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First adventures in soldered trackwork

Etched Pixels

Entry posted by Etched Pixels

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I thought I'd start with NN3 trackwork on the basis that I was doing the first test build with a roller gauge and no jigs, along with no experience. I figured that however dodgy it turned out it wouldnt be totally amiss as an industrial narrow gauge siding. It's also using Z standards so its a good deal more forgiving and coarse spec than 2mm trackwork proper.

 

I have learned several things

 

- that the ends of the rail are sharp and next time I should cover them in tape so less blood is involved when cleaning up with a file

- that I need to make some jigs for more serious NN3 trackwork

- that the pritt stick cheap clone I used to stick the sleepers down ready to solder turns into a strong glue once soldered (next time I may try photomount)

 

I'm still stuck on a few things

- The best way to paint it given the sleepers are metal - all over attack with Games Workshop skull white and then clean the tops of the rails ?

- How people get small neat blobs of solder and don't have to spend an hour cleaning up the joins or removing and replacing some of the worst excesses (would solder paint be better)

- Would it be better to find matching plastic strip and glue every 'n'th sleeper and just fake the rest, especially on the NN3 bits where realyl the rail ought to be flat bottom on clips or nails/

 

 

But it works, it's to gauge and you can run things on it. I'm almost tempted to attempt some dual gauge trackwork after I make sleeper spacing jigs so I can get it straight. That is once I figure out the right way to make the jigs.

 

Alan

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  • RMweb Gold
Donw
  • RMweb Gold

soldering tends to improve with practice. Working in a small scale you may find a smaller tip and thin cored solder helps. I don't know about Skull white but I think trying to paint it without getting any on the rail tops would be impossible spraying followed by painting the rail sides a dirty rust. Then a light clean of the tops is about right.

Don

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-missy-

Hello Alan :)

 

From that photo the track looks alright, I dont know what all the fuss is about!

 

I paint track directly without any undercoat. I start by painting the rails using Humbrol 113 'Matt Rust' then the sleepers with Railmatch 'Sleeper Grime' (sometimes needing a couple of coats) and havent had any problems so far.

 

As for the soldering if you are having trouble with too much solder them a couple of options might be to try tinning the sleeper and rail first then 'sweating' them together or mybe using some solder wick to take away the excess solder once you have soldered them together normally? I believe that the 2mm SA track jig for standard gauge rail can be used for the sleeper spacing on narrow gauge by using it to solder one side of the rail to the sleepers to produce a length of 'fishbone' track then soldering the other side in place using roller gauges.

 

I do like narrow gauge stuff and would be interested in seeing what bits you have and where you got hold of them though. I do remember you saying you have produced some etches or something in the past, is that correct?

 

Missy :)

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Etched Pixels
solder once you have soldered them together normally? I believe that the 2mm SA track jig for standard gauge rail can be used for the sleeper spacing on narrow gauge by using it to solder one side of the rail to the sleepers to produce a length of 'fishbone' track then soldering the other side in place using roller gauges.

 

That would make sense, and naturally enough its an item I didn't order from the SA shop with this collection of bits. Presumably for curves the idea is make up fishbone and then curve it and fit the other rail by gauge and eye ?

 

I do like narrow gauge stuff and would be interested in seeing what bits you have and where you got hold of them though. I do remember you saying you have produced some etches or something in the past, is that correct?

 

Missy :)

 

There are a few bits around - Peco have a couple of white metal loco bodies for the Märklin 0-6-0 a van and an open although they are quite large by UK standards for narrow gauge. BHE does a diesel body to fit the same although its a bit of an old casting. The roof is way too thick but the rest is actually pretty close to prototype - but again quite big by UK standards. Kestrel did a bogie coach although I don't know whats happened to that with the Kestrel buyout.

 

I did a few bits - underframes, open wagons, flat wagon and an Ashbury coach. These are more in the style of Welsh narrow gauge which really means they want redoing to 4.5mm gauge or so (Zm trackwork) but the wheels and mechanisms are almost unobtainable for this alas.

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  • RMweb Gold
2mmMark
  • RMweb Gold

Looks OK to me and I've built a fair bit of 6.5mm gauge track. Couple of comments - the code 30 strip rail is a loose fit in the std gauge jigs so using it to make a fishbone as Missy suggests can be tricky. Code 40 bullhead used upside down works very well and looks pretty good too. I would also recommend 100% pcb sleepers. Once you've mastered the knack of track soldering, it's quicker than glueing non-pcb sleepers.

 

Double sided tape might be worth trying. It holds the sleepers well enough and the glue can be dissolved with a brushing of white spirit.

 

Soldering is much easier if you can find a thin gauge of solder, you have more control over the amount used.

 

I tend to spray-paint my track and prefer to use oil-based enamels like Humbrol. For cleaning up afterwards I use a cheap screwdriver ground to the shape of a wheel and scrape away excess paint from the head and inside top of the rail.

 

I have seen a code 30 NG rail jig but that may have been a prototype.

 

Mark.

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2mm Andy

Another tip for limiting the amount of solder you bring to a joint is to either cut off small slices of solder and bring these to the rail/sleeper joint individually, or squash the end of the solder reel with a pair of pliers or a hammer (the latter is much more fun, but mind your fingers!) so that it is easier to pick-up a small amount of solder on the iron.

 

Most 'traditional' NG track used flatbottom rail and dogspikes, so you don't really need chair blobs anyway.

 

Andy

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