ejstubbs Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 When cutting cork or closed-cell foam sheet for track underlay, what's the best width to aim for? To put it another way, how much shoulder should you allow beyond the sleeper ends at each side? I've had a look at various suppliers of pre-cut straight cork underlay and there seems to be a range of widths offered for OO guage. If it makes any difference, the track is mostly Peco Setrack, with Streamline code 100 points. It will (eventually) be ballasted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharris Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Typing 'track ballast width' into google and doing an image search will bring up many many diagrams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Well indeed - but that's part of the problem. There are many, and they don't by any means all agree. That's why I was hoping that someone would be able to recommend a good general-purpose figure. However, these two links (link1, link2) do seem to reference the same diagram, which looks straightforward enough: 1'0" is of course 4mm in OO. I am planning to use 3mm closed-cell foam underlay, so I reckon that cutting it 3mm beyond the sleeper ends should work. I'll be cutting the foam square rather than chamfered, and relying on the ballast to fill in the wee corner along the edge to make the correct sloping profile. With a ballast depth of ~1mm on top of the underlay, that should give me roughly a 4mm shoulder, starting roughly 4mm out from the sleeper ends. I think. Anyone have any contrary views? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 If your doing a manicured main or branch line it's all part of the look to have a neat and even shoulder. In yards it's not usually necessary. Quite often there are some interesting differences in track levels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Bear in mind that in 00 using Peco geometry you have some compromises already. Nothing wrong with that, the majority of modellers do, but consider how adjusting the prototype dimensions above can help the appearance, or hinder it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.