Kirkby Luneside (Original): End of the line....

[Physicsman]

Hi 'CHARD,

 

I used sheets of 7mm Slaters Dressed Stone. I think the Slaters reference is 0415. hope that helps!!

 

Jeff

 

Edit: Just checked on the Kernow website...0415 it appears to be.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Physicsman

[Physicsman]

I actually prefer the Wills moulded plastic stone sheets becasue they are solid. Making buildings couldnt be easier when it comes to filing the corner stones to match. If etched window frames are used these should be fitted within the winder aperture and not behind it. I've nver found the thickness an issue. I am currently using it for around 9 feet of retaining wall because it looks 4mm and not 7mm yet the mortar courses are deep enough to give plenty of relief.

 

Larry, I quite agree with respect to buildings - though I've only used the stuff for platform tops and cobbled streets, to date. I just wish they'd make the sheets a bit bigger - I'm not complaining about the thickness, which gives much greater rigidity.

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

Larry, I quite agree with respect to buildings - though I've only used the stuff for platform tops and cobbled streets, to date. I just wish they'd make the sheets a bit bigger - I'm not complaining about the thickness, which gives much greater rigidity.

 

Jeff

 

 

What do you use to cut Wills sheets, Larry? A fine saw for the straight cuts?

[Physicsman]

Jonathan, I can't tell you what Larry does, but I use a Stanley knife then smooth the edges down with very fine sandpaper. Bit tedious at times, but it works.

 

I think you may have to ask the same question on "Greenfield" if you want a direct reply...

 

Jeff

[coachmann]

What do you use to cut Wills sheets, Larry? A fine saw for the straight cuts?

 

A standard brass handle Swann Morton knife. The trick is to cut it from the back then you get perfectly straight cuts. I scrape off any swarf with the same knife as well as rounding off the stonework as this gives the edge a stonelike appearance. Done in seconds.

[peach james]

As regards light polution, the best place I can think of to stargaze from is off a ship in mid pacific. (particuarly, a military ship). We tend to avoid other shipping, and it gets _very_ dark out.

 

I'm fortunate, in that I am ~30 km from Victoria (BC), and enough around the curve that light pollution @ home here isn't bad at all- nearest street lights are about 500m away (single), and for any quantity, 22 km away by road.

 

Of course, the commute is a bit long... (45 km each way to work right now, 52 if I am in dockyard).

 

Off to see if Long Marton will run- I haven't had power on it for about 2 months.

 

James

[Physicsman]

Now that I have a lot of time on my hands, and no longer need to conform to working hours, I can return to regular observing of the night sky as well as hours in the railway room. That situation has made me painfully aware of the vast amount of light pollution - which most people see as "harmless" - in the UK. The number of street lights - and consequent waste of energy - in my neighbourhood is staggering. The threat of litigation if a single shadow exists and little Johnny falls over and bruises his little finger is ridiculous. I probably sound old, but the world has gone mad!

 

At least the railway room is under our individual control! Speaking of which, I aim to do a bit more specific track planning today...clearer marking-out and curve positioning etc.

 

Again, can I canvass opinions. What adhesives have people found work best for fixing the track to the underlay/baseboard - Evostik/copydex/general impact...comments, please.

 

Jeff

[aberdare]

Hi Jeff

 

I have just fixed my cork and track with a contact adhesive. The cork has adhered well to the board as I found out when I had to move a bit, I totally destroyed the cork and had to sand the board to relay it. I found it stuck the track down initially but with the warm weather of the last few days it has allowed a little bit of movement between joints (I have no rail joiners) where I think the curvature of the track has pulled it to one side, it is minimal though. It could be that I have only tacked it in place awaiting ballasting for which I will use PVA.

 

All the best in your track laying.

 

Jim

[coachmann]

I used PVA for cork and track/ballast. Others prefer Copydex as it reputedly transmits less noise through to the baseboard.

PVA for lots of other jobs around the layout.

Evostick for attaching Slaters embossed wall facings to plastikard. Also for general usage around the layout.

Mekpak for plastic to plastic.

Gripfill for attaching resin to resin etc. (messy but highly efective).

