A Beginner's Journey Pt 2


Jacob: What do you mean 'set track between...'? As to the sleepers missing - no big deal there as you can cut, paint/weather and install them before you ballast. I have yet to not have ties missing between flex track joints; don't thing the planets align proper for that. You have plywood with 1" foam sandwiched together with roadbed and track in a stack. Your 'T' pins should be long enough to go through everything and stick in the plywood so any lateral movement should be kept in check. Do you solder said joiners on all curves? That will keep the rails aligned, and also help with the lateral movement. There are 'track tools' that you can use to keep the ends aligned while you solder as sometimes joiners by themselves just do not do the trick. You can always cut expansion joints in the straight sections after everything is ..um.. nailed down. Latex caulk does give a little, some of it even after it dries. That may or may not be an issue though.

Let us know what you come up with.

L8r
 
Jacob: What do you mean 'set track between...'? As to the sleepers missing - no big deal there as you can cut, paint/weather and install them before you ballast. I have yet to not have ties missing between flex track joints; don't thing the planets align proper for that. You have plywood with 1" foam sandwiched together with roadbed and track in a stack. Your 'T' pins should be long enough to go through everything and stick in the plywood so any lateral movement should be kept in check. Do you solder said joiners on all curves? That will keep the rails aligned, and also help with the lateral movement. There are 'track tools' that you can use to keep the ends aligned while you solder as sometimes joiners by themselves just do not do the trick. You can always cut expansion joints in the straight sections after everything is ..um.. nailed down. Latex caulk does give a little, some of it even after it dries. That may or may not be an issue though.

Let us know what you come up with.

L8r
By set track I mean this stuff: https://peco-uk.com/collections/tra...ve-3rd-radius-pack-of-9?variant=7435658985506

I was wondering if I intersperse those in my curves so that I don't have two pieces of flextrack joining on a curve, would I get a better aligned connection because of the rigidity of the set track.

If by 'tracktools' you mean something like tracksetta, yes, I have a set of those.

I have not soldered my joints so far. I was hoping not to have to do that, but I may have to.
 
By set track I mean this stuff: https://peco-uk.com/collections/tra...ve-3rd-radius-pack-of-9?variant=7435658985506

I was wondering if I intersperse those in my curves so that I don't have two pieces of flextrack joining on a curve, would I get a better aligned connection because of the rigidity of the set track.

If by 'tracktools' you mean something like tracksetta, yes, I have a set of those.

I have not soldered my joints so far. I was hoping not to have to do that, but I may have to.
Those look like they would work just great to keep an established radii.
As to track tools I could not find any like HO in N, here is what HO looks like:
tracktools.jpg

The one for soldering is what I was getting at ( upper right ). I suspect since the Tracksetta is Aluminum you can solder the joints using that as long as you can clamp things down. Remember to use Acid flux on track and joiners with a small pencil type iron. FYI, rosin core flux on any electronics or wire.

L8r
 
Those look like they would work just great to keep an established radii.
As to track tools I could not find any like HO in N, here is what HO looks like:
View attachment 211035
The one for soldering is what I was getting at ( upper right ). I suspect since the Tracksetta is Aluminum you can solder the joints using that as long as you can clamp things down. Remember to use Acid flux on track and joiners with a small pencil type iron. FYI, rosin core flux on any electronics or wire.

L8r
Gonna walk my last back. Use Rosin Core Flux on the rail and joiners. Acid core on an other metal that is not for electricity. Sorry
 
Gonna walk my last back. Use Rosin Core Flux on the rail and joiners. Acid core on an other metal that is not for electricity. Sorry
Thanks. Sometimes it seems like every aspect of this hobby could be a hobby in its own right, there are so many little details and tips to know~

Anyway, I have soldered the outer rail (the one giving trouble) while holding the rails at the correct radius with a tracksetta. I did a quick test with my 4-6-2 loco and it seemed to be OK. For the sake of my own sanity I am not going to find out whether it works in reverse :)
 
I just ordered a set of jeweler's files for deburring purposes. So I'm going to pause tracklaying until those get here. Up to now I've been deburring with my Dremel, which feels like overkill.

This hobby really seems to be front loaded with expenses. With the loco I bought, some freight cars, the Powercab controller, track and turnouts, a hot wire foam cutter, an airbrush, and miscellaneous materials and kits, I must approaching $1000 already. I'm hoping that the spending slows down a bit as I accumulate all this stuff that I am buying for the first time I do each task. I am happy that my old soldering iron, unused for many years, is still in good working order!
 
I just ordered a set of jeweler's files for deburring purposes. So I'm going to pause tracklaying until those get here. Up to now I've been deburring with my Dremel, which feels like overkill.

This hobby really seems to be front loaded with expenses. With the loco I bought, some freight cars, the Powercab controller, track and turnouts, a hot wire foam cutter, an airbrush, and miscellaneous materials and kits, I must approaching $1000 already. I'm hoping that the spending slows down a bit as I accumulate all this stuff that I am buying for the first time I do each task. I am happy that my old soldering iron, unused for many years, is still in good working order!
Jacob: If you are like most of the rest of us.. be prepared. MRR. Stuff seems to hop into the mail box, shopping cart, car/truck seat, on the front porch ... etc. On top of that you will sooner or later find 'the deal' and you will end up with box(es) of the stuff. Just seat of pants figuring and including the power tools, hand tools and associated stuff like that, I probably have 15 - 20K easy in the stuff. I did not include the 'out building' build price the my MRR will share. Keep in mind a lot of the stuff has taken *years* to acquire. Ever see the Kalmback book "The Model Railroad that grows"? Has nothing to do with what is in that book, the title is totally appropriate to everybody's MRR.

Glad you started soldering rail/joiners - you will be better in the long run.

L8r
 
Those are some big numbers. I just hope that the pace of spending slows down now. Also, I'm happy to be getting some use out of various tools that I bought years ago for "that one project" and rarely used again.
 
a model railroader was once asked, "How much do you really spend on the hobby?" He replied,"If I knew how much I really spent on model railroading, I'd probably have a stroke; If my wife knew how much I really spend on it, she'd probably get a divorce,.,..," 😁
Fortunately (?) for me, my wife spends roughly the payments on a Mercedes every year on her nature photography habit. She has lenses that cost more than everything I've spent so far!

She is an excellent photographer, mind you, and I'm nagging her to composite and print some of her Blue Ridge photos as a backdrop for me. (I hope I'm not breaking any rules posting this here...).

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I'm "dry fitting" the planned flyover where the upper track passes over the lower track, which tunnels through the mountain, and I'm having all kinds of second thoughts. Originally my plan was have the upper track also go through a tunnel, with at least a couple more inches of mountain on top of that. But then that started to feel to me like that 'toy train' thing where it looks like the engineers scanned the flat plains, spotted the only hill for miles in any direction, and pointed the tracks directly at it. So now I'm thinking something more like a cut (RH image).

That also means that the stack of foam behind the tracks is probably too high, so I will either have to cut it back a lot or start over. Fortunately I have lots of leftover foamboard. The front of the incline might be very steep, possibly even a vertical cliff.

As Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke once wrote, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy". I suspect that the same is true of railroad plans and the baseboard :)

(Ignore that Lego Saturn V in the background, it's not to scale. Also, I'm trying to give away that stack of programming and design books, which is harder than it seems.)




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While I'm waiting on the tools I need to lay more track, I made a start on some ballasting. I'm using Woodland Scenic's fine grade light colored ballast (the color is pretty close to my prototype, Point of Rocks). I used a Proses Bachmann ballast spreader which helped, especially between the rails, but didn't spread enough to cover the shoulders (my technique, maybe?) so I had to go back and add more.

I tried spraying the ballast with scenic cement the way Woodland Scenics recommends in their video, but that just made globs of glue while blowing the fine ballast around. So I ended up doing it with a dropper, which was not quite as tedious as I had expected. I then cleaned off the rails with a q-tip, and ran a fingernail along the inside rail to make sure there were no particles stuck there.

Finally, I sprinkled some mixed grass on the shoulders for a bit of texture and realism. I'm not sure how to lock that down, though. Maybe spray scenic cement once the ballast is properly dry, then clean the rails one more time?

The pictures below show before and after adding the grass, I think after is definitely better. It's starting to feel like an actual model railroad!

It also occurred to me, about ten minutes too late, that I should probably have started with the track that will eventually be hidden in the tunnel so that I could make mistakes where nobody could see them...

ETA: after giving the ballast a couple of hours of drying time, I felt that there was a lot of loose surface material on the shoulders. So I went back over with the syringe and applied more glue. I'll see if that does the job.

ETA2: I'm still not happy, and I seem to have a number of craters in the ballast. I will probably end up going over it again with more ballast tomorrow, then more glue, and see what happens. I don't know why this is happening, the practice diorama I made worked out fine. Mind you, that was a larger grade of ballast and HO track.

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The other thing that's occupying my mind right now is whether to include that passing loop top center. I'm not even sure why I would want a passing loop, but if I don't put it in now it would be a huge pain to come back and put it in later.

Fig8 draft9.jpg
 
Lessons learned on the ballasting:

1. Let it sit at least 12 hours, preferably overnight, before fretting about whether any particles are loose.

2. Use a mister, not a spray bottle. In N gauge, the globs of glue from an ordinary spray bottle are too large and the force splashes the fine ballast around.

3. It's probably better to paint the rails before ballasting.
 
This will probably the last update for a while as I'm waiting on a couple of deliveries, one of which has been on its way from Missouri for almost three weeks now...

Anyway, I swallowed my anxiety* and opened up my airbrush kit (iwata Neo, for those curious), did a few practice swipes, and then put a coat of matte black on my truss bridge. My concerns about the paint covering up the fine details were allayed. And while the difference is hard to see in "before" and "after" pictures with my basic smartphone camera, it definitely got rid of that plasticy shine as well as hiding the very shiny glue marks that I couldn't get off with steel wool. One that delivery arrives I'm going to dive in and add some rust around the joints with some time little applicators I found at my local train store. I also have an idea from a "don't do this video" that I can get an interesting effect by deliberately setting the pressure too high on the airbrush and creating a stipple effect.


Note the sophisticated airbrushing "studio", i.e. a carboard box on my garage workbench.

I'm going to say that airbrushing looks like one of those things that take five minutes to be able to do the absolute basics, and a lifetime to master. Fortunately, I think "just OK" is all I need to grasp. (And I remain massively impressed with many of the videos I see online, with their techniques for fading and shading and blending and precision.)

Lesson learned: stop watching videos hoping to find some magic, just open the box and try some things out.

*My anxiety was mostly about cleaning up, but that turned out to be straightforward too, almost like they designed for it...

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Speaking of painting: I'm a bit worried that when I spray this, all of the fine detail like the rivets is just going to disappear. Any suggestions for the best ways to paint and weather are very welcome.
Jacob,

If you use Vallejo paint and a decent airbrush you should be able to lay down thin layers of primer and paint.
  1. Surface preparation: Before you start painting, make sure the surface is clean and dry. Applying a primer can improve the adhesion of the paint and highlight the fine details of the model.
  2. Proper thinning: Although Vallejo paints have an excellent consistency, thinning them slightly with airbrush thinner and flow improver can improve their application and prevent excessive coverage of fine details.
  3. Application in thin coats: It is preferable to apply several thin coats of paint instead of one thick coat. This helps maintain fine details and provides a smoother, more professional finish.
Good luck,
Paul
 
Still waiting on my package (is there a time limit before the USPS agrees that a package is lost in transit?) so I took the opportunity to do some more ballast. I made the shoulders a lot narrower this time, which looks more prototypical, and is also easier to do because the fine ballast falls naturally into the right shape for the shoulder and requires very little touch-up. However it now has me wishing I could adjust the first section I did to match. Oh well.

I also tried using a mister to apply the cement, but I got a ton of overspray so I reverted to the syringe.

I still got the cratering, which is annoying. The shoulders looked perfect before applying glue. After, not so much. I don't know whether it's because the fine ballast is bound to settle under the weight of the water, or something wrong with my technique, but I guess I just have to live with it.

Anyway, here's a pic before cementing. I added some sprinkles of grass to suggest less-than-perfect maintenance. You can also see the brushes I used. The foam brush is the main one, it is great for moving ballast around with spraying bits like you get sometimes from bristles springing forward. The small paint brush is for between the rails. And the large brush is for pushing big piles around and also for sweeping together any strays.

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Jacob,

If you use Vallejo paint and a decent airbrush you should be able to lay down thin layers of primer and paint.
  1. Surface preparation: Before you start painting, make sure the surface is clean and dry. Applying a primer can improve the adhesion of the paint and highlight the fine details of the model.
  2. Proper thinning: Although Vallejo paints have an excellent consistency, thinning them slightly with airbrush thinner and flow improver can improve their application and prevent excessive coverage of fine details.
  3. Application in thin coats: It is preferable to apply several thin coats of paint instead of one thick coat. This helps maintain fine details and provides a smoother, more professional finish.
Good luck,
Paul
Thanks. What do you use for primer? Something special for models, or just a spray can of latex paint from the DIY store?
 



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