Large Scale Central

#9 Turnout Build

Track and Trestles
#21

I’m looking for something that’s about 2.50" in total height. I’m not to sure what the total height is for the accucraft ones. Anyone know? I’ve thought about building my own (having looked at detail at Bruce’s build) but they just don’t quite work for me. I’m looking for something along this lines of this.

(http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/378608_10150490801851912_838651911_8894683_731738502_n.jpg)

A little different style then a normal high stand as is has a ‘open’ frame? Craig Edit- Just remeasured the Llagas stand and it is 3’ tall from the tie to the throw bar. I looked at my drawings again and it should work okay. Then I remembered why it wouldn’t work! It’s because the spread of the stand (the part that attaches to the tie blocks) is 30" scale and I would like it to be only 18". So it’s got the right height, but the wrong width! If I use the llagas stand then it moves my tie blocks further apart…

#22

Craig the AMS ones are somewheres between 2 1/2 and 2 5/8 inches

#23

What’s the width were it would be on the tie blocks? I’m looking at ~.610"

Craig

#24

Sorry…about an inch…remember these are for narrow guage tie spacing.

#25

(http://www.svrronline.com/images/ssvr28.JPG)

I’m using the Sunset Valley NG stands. About 3.75 tall and spreads about 1.25. Identical to your photo. Bronze castings.

#26

That is some really nice work on the switch! Rarely does one see detail such as nbw’s on a frog.

#27

Gary,
The spread on the SV is still too much! It looks shorter and squatter then the picture I have. Humm, now I’m just getting to picky. I probably could over look some of the height and design compared to the spread. At the far end of both tie blocks I’m measuring ~ .090" I might be able to space the ties at 1.0 if push comes to shove.
But I was thinking that a O scale stand would work because I remember from my HO days that the HO stands were way out of scale. So if HO stand is out of scale, then I’m assuming that it’s possible that a O scale stand would also be to large…

If only I had access to a milling machine…I could mill my out parts, as I have the NP standard plans for this switch stand. Grrr…

Craig

#28
Ray Dunakin said:
That is some really nice work on the switch! Rarely does one see detail such as nbw's on a frog.
Ray, Thanks. I may end up going back and replacing the NBW detail, as I used HO NBW castings and had to file of the W, so all I was left with was the NB. I may have found some simulated square nut heads from microfasteners.com that may work. Eventually I would like to make a casting of the frogs and points so the detail I'm adding hopefully is only once!

Craig

#29

Not sure of the size but this looks promising http://www.modelrailscenes.com/accesories-track-train-242401.htm

#30

I send an email to these guys to see what the switch stands measured.
http://www.customsignals.com/oscale-dwarf-switch.php
Anyone have experience with these?
http://www.njinternational.com/oswitch.htm

Craig

#31

Good news and bad news. I discovered that I completely screwed up my original idea of gluing the frog together on a piece of .010" styrene, with the intention of gluing on .020" styrene tie plates to make a total of .030" height that is similar to the the hardford tie plate. After trying to cut out tie plates, and then glue them to the frog I realized I was doing everything wrong… Good news is that I have a better idea, and it will allow me correctly make flangeway depth. I’m going to use .040" (I don’t have .030" on hand, and it seems that the metal tie plates vary from .030"-.036") and outline all the frog tie plates on a single piece, cut out, and then reglue the frog together. This way the tie plates are a part of the frog assembly and not separate. I’m also going to place a .100" spacer between the wing rail and the point to insure that the flangeway width is correct. Now for the switch stand. I may end up using the llagas stand I have, but file down the base to the correct width. In other words completely eliminate the base, (use scale screws?) and attach directly.

(http://www.llagastrack.com/images/PMSS.gif)

Grad school starts up again in 2 weeks, so I’ve got to stay motivated, or the turnout sits for a couple of months… Craig

#32

So it’s been a while since I updated my progress. I ended up tearing apart the frog I had previously made, because I couldn’t figure out a simple and effective way to make tie plates for the frog. After studying my engineering drawings I came up with a simple solution, much like the BN had did.

