British Finescale simple to assemble turnout Kits - All Rail EM Gauge B7 L/H Prototype - First Look

[faa77]

Thanks for all the responses to my question.

 

@Wayne KinneyNice one!

[Wayne Kinney]

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry for the long wait, but I've finally got stock built up for the new 4mm 'All Rail' style of Finetrax turnout kits.

 

I've been a little delayed working on orders from the 2mm and 3mm scale Association/Society, but I've also been working on stock for the 4mm EM/00/00-SF kits this week:

 

 

Guys, these are now back online and ready to order. I'm still working on video instructions so I've made some temporary instructions here:

https://www.britishfinescale.com/v/vspfiles/pdfinstructions/Standard Turnout Instructions.pdf

 

EM Gauge:

https://www.britishfinescale.com/product-p/finetrax-em-b7.htm

 

00 Gauge:

https://www.britishfinescale.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=finetrax-00-b7

 

00-SF:

https://www.britishfinescale.com/product-p/finetrax-00sf-b7.htm

 

Still time to order before xmas

 

The design change really set me back, but I'm so glad I made this decision, and now I can plough forward for 2022!

 

Diamond crossing next for January! 

Edited December 16, 2021 by Wayne Kinney

[NFWEM57]

Superb Effort from an Innovative Entrepreneur.  Well done.  You are a long overdue gift to the model railway fraternity.  Have a great break and stay safe.

 

Patrick 

Edited December 16, 2021 by NFWEM57
typo

[Rotary_Wingman]

Top job Wayne! Everything seems to be coming along nicely.

 

All I want for xmas is a double slip; alas, it looks like the Easter Bunny may have to bring it! Have a great festive break!

[Tankstage]

11 hours ago, Wayne Kinney said:

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry for the long wait, but I've finally got stock built up for the new 4mm 'All Rail' style of Finetrax turnout kits.

 

 

 

Diamond crossing next for January! 

Wayne, a quick question, will the diamond crossing be the same "layout" as the double slip. 

in other words, can I use a diamond to lay track and then replace with the double slip when available?

 

Thanks

[Wayne Kinney]

1 hour ago, Tankstage said:

Wayne, a quick question, will the diamond crossing be the same "layout" as the double slip. 

in other words, can I use a diamond to lay track and then replace with the double slip when available?

 

Thanks

Hi, yes same footprint

[KeithHC]

Well done Wayne so instead of salivating over a turkey I will just look at these pictures and drool. You have been doing a fantastic job over this past year. You deserve a great Christmas so I will say a big SEASON GREETINGS ago you and your family.

 

Keith

[whart57]

We in 3mm scale look forward to receiving ours.

[Wayne Kinney]

8 minutes ago, whart57 said:

We in 3mm scale look forward to receiving ours.

Not long now!

[BWsTrains]

On 01/11/2021 at 06:37, NFWEM57 said:

Turnout installed....! Left hand turnout is all rail British Finescale B7, right hand is PECO B6 EM Gauge

 

 

....

 

 

Hi Patrick,

 

Slightly OT but what is your turnout switching kit? They look like momentary toggles of some sort, and if so are there two per turnout?

The setup looks very neat and I could see it being ideal for my new setting.

 

BTW, thanks for all the great work over last year trialing / documenting these BF turnouts for us. As a result I've become a full convert to using these kits and keenly waiting for the rest of the (OO) range to be released.

 

Regards,

 

Colin

[NFWEM57]

On 30/12/2021 at 23:40, BWsTrains said:

 

Hi Patrick,

 

Slightly OT but what is your turnout switching kit? They look like momentary toggles of some sort, and if so are there two per turnout?

The setup looks very neat and I could see it being ideal for my new setting.

 

BTW, thanks for all the great work over last year trialing / documenting these BF turnouts for us. As a result I've become a full convert to using these kits and keenly waiting for the rest of the (OO) range to be released.

 

Regards,

 

Colin

Hi Colin,

 

Thank you for the kind words but I am merely Santa's willing volunteer...!  It is Wayne who has done all the hard work and begun to deliver for us all..!  Hopefully Wayne has had a good break because I think he is going to have a very busy 2022..!!!  And the all rail kits are really the bee's knees; I am replacing the original prototype one in the OO gauge section with an all rail one shortly. 

 

On to your question.  I have 8 turnouts on my test track. 1 x OO (left hand side of image) , 3 x EM (right hand side of image), 3 x N gauge (out of shot) and one O gauge (out of shot).  Switching of each turnout is by RC servo motor controlled by 2 ESU Switch Pilot Servos (4 channel each) with a switch pilot extension on each to handle frog switching.  The turnouts can be controlled via DCC from the track or the 3 way toggle switches which are momentary, off, momentary so one switch controls one turnout.  (dttechnicalsupplies make them)  Up is straight and down is divergent.  In addition, the Switch pilot allows individual turnout control to be combined so that for example switching either of the turnouts in a crossing pair moves both turnouts at the same time.  The EMGS B6 points in the right of the image are so linked.  Semaphore signals moved by servos could also be linked to the same crossing pair.  In other words 'consists' for servos...!  Frog polarity switches over at the mid point of travel.