[Physicsman]

Thanks Jim. I think I used evostik on the last layout. Haven't dismantled it yet - how did you find the track came away from the cork when you wanted to re-use it (the track)?

 

I've always fixed cork down with PVA. Like your evostik experience, it's a hell of a mess when you try to get the cork back off!!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

Edited September 6, 2012 by Physicsman

[Physicsman]

Thanks for the information Larry. I've sent you a PM on the subject.

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

I've had a very enjoyable evening playing with turnouts and tracksettas. I wanted to be certain that all my carefully made plans didn't have any glaring mistakes, so I removed all the flexi, sat the turnouts in the correct places and "joined" everything up with pencil lines using the tracksettas. Standard procedure, but fun.

 

Any little tweaks seemed to have worked in my favour. The visible section of the layout will have a minimum radius curve of 36" (90cm) - better than I'd expected. I'm in the middle of a major overhaul of the back garden, but when that's done tracklaying can commence.

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

 

Again, can I canvass opinions. What adhesives have people found work best for fixing the track to the underlay/baseboard - Evostik/copydex/general impact...comments, please.

 

Jeff

 

Jeff, I have used PVA to stick down cork/foam to the baseboard and then pinned the track. I then ballast using spray and eye-dropper method, but I don't use PVA in the eye-dropper but substitute with a rubber-type adhesive used to glue down carpet tiles and the like. It doesn't set like concrete and has some "give" in it which aids sound deadening qualities and should you make a horlicks of things the track lifts out without too much damage. I also use Carrs' ballast. It's non-stone and seems to be made from wood, again has sound deadening qualities. Once the ballast has dried the track pins are removed. There are some who swear by the Klear floor polish method, which requires no wetting of the formation first, but I've never tried this. I may try some experiments before I embark on my next layout.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Rowsley17D

[Physicsman]

Thanks Jonathan. I've always used diluted PVA for my ballast and PVA for the cork-baseboard joint. What I was really asking (and didn't make it clear) was what people used to fix the track to the underlay. In the past - I've checked - I put a smear of evostik on the bottom of the track and pinned it down until the glue set. Then removed the pins. This seems to be what the majority of people continue to do.

 

So it's time to stock up on more Evostik "Impact" - then I'm ready.

 

Btw, I put a few posts in at around 6am. I knew I could (almost) guarantee you'd chip in by 8am. Thanks - I appreciate your input.

 

Jeff

[gordon s]

Jeff, I use PVA to stick the cork down to the ply, but have changed my adhesive for sticking track to the cork. By accident I ordered some 'No Nonsense Water Resistant Wood Adhesive' and found it great. I use it to stick down my SMP track and paint in onto the cork with a 1/2" brush. Lay the track in the wet glue, which allows you to move it about and then pin it down every couple of inches using common or garden drawing pins onto the rail head. The length of the pin and height of the rail means it pin barely touches the ply and holds in the cork.

 

The real plus side is that I've found you can remove the track without damage if you're careful. It dries quickly and forms a slightly brittle joint. Using a decorators scraper I can peel the track away from the base without damage and the use of any wetting agent that I had to use with PVA.

 

Might be worth a try if you can find some..

[Physicsman]

Thanks Gordon. Web search for No Nonsense starts shortly...!!!

 

It's good to have alternatives and even better to hear people's individual experiences of doing a particular task.

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

Thanks Jonathan. I've always used diluted PVA for my ballast and PVA for the cork-baseboard joint. What I was really asking (and didn't make it clear) was what people used to fix the track to the underlay. In the past - I've checked - I put a smear of evostik on the bottom of the track and pinned it down until the glue set. Then removed the pins. This seems to be what the majority of people continue to do.

 

So it's time to stock up on more Evostik "Impact" - then I'm ready.

 

Btw, I put a few posts in at around 6am. I knew I could (almost) guarantee you'd chip in by 8am. Thanks - I appreciate your input.

 

Jeff

 

On lunch now Jeff. I have never glued the track to the cork/foam. Just pinned track with mapping pins and relied on the glued ballast to do the job. Have you got one of those ballast spreader things? Makes light work (well, lighter work) of ballasting.

