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| NKP Mallet 942 creeps though Adena Yard |
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Track work for Adena - Part 2
Once the main line turnouts were laid in place in Track work for Adena Part 1, I turned my attention to the west yard ladder. These were also all #6 turnouts like on the mainline.
In the above photo the second turnout's ties are being glued down. With this turnout I changed tactics and waited to glue in the headblock ties until the next turnout in line's position was marked and cut to fit. The orange 3D printed track spacer helps maintain the 2 inch track separation.
Getting the rest of the yard ladder turnouts position marked for tie placement.
Tie strips have been glued down. Immediately afterward I lay a straightedge down on top of the ties to hold them in place as I remove the painters tape. Then I lay the turnout on top of the ties and make adjustments before the adhesive caulk sets up.
Here's how things size up with other three turnouts fit into place. I'll spike them down after staining and filling the gaps between turnouts with extra Micro Engineering plastic ties.
The above photo looks east at Adena and shows the progress so far.
Up to this point I did not stain any of the turnout ties because I was eventually going to paint all my track work with either an airbrush or my trusty Camo Brown spray cans. Since I wasn't sure how soon that would be I decided to give them a quick wash of alcohol diluted India Ink in the meantime. I also went back and stained the other turnouts I already had in place.
I'm pretty pleased how the India Ink wash turned out. It almost made me wish I had hand laid all the track with wood ties but I'll save that level of crazy for other people.
The Fast Tracks turnout building tools pull double duty as weights to hold the rails in place as I started to spike them down.
I use Micro Engineering small spikes with a bit of the spike head nipped off with my rail cutters. The pliers are nothing special, just the Crescent brand you can find at Home Depot in a 2-pack with cutters that are almost identical to orange handled Xuron sprue nippers.
I only spike one set of ties in between PC board ties on the turnouts and anywhere else the turnout seems to flex or lift from the ties.
I'm surprised how quick this step can go, and with a steady hand only a few spikes have managed teleport into another dimension.
Next up the east end curved yard ladder.
- Quick links
Track work for Adena - Part 1
Track work for Adena - Part 2
Track work for Adena - Part 3
Track work for Adena - Part 4
Track work for Adena - Part 5
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Track work for Adena - Part 1
As hinted at in the last Wordless Wednesday, track laying in Adena has finally begun.
I'd been delaying track work on Adena mainly due to needing to curve the east end of the yard which continues through the bridge at the end of the yard ladder. After I recently relaid the curve leading to this bridge and glued it down, I knew I could continue westward with track construction.
Most of us when trying to build from the prototype must at times make compromises due to space or operational constraints. The large wye at the west end of Adena plus the the yard would fit with reasonable compression along a 30 foot wall. Unfortunately my basement walls are about 25' long, so the best way I found to fit all of Adena was to curve the east end of the yard. The wye and the west end of the Adena are a signature scene so I wanted to preserve that side as much as possible to match the prototype.
The two turnouts that were laid first anchor the main line through Adena, the start of the wye for the Adena Branch and the west yard ladder.
In the above photo DAP adhesive caulk has been spread for the rubber sheeting I use for roadbed in large areas like a yard.
The rubber sheeting as been cut and rolled flat. I found with the rubber material you don't want to accidentally stretch it out too much when rolling it out or it will pull on the foam.
The next two switches that serve as anchors for the main line are the lead for the Adena Mill and team track, and a switch for two more yard tracks and the rip track. In the photo above, I'm making final adjustments to the wood ties that have just been set into the adhesive caulk. I built my own jigs to make turnout tie strips faster. I've since figured out to delegate this task to my son to get him involved more in construction now that he's older.
The turnouts have been spiked down and in the background the team track and Mill tracks have been loosely added. Even though I'll eventually paint all the track work I meant to stain the ties with a India ink wash but in my excitement to get track laid I forgot.
I've used a large sheet of construction-like paper to help design the curved east end yard ladder. Along with Fast Tracks printable templates I also used 3D printed track spacers to help layout the yard tracks. These 2 inch track spacers were found on Thingverse.com and are free to download and use for yourself. I had my work place print several for me which have been great for the straightaways. I ended up using a manual 2.25 inch spacing on the curves which allowed Brendan's larger modern equipment to pass each other and didn't wreck my plans for this area too badly.
Here's a closer view of the 3D printed track spacers in action.
And a photo of them being printed. Each one takes about 30-40 minutes. The library I work at only charges $1 an hour for printer time and materials so the wait is well worth it. While the print resolution is not that great for models, it's just fine for tools and other things like servo brackets.
Coming up soon, more track work...
- Quick links
Track work for Adena - Part 1
Track work for Adena - Part 2
Track work for Adena - Part 3
Track work for Adena - Part 4
Track work for Adena - Part 5
I'd been delaying track work on Adena mainly due to needing to curve the east end of the yard which continues through the bridge at the end of the yard ladder. After I recently relaid the curve leading to this bridge and glued it down, I knew I could continue westward with track construction.
Most of us when trying to build from the prototype must at times make compromises due to space or operational constraints. The large wye at the west end of Adena plus the the yard would fit with reasonable compression along a 30 foot wall. Unfortunately my basement walls are about 25' long, so the best way I found to fit all of Adena was to curve the east end of the yard. The wye and the west end of the Adena are a signature scene so I wanted to preserve that side as much as possible to match the prototype.
The two turnouts that were laid first anchor the main line through Adena, the start of the wye for the Adena Branch and the west yard ladder.
The turnouts are constructed using Fast Tracks #6 fixtures and Mt. Albert ties which are glued down with Dap Clear Adhesive Caulk. After the caulk had set the turnout was spiked down every few ties with Micro Engineering small spikes.
In the above photo DAP adhesive caulk has been spread for the rubber sheeting I use for roadbed in large areas like a yard.
The rubber sheeting as been cut and rolled flat. I found with the rubber material you don't want to accidentally stretch it out too much when rolling it out or it will pull on the foam.
The next two switches that serve as anchors for the main line are the lead for the Adena Mill and team track, and a switch for two more yard tracks and the rip track. In the photo above, I'm making final adjustments to the wood ties that have just been set into the adhesive caulk. I built my own jigs to make turnout tie strips faster. I've since figured out to delegate this task to my son to get him involved more in construction now that he's older.
The turnouts have been spiked down and in the background the team track and Mill tracks have been loosely added. Even though I'll eventually paint all the track work I meant to stain the ties with a India ink wash but in my excitement to get track laid I forgot.
I've used a large sheet of construction-like paper to help design the curved east end yard ladder. Along with Fast Tracks printable templates I also used 3D printed track spacers to help layout the yard tracks. These 2 inch track spacers were found on Thingverse.com and are free to download and use for yourself. I had my work place print several for me which have been great for the straightaways. I ended up using a manual 2.25 inch spacing on the curves which allowed Brendan's larger modern equipment to pass each other and didn't wreck my plans for this area too badly.
Here's a closer view of the 3D printed track spacers in action.
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| 3D printing 2 inch HO track spacers |
Coming up soon, more track work...
- Quick links
Track work for Adena - Part 1
Track work for Adena - Part 2
Track work for Adena - Part 3
Track work for Adena - Part 4
Track work for Adena - Part 5
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
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