Wednesday 5 January 2011

Chicken or egg?

So when starting in a new scale/gauge, should I start with the exciting new loco kit, the pile of wagons, or the track? Hmmm...

As you can see I started with track! This is only a small project so there was no point in setting up a test track, just crack on with the layout. However that meant starting with a point - or two! Now this is the first time I have made my own track, apart from some "scenic" 009 quarry track many years ago (including stub points), but as that was never wired for operation it doesn't really count!

For various reasons I am not using the KBScale approach for spiked track, but I am using the track templates, here are a pair of "Type 2" radius wye points under construction. The templates have been stuck to a piece of board, and copper-clad sleepers tacked on with a dab of PVA. Later the points will be removed and transferred to the layout. I have been shaping the rails with my mini-drill, and at the bottom of the photo the Vee rails are being soldered up, pinned to another template on a wooden board with dress-making pins.

What worries me most is getting the blades to pivot properly, and work well, while being robust. The KBScale method looks fiddly to set up at the tie-bar/blade end, and I can't put pivots or rods through the baseboard. I've been looking at PECO points with the fishplate pivots, and blades fixed to the tie-bar, and thinking ...
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3 comments:

Phil Parker said...

I disagree - you need a wagon so you can test the track. Mind you, a 4-wheel tub would be quick enough the build.

Michael Campbell said...

Phil, you are right of course. But if you scroll back to November I have already built one wagon :-) I also want to experiment with couplings before I build many more, but that needs track too!

Chris Ford said...

OK. Some ideas - from one who's played this game before. Use 4mm sleeper strip it is closer in width to the Jubilee, fishplate pivots, but put a jumper-wire to electricly back it up. Greenwich couplings. Have fun!