street running


jt5

New Member
i'm startfing a new n scale shelf layout after getting rid of my ho scale layout and was thinking about putting in a section of street running but i'm not sure ho i should do it should i just take a piece of flextrack and put the joint compud for road on the tie's or do i take the tie's out and then put the compund down and then take the rail and push it into the compoud and then carve a little bit for the groove in the wheel. any suggestion's would be great thanks.
 
My first thought would be to leave the ties intact, otherwise it would be easy to get the rails out of gauge and level. If the ties turn out to be difficult to cover, you could probably leave say every 4th or 5th tie intact to keep the rails in line, and remove the rest with plastic cutters to make it easier to fill in with joint compound.

You could also use a commercially available product. Check the products under "BLMA" http://walthers.com/exec/search?quick=grade+crossing&quicksrch_butt.x=0&quicksrch_butt.y=0
 
In HO scale I just used plaster up to the outsides of the rails over the ties and a piece of styrene between the rails on top of the ties. The worst part of this method is cleaning the rail head after painting.
 
What i do is use plaster upto rail level on the outside first and i use a flat piece of stiff styrene to scrap away the plaster off the rail head, if you cut a piece that's about 1/4" wider than the track gauge and then scrape away the excess before it set's rock hard you halfway to a perfect roadway.
One thing though, SOLDER ANY joints that are to be covered in plaster.
You can use styrene in between the rails, you can put a piece of thin paper down on top of the rail's and trace through it and use it as a template for cutting the styrene.
 



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