 

Although the ESU Switch Pilots can be powered from the track, I use a separate dedicated 12V power supply and use the track input solely for control.   In addition, each turnout can be moved by momentarily bridging the direct switching inputs on the Switch Pilot, 2 per turnout.  Both track and toggle switches are permanently connected to the switch pilots so I can use either method to set turnouts.   I got tired of trying to control the turnouts using the simple dynamis system I use on the test track so I added the toggle switch bank.  In addition, when using DC on the test track I have to use the toggle switches anyway.    Setting up the turnouts is by use of the buttons on the switch pilot themselves or via a suitable DCC controller; I have an ECoS I can plug in if required to adjust the travel and switch times using  the appropriate CVs if so required.   The switch pilots are mounted underneath the removable track section with all the turnouts.   Hope this has given some food for thought.

 

On my planned DCC layout I will mimic the concept and have both control methods fitted, DCC control for normal running and toggle switches for maintenance and testing.  I will be using the newer Switch Pilot Servo 3s which are 8 channel and also have a bounce mode for semaphore signals.  Hope this clears the moderators and importantly, hope it helps. 

 

Patrick

Edited January 1, 2022 by NFWEM57
clarity and more detail

[Wayne Kinney]

Happy New Year, everybody!

Edited January 1, 2022 by Wayne Kinney

[NFWEM57]

Hi Wayne,

 

Happy New Year and well done on the new N gauge all rail B7 kit...!  The carpet monsters are going to be going hungry...! 

 

Patrick

[NFWEM57]

All images restored for my submission following RMWeb migration.  Responders who used images from my uploads  will need to edit to restore. 

Edited April 1, 2022 by NFWEM57

[DoubleOBobUSA]

I've just assembled my first piece of track from British Fine Scale, a diamond crossing 16.50mm 00 gauge, and this was my first ever attempt at track building. The precision and quality of the product was a joy to work with even though it took me a lot longer than expected. A few chairs pinged off, but that was part of my learning curve. Now we have double slips and turnouts to construct.  The only point I had concerns about is the downloaded template, for the diamond,  does not show the isolation gap in the same position as the wiring diagram and in keeping with other pictures in the instructions. In fact the template shows the closure rail mounted in one chair whereas the instructions shows a two chair mounting, which is obviously more stable and looks right.

I hope this is encouraging to those thinking of track building.

 

[DoubleOBobUSA]

On this forum I'm having trouble getting pictures to appear. It could be my PC but I hope the tech gurus have an idea. Here's what I'm seeing ( I took one of Wayne messages). When I click on the link I get

[martin_wynne]

15 hours ago, DoubleOBobUSA said:

On this forum I'm having trouble getting pictures to appear.

 

 

Hi Bob,

 

This forum suffered a major outage and data loss back in March, due to failings of the hosting provider. RMweb has since moved to a different provider.

 

Lots of topics still have some images missing. We have been told that they will eventually re-appear, but it is proving a slow process. See:

 

 https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/171078-rmweb-change-of-hosting-missing-images-april-2022/

 

Many members have chosen to edit their old posts and re-upload their images. Wayne may be able to do that for the above post.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited July 20, 2022 by martin_wynne

[BWsTrains]

Hi Bob,

 

see my PM.

 

Colin

[DoubleOBobUSA]

Thanks Martin for the situation update on the images etc.

I've just built my first piece of track using FineTrax 00 gauge. What's the nominal angle for the bend on check rails? I haven't got consistency on this (hand bending) and was figuring on a small jig to set this correctly.

 

Cheers

Bob

[martin_wynne]

2 hours ago, DoubleOBobUSA said:

What's the nominal angle for the bend on check rails? I haven't got consistency on this (hand bending) and was figuring on a small jig to set this correctly.

@DoubleOBobUSA

 

Hi Bob,

 

Check rail ends vary a lot on different prototypes. They can't be modelled exactly in 00 because 00 models use over-scale flangeways.

 

A practical rule of thumb is an angle of 1:18 starting 12mm from the end. The bend should be a gentle curve rather than a sharp bend.

 

More info about all this here:

 

 https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/experimental-plug-track-3d-printed-cnc-milled-laser-cut.229/post-2931

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[DoubleOBobUSA]

Hi Martin,

Thanks once again. So I'll use a 3.2 degrees angle on the check rails.  I looked at the link and it's amazing what some of the guys are doing to create the "prototypical perfect track" and I have to commend you for your dedication to the hobby. I'm getting back into the hobby after 40 years and what's happened in that time is stunning! I've dipped my toe into Templot and there's a lot to absorb so we'll have to see how that goes for me.

 

Cheers

 

Bob