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10 Comments

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  • RMweb Gold
bcnPete
  • RMweb Gold

Andy, hi

 

Very neat work - look forward to see the turnouts and hopefully pick up some tips from their construction.

 

Even though your GJLC competition was a relatively self contained project, I can see why you are motivated with this one as it has a nice feel to it - these small layouts are dangerous as once you start its hard to stop...as I found out with my boxfile project.

 

Keep on posting!

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-missy-

Hi Andy smile.gif

 

This is soooo frustrating! Easitrac looks so good in those photos and coupled with the running problems I had at the Expo it just makes me want to tear up all the track on Highclere and start again! I think a little layout like that with Easitrac is totally the right thing to do. Keep the posts comming please.

 

Missy smile.gif

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2mm Andy

Thanks for the kind comments everyone - it is really motivating me to keep going with this project!

 

Hi Pete,

 

I do have a baseboard for a box-file layout like Anthony Yeates' one! I really ought to try and do something more with that one day (but not just yet - I can't have too many distractions!)

 

The turnouts are only the second and third Easitrac turnouts I've built - the first was a trial, and never got it's point blades (there was also a problem with the check rail clearances on the crossing), so I'm learning as I go with these ones, but using the Easitrac articles in the 2mm magazine and on the website as references.

 

I did realise last night that I'd made a bit of a howlerrolleyes.gif - the position of the turnout tie bar is directly above the baseboard cross member - I must have moved one or the other during the design phase. At least it means that my method of point switching has been decided for me - it has to be wire-in-tube now!

 

Hi Missy,

 

ohmy.gif Please don't start ripping up track on Highclere on my account!! As I think I said to you at the Expo, it's just a case of you working your way around the various problems on the track on Highclere. With pcb sleepered track you have plenty of opportunities to unsolder and remake the solder joints to iron out the problems, so I think with a bit of patience you'll get it running really well. If you've got the patience to form the curves and joints on that flying banana then the trackwork should be simple to sort out. It's definitely worth considering Easitrac for future projects though - purely for the time saving it gives you.

 

Hi Killybegs,

 

Easitrac really is a big step forward for 2mm (aka 2FS). The pointwork still needs a bit of thought (as does the C&L stuff in 4mm scale), but the results are good. Plain track is really straightforward.

 

2FS is really striding forwards at the moment with Easitrac, drop-in wheelsets, lots of nice kits (the 2mm Black 5 kit has just been released), etc. Although it will never be a 'shake-the-box' scale, it is certainly a lot easier to get a 2FS layout working now than at any time before.

 

Andy

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  • RMweb Gold
bcnPete
  • RMweb Gold

it just makes me want to tear up all the track on Highclere and start again!

 

I agree with Andy, missy...I know how you feel...I am still contemplating doing that myself, but your trackwork does look very nice and I am sure you can iron most things out as pcb construction does at least allow a degree of tweaking.

 

Mine however looks pure ugly but I keep telling myself that my prototype is mostly a freight only line :P

 

Andy - nowt wrong with wire in tube :D

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Bryn

Hello Andy!

 

Could you explain how you glued down your Templot plan and then shellacked it? I tried to use PVA spread out thinly and it failed miserably. Any tips?

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2mm Andy
Hello Andy!

 

Could you explain how you glued down your Templot plan and then shellacked it? I tried to use PVA spread out thinly and it failed miserably. Any tips?

 

Hello Bryn,

 

I shellaced the timber track base (the 1/16" thick basswood strip under the track), then glued the template on with Unibond wood glue (a creamy colour, not the white of normal PVA). Then after a couple of hours with some weights on it to hold it all down, I gave the template another coat of shellac. So far the only problem has been one piece of the basswood trying to curl up, but only very slightly, and some more pva along the edge and a big clamp has cured this. The shellac I used was a small jar of ready-mixed stuff sold in my local hardware shop. It is supposed to have a shortish shelf life, but I've had mine for a year or more and it still seemed OK when I tested it.

 

Edit - sorry, missed the second part of your question! I'd use a ply trackbase next time (or not bother at all). I think sealing the wood helps - I've seen reference to problems caused by the paper swelling due to moisture and I didn't want that to happen. I will ballast the track using Johnson's Klear (fortunately I stockpiled 4 or 5 bottles before it disappeared from the shelves), which will hopefully set everything rock solid!

 

Hope that helps?

 

Andy

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2mm Andy
Ideal, just the sort of information I was after.

 

Thank you Andy.

 

Hi Bryn,

 

No probs - glad to be of help! One problem I noticed last night is that some of the Easitrac sleeper bases have come unstuck and I had to re-glue them. Whether there was some mould release agent on the mouldings, or whether I moved them after the glue had set initially I don't know. Hopefully when they've been ballasted it will set things nice and solid!

 

Andy

Link to comment
Jaggzuk

I have to keep reminding myself that this is 2mm, I do not know how you do it Andy, building track in 2mm. I struggled with 4mm - maybe I am just getting old and loosing my eyesight ;)

 

It does all look very neat and tidy. Well done.

 

Looking forward to the turnout construction.

 

Paul

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