Fooling around with various trackmaking methods

[polybear]

Hi,

I'm currently experimenting with different methods of trackmaking, to see what I like best and to learn the techniques. I've previously made a turnout using plastic components, but it wasn't too successful first time round (my fault). I've also been experimenting with Masokits etched brass chairs and pcb sleepers (pretty reasonable, very strong, looks reasonable but does take time).

 

I'm now onto pcb trackwork (very strong, fast, but attaching chairs is a pain because they are too high due to the rail sitting directly on the sleeper). Now I've just tried ply and rivet, which I do like; however again there are problems attaching chairs because the size of the rivet head means the chair half is held away from the rail, even though I'm using the smaller copper rivets with 2mm diameter head.

 

Any suggestions with regard to fitting half chairs to pcb and also ply & rivet trackwork would be much appreciated ....

 

I'll have a play with ply sleepers later, with the chairs bonded on. However, I do prefer the strength and ease of adjustment of soldered construction I think.

 

Thanks.

Brian

[meple]

Hi,

I'm currently experimenting with different methods of trackmaking, to see what I like best and to learn the techniques. I've previously made a turnout using plastic components, but it wasn't too successful first time round (my fault). I've also been experimenting with Masokits etched brass chairs and pcb sleepers (pretty reasonable, very strong, looks reasonable but does take time).

 

I'm now onto pcb trackwork (very strong, fast, but attaching chairs is a pain because they are too high due to the rail sitting directly on the sleeper). Now I've just tried ply and rivet, which I do like; however again there are problems attaching chairs because the size of the rivet head means the chair half is held away from the rail, even though I'm using the smaller copper rivets with 2mm diameter head.

 

Any suggestions with regard to fitting half chairs to pcb and also ply & rivet trackwork would be much appreciated ....

 

I'll have a play with ply sleepers later, with the chairs bonded on. However, I do prefer the strength and ease of adjustment of soldered construction I think.

 

Thanks.

Brian

 

Why don't you use the Masokits etched brass chairs that hold the rail at the correct height on pcb sleepers?

[polybear]

Why don't you use the Masokits etched brass chairs that hold the rail at the correct height on pcb sleepers?

 

Hi,

 

I've experimented with the Masokits chairs but they are time consuming and whilst the chairs look pretty good they're no match for C&L or Exactoscale chairs; they're also a fair bit more expensive than plastic chairs. I have thought of using brass strip packing pieces the same width as the foot of the rail and of the same thickness as a chair baseplate, but boy would that be fiddly. There must be an easy way...

 

Brian

[Miss Prism]

[hayfield]

Very time consuming but you could solder brass shim between the rail and sleeper, this will lift the rail high enough to attach a chair.

 

For both PCB and ply and rivet bond plastic chairs to the sleepers but every 5 or so sleepers use brass shim/rivet to solder the rail to the track, best of both worlds

[polybear]

Thanks for the replies. So far I've now tried the following methods (only small test pieces in some cases):

 

1. PCB with Masokits chairs

2. PCB with rail soldered directly to the sleepers

3. Ply & Rivet

4. Ply & Plastic chairs bonded on.

5. C&L plastic sleepers & chairs.

 

I'm now doing a larger section of plain rail using the Ply & Rivet method (it's currently my favourite, even though it takes time), but do plan to experiment with PCB sleepers and shim strips to lift the rail, and also will try grinding the end of the rivets on Ply & Rivet construction to aid fitting of the chairs.

 

Brian

[Captain Kernow]

Very time consuming but you could solder brass shim between the rail and sleeper, this will lift the rail high enough to attach a chair

That is exactly what I have done when I built the pointwork for 'Travellers Rest', a future P4 layout. It's a bit of a faff cutting out lots of brass shim pieces, but provided you solder it all up properly, you do retain the inherant strength of a soldered PCB point, plus you can now glue cosmetic Exactoscale or C&L chairs cut in half to the point.

[peterglyn]

I would be very interested in your experiences of C+L turnout construction. I'm about to embark on first attempt

Peter

[brossard]

I have built a load of code 100 PCB points (incl double slip (pause for applause))with some success. I just built a C&L point using Timber Tracks. The bond of the chairs to the wood is very strong (someone did a test a while ago and the jaw of the chair of the chair failed before the chair/timber bond). I did solder the crossing assembly to 0.032 brass strip (saw it in an old MRJ) before assembly since I doubt the plastic chairs are strong enough to maintain the vee/wingrail relationship. It looks super and not too difficult.

 

John

[craigwelsh]

The bond of the chairs to the wood is very strong (someone did a test a while ago and the jaw of the chair of the chair failed before the chair/timber bond). I did solder the crossing assembly to 0.032 brass strip (saw it in an old MRJ) before assembly since I doubt the plastic chairs are strong enough to maintain the vee/wingrail relationship. It looks super and not too difficult.

John

The bonding test was in MRJ and they even tried different adhesives including Araldite!

 

I think ply and rivet is easier than pcb with packed rail. With rivets though you do need smaller heads than most are sold with and also need to throw away any sleepers that was slightly off as i've learnt with the club project.

 

Using a Dremel to grind off the rivets proved tricky when I tried it and very easy to go through the sleeper!

[dymstocklr]

Brian.

If you want my advice go for bonding. I made about 100 odd metres of bonded track for the local o gauge group about 5 years ago and I can't recall a single bonding failure since it's been down - and it takes a real hammering with big engines on a continuous run! I used to make track using ply and rivets but frankly life's just too short! Just when you think you've nearly finished a turnout with 'only' the cosmetic half chairs to go, the frustration start. However careful you are not every rivet will be dead centre and fiddleing these chairs plus cutting the others and fitting them is very time consuming. Plus of course fixing the 200 odd half chairs for each metre of plain track. If it's strength of bond you're worried about - don't. Butanone and ply are an excellent combination, as is the Butanone equivalent from your local plumbers supply which is much much cheaper!

Bill

[kipford]

One of club favourites is to use a mix of ply and rivet and C&L/P4 chairs and ply. Use the rivets where you want a little bit more strength, then you restrict the amount of half chairs to a minimum.

 

Dave

[Re6/6]

That is exactly what I have done when I built the pointwork for 'Travellers Rest', a future P4 layout. It's a bit of a faff cutting out lots of brass shim pieces, but provided you solder it all up properly, you do retain the inherant strength of a soldered PCB point, plus you can now glue cosmetic Exactoscale or C&L chairs cut in half to the point.

 

A picture of the method.