martin_wynne

Hi John, For Templot plug track you don't need to understand 3D printing. All you will need to do is read "click the button marked GO" and do it. 🙂 I'm determined to make it easy for everyone to follow. I haven't been able to get on with that yet, because until now the whole thing has been an unfinished experimental project. But I'm close now to having something usable. By the time we resume the Templot Zoom meetings next month, I'm hoping folks will be showing plug track stuff which they've made. cheers, Martin.

Hi John, No it isn't. 🙂 Your posts on RMweb amply demonstrate that you have all the know-how you could possibly need for Templot plug track. You don't need any computer skills or CAD abilities because Templot does all that for you. As soon as I have got a bit more released I shall be making some easy-to-follow videos and tutorials -- click this, press that -- and James Walters is planning to do some too, and will have a demo stand at Scaleforum. p.s. the filing jigs can be set for 4mm or 7mm rail sizes (bullhead). It helps to grind the bulk off the rail first for the larger rail sections. cheers, Martin.

If you spend some money on 3D printers, you can build plug track for a material cost of about £1 per turnout, plus the rail. You need a resin printer for the chairs and an FDM printer for the timbers. Each can be had for around the cost of an 00 RTR locomotive, or less. Both can be used for lots of other model making jobs. cheers, Martin.

Hi John, They might not fetch such good prices after the next Templot release in a week or two. It will then be possible to FDM-print filing jigs for any angle from Templot 3D files: Material cost for such a jig is about £1.50 if you have or know someone with an FDM 3D printer. Such printers can be had for the price of an 00 RTR locomotive. And used for a lot more than just filing jigs. The jigs for filing the switch blades will be a bit more because they are longer. If the vee rails are filed and polished using these jigs to match exactly the angle of the plug track chairs, they fit snugly together in the chairs and don't need soldering together to make a one-piece vee (same as in the Finetrax kits). The rails just need a little cyano superglue or whatever on them somewhere to prevent them sliding out of position. p.s. the grey colour is PLA Plus toughened FDM filament, it is not a resin print. cheers, Martin.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-66498265

Hi Jol, I may have exaggerated slightly. I do know of a couple. 🙂 Sure you can buy baseboards, but they are not cheap. This is a topic from a raw beginner -- he needs to know what the important issues are before being given possible solutions. For P4, baseboards are definitely an issue. I don't really think it is fair to a beginner to start suggesting P4 when he is still at the stage of discussing Peco set-track. Let folks learn to walk before telling them they ought to be running. 00 RTR on 00-SF Finetrax turnout kits would be a good step up from Peco. Many fine layouts have been and are being built that way. Martin.

Hi Jol, Building models and trackwork probably isn't much more difficult in P4 -- but building baseboards is definitely more difficult in P4. A successful P4 layout requires good carpentry skills above all else, especially for a portable layout with tracks crossing baseboard joints. Those P4 wheel flanges are tiny, and even tinier after accumulating any dirt on the wheels. Baseboards need to be dead flat, and baseboard joints must align perfectly every time. The planet is littered with abandoned P4 layouts where the baseboards sagged or warped, or with a baseboard joint which derailed everything which tried to get across it. 🙂 Martin.

You are not wrong. Many/most 00-SF modellers use ordinary code 75 flexi-track for their plain track. For pointwork, a range of easy-build Finetrax pointwork kits is available for 00-SF: https://www.britishfinescale.com/ You should completely ignore and disregard suggestions that 00-SF is worse than standard 00 because the track gauge (16.2mm) is even smaller. No-one can see that difference without measuring it -- but they can and will notice that the narrower flangeways look much more realistic, and notice the improved running with kit wheels. More about 00-SF at: https://85a.uk/00-sf/ cheers, Martin.

This is the one they always forget to add:

Hi John, Using plug track it's not really necessary to solder the vees. If the rails are filed to the accurate angles using the 3D-printed filing jig, they will fit snugly together in the chairs (as on the Finetrax kits). If you think soldering is important, the resin chairs will resist soldering heat if you are quick with solder cream (SMT paste) to solder them in situ. Or they can be sealed with penetrating cyano or some other sealant. Or with epoxy afterwards from below if building on the bench. Having finally got all the V-crossing chairs done, we are now at the stage of learning all the tips and tricks of building plug track. The 3D computer files for the filing jigs (any angle) will be available from the next Templot update in a few days time. Any model railway club should have an FDM printer available for members to use.🙂 This is the toughened filament needed for the filing jigs (also used for the timbering bases). 1 reel will make about 15 filing jigs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FQ75QG2 cheers, Martin.

Hi Paul, Lez, If you have access to an FDM (filament) 3D printer, you will soon be able to print any size of filing jig, for both switch blades and vee crossings, using 3D files exported from Templot: The filament to use is toughened PLA PLus, which a file just skids across. These jigs are good for a couple of dozen vees, and since they cost only about £1 for material, if it does wear out you can simply print another one. The M6 bolts are likely to cost more than the jig. Will be in the next Templot update in a few days time. No CAD program or CAD skills needed, the files are ready for printing. cheers, Martin.

As instructed, I wrote "not in use" on the back of it, and signed my name.

They couldn't be much closer: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/17272404#map=18/52.47907/-1.89078 Martin.

Motorway alongside railway. The vastly different impact on the landscape is striking:

Achievable HS2 making good progress:

In that case, how are we to know that it's not in use?

Seen in the sits-vac in the local paper a few years ago: "We have several vacancies for Edible Oil Technologists".

We shouldn't denigrate Norman wisdom.

Hi Dave, No -- blue is the straight blade/rail before you start curving. That depends on the hand of the turnout of course. cheers, Martin.

Hi Dave, See my previous post, but swap over the green and pink: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/160234-using-the-easy-assembly-finetrax-pointwork-kits-in-00-and-em-and-possibly-p4/?do=findComment&comment=4701029 i.e. snip out and remove the green ones. Snip through the pink ones and lock them to the curve with a hot glue gun. cheers, Martin.

RAIB have just posted a video about the Spital Junction incident: Report released today: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-062023-train-overspeeding-at-spital-junction Martin.

Interesting to watch again this video from 10 months ago.