[Physicsman]

On lunch now Jeff. I have never glued the track to the cork/foam. Just pinned track with mapping pins and relied on the glued ballast to do the job. Have you got one of those ballast spreader things? Makes light work (well, lighter work) of ballasting.

 

No I haven't got a spreader - not familiar with them. Again, I'll have a look to see what's available. I just use a soft brush and my judgement!

 

Enjoy your lunch - I suddenly feel hungry!

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

One final view of points in the correct position to judge that the geometry works.

 

Hopefully, the next set of photos will show some of the track permanently fixed in place on a cork bed.

 

It feels like this is taking ages, but I have to remind myself that at the beginning of June the garage had been converted, but was an empty shell. So in 13 weeks I think I've made some progress!

 

Jeff

[P.C.M]

Looking good Jeff, I do like those Points. Drool.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Physicsman]

Hi Peter. It's a strange thing... Until recently I was quite happy with code 100 Peco track. Then, after much thought, I decided to build the new layout using Peco code 75. The Peco 75 looks good - I'm going to use it in the fiddle yard. Then I read a thread about changing the sleeper spacing on Peco track. The result looked excellent, but what a faff!

 

Hence the move to SMP (it could just as easily have been C&L). It's only when you put the two types of track together that you realise how narrow the sleeper spacing is on the Peco.

 

Having said all that, just look at the number of superb layouts on here that use Peco. Yours included. Once the track is down, ballasted and weathered, does it really matter - except for the officianados (and I'm certainly not one of those!)?

 

Best wishes (it'll be getting hot soon down your way, won't it?),

 

Jeff

[aberdare]

Hi Jeff

 

Been a bit tied up with the wifes appointments etc the last few days, but with reference to the glue I only used the contact adhesive to tack the track before fixing it with PVA and ballast. As with others I used a decorators scraper to get them up but I did damage a couple by being too heavy handed and impatient.

 

Your trackwork is looking good and I look forward to more progress.

 

Jim

[Physicsman]

Hi Jeff

 

Been a bit tied up with the wifes appointments etc the last few days, but with reference to the glue I only used the contact adhesive to tack the track before fixing it with PVA and ballast. As with others I used a decorators scraper to get them up but I did damage a couple by being too heavy handed and impatient.

 

Your trackwork is looking good and I look forward to more progress.

 

Jim

 

Cheers Jim. I think this is the approach I'll take. I don't want it "fully floating" (as Iain Rice calls it), but neither do I want it totally rigid, with no give. I think the running in those circumstances would be crap. So, a compromise.

 

I'm off for a few days now, so there'll be no playing with the track. The trusty laptop's going with me, so I can continue to woffle/post!

 

Jeff

[Schubert]

Hi Jeff,

 

Here's my thoughts/practices:

 

My layout:

Cork to baseboard - Evostick

Track to cork - double sided Sellotape (means no track pins or holes in sleepers and it's clean!

Ballast -thinned PVA

 

Club layout (heartburn junction):

Cork to baseboard - Evostick

Track to cork - track pins only

Ballast - French polish

 

The French polish sets the ballast nicely (it leaves a glossy finish but weathering fixes this) the benefit is that if you want to lift the track you can use methylated spirit to soften the ballast, and then the track comes up with a wallpaper scraper. Assuming you removed the track pins first of course!

 

Al

 

[Physicsman]

Hi Al,

 

Thanks for your input. It's taken a while to respond as, apparently, the site has been "down" for 80% of members.

 

We can discuss all of this when you call round next. Personally, I think I'll go with:

 

Cork-Board: Evo-stik

 

Track - Cork: A few dabs of evostik, pinned with pins removed later. (Never thought about sellotape!!)

 

Ballast: Diluted PVA

 

So we are mostly in agreement. I'd consider track-cork using Larry's (Coach) idea of track in a PVA bed - though curves would need pinning until the glue has set. In fact, the more I think of it, I like the idea very much, as PVA is easy to remove and gives time for manoeuvre prior to setting.

 

I'm away for a few days, but if you want to call round from the end of the week, things can proceed!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff