Very interesting,Stu....

now I have thoughts, again of my scissors x-ing...........

 

QUOTE (StuB @ 24 Jan 2014, 18:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Many thanks for that Stu. However I am puzzled by this template. It's not a 1:8 single slip. It's an outside slip, of about 1:4.5 angle.

Martin.

 

Looking forward to Richard's trackbuilding tools being available, the point kits, well I'll think about them

By the way StuB are the track gauges for OOFS

Pete

 

QUOTE (martin_wynne @ 26 Jan 2014, 18:24) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Many thanks for that Stu. However I am puzzled by this template. It's not a 1:8 single slip. It's an outside slip, of about 1:4.5 angle.

Martin.

That is a question for Richard but this is all pre-release and there are still changes to be made.

QUOTE (Pete Williams @ 27 Jan 2014, 12:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Looking forward to Richard's trackbuilding tools being available, the point kits, well I'll think about them

By the way StuB are the track gauges for OOFS

Pete

These are for OO-SF (16.2mm) gauge and bullhead rail.

Stu

 

*** If I ever get all the template checking and instructions done, it will all be 100% as it should be, don't worry. That's why I am holding off general release. Beta testing sometimes sees what I haven't seen yet - that's what it is for!

and... I have to say, Stu's approach and workmanship so far looks great.

-------------------------------------------------

Base frets will only be for any OO standards variant now - EM will come a bit later. EM is already a stretch volume wise, so no P4 as production needs are significant and P4 volumes aren't seen to be as high as I'd need.

the track gauge range is extensive - OO-SF, OO fine, OO "standard", EM. (In some cases. different / separate gauges for flat-bottom rail and bullhead, as the rail head width is more than a bit different for the two rail types).

The back-to-back range is extended too - to include 4 versions for OO because of the wide wheel profile range, EM. P4 and also N.

Richard

 

Thanks for your reply StuB, and Richard, I look forward very much to seeing these on sale

Pete

 

Richard said QUOTE separate gauges for flat-bottom rail and bullhead, as the rail head width is more than a bit different for the two rail types).

Hi Richard,

Great work! ... I can count the rivets!!

My question is .. can you advise the rail head widths/tolerances please. I am working with code 70 FB.

Kind regards,
Aland

 

I have now finished fixing all the rails. Some areas were quite tricky and I would do it in a different sequence if I ever do another one.

The starting sequence I used is shown in this diagram.

When making a turnout it seems the starting point is to lay a stock rail as a datum so I used the same logic and put in rails 1 & 2 for the datum. The problem is that the defines the location of everything else so things start going adrift. I think a better sequence would have been to put in rails 3 & 4 followed by Rails 5 & 6. Getting 5 & 6 right would be tricky as the gauge has to be correct from the other end but it would be possible. This would provide a good set of datum points from which to work inwards and outwards for all the other rails.

Here are some close up shots. If you look carefully you will see that the relationship between the tip of the frog and the sleepers is not quite right. The result still works well in operation terms and a wagon rolls along it all with no problems.

And looking along it.

Next step is to make the blades operational.

Stu

 

That looks very good Stu.

It's nice to see some track that isn't standard Peco geometry.

I see your point about where to start although getting the other crossing just where you want it might be tricky. What thoughts have you had?

I wonder if the following might be accurate enough

* Printing another template
* Glue the section between the crossings onto card
* Cut the crossings out along the inside of the running rails
* Place this card reinforced template against the V which is already secured projecting out across the timbers
* Insert the other Vee into the other end of the template.

What could possibly go wrong

David

 

*** I tend to lay one common crossing, then use a straight-edge against it to locate the rest of the relative paths thru the crossing, using those lines as the datum. That way its sort of like using the stock rail of a standard turnout as the start point - except its segmented. Using that first datum then hopefully lets the second common crossing be properly positioned, and then the second path can be completed using the same "straight edge" approach - the rest is with luck "just filling the gaps .

Stu did a great job with this given that the templates are 16.5 and he was working in OO-SF, so the template could only be an initial guide... as always with templates, the real datum is created by the initial rail and from then on the gauges actually give the correct reference positions, not the template.

I am grateful for Stu taking this on - he did find a couple of other template issues that need sorting, so a very successful Beta test indeed!

Richard

 

I have moved the discussion of OO-SF to a new topic which you can find here in the OO gauge section

David

 

Getting it all moving.

Although the two ends of the slip are supposed to be mirror images I decided to try a couple of different methods of operating them.

The first end is basically standard. I wasn't sure how Richard intended the tie bar to be connected to the blades and my method of using a bit of 0.5mm brass wire resulted in the gap between the blade and the stock rail being much too wide so I made a new tie bar. The result is better but at 2mm it is still too big I have left it at this because I will not be using this slip.

This is the view of the tiebar

And a conventionally mounted Cobalt underneath.

For the other end things are somewhat different. For a start the rails are joggled in standard GWR/BR style. Then instead of having a tie bar between the sleepers I have hidden it underneath with the brass rod going through the sleeper itself.

The unit under the slip (or it could be a normal turnout) looks like this. The gap between the blade and the stock rail is 1.7mm. I was aiming for 1.6 but that is close enough.

This is made to be 3mm thick to match the cork I lay the track on. A couple of small slots are made in the sleeper and it looks like this from the top. One advantage is this becomes a sealed unit from the top and so when flooding everything with glue when ballasting it will not be affected so no need to worry about it all locking up.

The slots in the sleeper will be more closely covered by having a narrow slot in the slide chair.

On the board I am planning to build a small station I do not have enough clearance between the underside of the board and the fiddle yard underneath to mount a cobalt in the normal way. This hight was set when the mark one station used Seep motors ant the clearance was bade small to reduce the gradient to it. To overcome this I have made a simple crank to bolt onto the end of a Cobalt motor

Mounted it looks like this

The slotted bracket at the bottom is so that a longer operating rod can sit in it giving slightly better loads on the slider buried under the sleepers. It works without this but I might try it anyway.

Now its just the cosmetic bits.

Stu

 

Fascinating

Thanks for showing the detailed installation.

David

 

*** that is all really interesting Stu. I like the overall approach to tie-bar construction a lot, and was interested to see your crank approach as I am fiddling with similar ideas at the moment. Great photos and nicely presented, thank you.

Richard

 

For the frogs on the slip I just built them directly on the sleepers as the solder construction makes this possible. For my other turnouts I will probably use plastic sleepers and chairs and so I wanted to have a go at making the frog as a separate assembly.

To start with I made a jig out of a bit of Tufnol. This one is for a 1:8 frog, I need to make another one for 1:6.

To shape the ends of the rail I made a simple holder so that setting the correct angle on the guide I could form the Vee.

So the rail come out looking like this

For this first try I have not made any attempt to Bend the end of the rail so that the web goes right to the end. Something for another try.

Once the rails are formed and a couple of bits bent to for the wing rails they are put in the jig

And then some strips soldered across. For this I just put them anywhere. For a real one the strips need to be placed so that the chairs can be fitted.

The final thing looks like this when removed from the jig. OK for a first go but I need to tweak it a bit when I make some more.

Stu

 

The slip is now finished so here are the final pictures. I have attempted to show how soldered track might look if brass chairs become available.

A general shot

And a bit closer of the middle bit

This is the end built fairly standard with a tie bar

This is the end built with the joggled rail and the tie bar hidden.

You can see the small slit in the slider chair for the operating wire.

I did modify the operating pin on the Cobalt bracket and it does work much better.

This is the end for this project.

Stu

 

***Beautifully done Stu - that final look really does capture thing nicely... and your display board does your work proud. its nice to see a well completed point duly painted and see that our objective in removing the need for gapping with file or saw really has succeeded in making things look good.

supporting and fixing the end of the throw bar at the bracket end was a wise step... I am sure that has made all the difference.

We are working on the brass chairs and will bring them to a price that can be afforded too!

Richard

 

Very interesting thread. The end result looks inspirational!

 

That looks really good. Well done

David

 

A couple of things I forgot to show.

At the start I showed this picture where I deliberately did not clean up the sleepers where I broke them out of the fret.

This is the same bit of track after ballasting

I also mentioned the supplied templates for A5 to B9 turnouts. This is a screen shot of the B8 template.

These templates are all for straight turnouts and I wondered how well this system would cope with custom track from Templot. So I printed out a B8 turnout just how Templot creates it.

This is the template stuck to a board with some strips of double sided tape already applied ready for the sleepers.

And the final result which also shows the sleepers that are left over and the frog that I showed earlier.

I am not going to actually make this turnout, I just wanted to show how it could be done.

It seems to me that if you want to make soldered track work then this system will work very well.

Stu

 

Thanks for showing your steps. Very interesting. How thick is the brass strip ? (Edit, I answered my own question here at .5mm by better reading of what you had already written !) I have only used flat bottomed rail before so please forgive if an obvious question.
Do you solder the brass strip and the rail all in one soldering iron applicatio ?
Then are the cosmetic chairs C&L cut in half ?
Thanks, Tom

 

Hi Tom and welcome to the forum.

To answer your questions, the strip and rail were soldered in one go. I generally started with pieces every 4 or 5 sleepers apart and then filled in the gaps. I pre tinned the brass strip which meant that on soldering it in place the tinning flowed out slightly reslting in the rail settling slightly, I also pressed down on it a bit. When filling in the gaps the slightly thicker tinned strip was then a tight fit under the rail and so stayed in place. I would not recommend this as a serious way of making any significant amount of track. DCC Concepts are planning to release sets of brass chairs and I was trying to represent what track might look like if built on soldered brass chairs. I did use C&L chairs but it is a bit more than just cutting them in half. The whole web holding the two sides together has to be removed as much as possible. Even then there are a couple of chairs that do not sit quite correctly where I did not get the brass strip exactly right. The 0.5mm thickness came from measuring the thickness of a C&L slider chair which is exactly 0.5mm.

I hope this explains it properly and if you want any more information please ask.

Stu

 

Looks like a proper job Stu... well done.

 

Now that's modelling

 

QUOTE (16A @ 18 Mar 2014, 09:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Looks like a proper job Stu... well done.

Thanks Mike

It was actually Quernaby Junction that first made me thing that building my own track would be possible.

Stu