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/422592_10150631633346912_838651911_9348746_1962806656_n.jpg)

Instead of individual tie plates I would make one giant one. The BN did a similar thing but it was 4 different plates. It started with a blank sheet of .030" styrene… After drawing everything out I had something to work off of. I then glued up the frog again (using styrene spacers to get the correct flangeway depth), and drilled spike holes.

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/422592_10150631633356912_838651911_9348748_459606120_n.jpg)

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/422592_10150631633376912_838651911_9348749_2091841911_n.jpg)

I still have to square off the tie plates with a file but it looks much better then the first attempt, and it should hold everything together nicely. Craig

#33

I spent part of the night spiking rail instead of reading college textbooks…

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/431064_10150650582601912_838651911_9414642_393441176_n.jpg)

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/419688_10150650582671912_838651911_9414643_1188186149_n.jpg)

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/427632_10150650582776912_838651911_9414645_978787684_n.jpg)

Hopefully over next week (spring break) I can make some more progress on the points, and the wing rails. It’s taken a while, but its coming together. Craig

#34

Craig,

That frog-plate assembly looks like a perfect candidate to cut on a laser!

#35

If I had access to a laser I’d go for it! And while we are dreaming I might as well get the frog milled too. Instead it’s the old fashioned way… Cut, file, file some more, check, file, repeat until bored to death. The filing always seems to go easier after I’ve drank a pint of beer…

Craig

#36

Thats looking great!

#37

As good as it looks, I’m hoping that I can disassemble it at some point to make a casting of the frog… I may just make a mold of the frog and the ties and call it good. Who knows as it will be a while until I get back into casting. Now that I’ve got the turnout almost complete I have a little bit of rail left over and am thinking about making either a #11 frog/ point set for future casting (the subdivision I’m modeling had exclusively #9 turnouts and only 2 sets of #11 turnouts), or build a 35 degree crossing. The 35 degree crossing is for another town site, so I’m not to convinced to bit off more than I can chew. I think I’d rather complete mostly everything for the 1st town (Redmond) before moving on to my next area.

Craig

#38

To not disassemble it, and still get a mold, use molding putty. I get my stuff from Aeromarine.

http://www.aeromarineproducts.com/silicone-mold-making.htm

Bottom of the page.

Basically, you mix equal parts in your hands for a few minutes, then squash it down around what you want to make a mold of. Ive used it to make molds of lots of things that I dont want to disassemble. Works great if you are sure to push it into all the nooks and crannies.

#39
Randy McDonald said:
Thanks Craig, I might have to try it again. I did not have much luck using it for a non RR related item several years ago. Will get some "fresh" JB and see how it works. BTW that is one awesome looking piece of work as well.
JB Weld (an endorsement):

I love soldering metals, and I’ll always solder rather than use an adhesive. Also, I always have many kinds of adhesives right at my elbow for various other kinds of modelling and repair jobs. Finally, I have taps and drills and nuts and bolts and washers in every size you can name, imperial and metric. In other words, I have choices…

I discovered JB Weld a couple of years ago when I was in Canadian Tire looking for a strong epoxy. It cost about $7-8.00 for a pair of little tubes. I considered it a bit expensive, as I could buy other epoxies in larger tubes for a little less. On the other hand, usually I only need very little for a job, and that comes out to just a few cents per repair. There were a couple of impressive endorsements on the back of the package; as I recall some Texas fire department had repaired an engine block or something with the stuff. (?) So I decided to try it.

Where you want a strong repair it’s so fantastic that as soon as I had used up my first pair of tubes I replenished my supply without hesitation, 7-$8.00 or not. While I might get by without some of the other stuff I mentioned, I wouldn’t want to go without JB Weld in my arsenal, and I certainly recommend it to model railroaders.

All the usual disclaimers apply. I wish I did have shares! :cool:

#40

Okay I need some ideas/help here for a critical part of the turnout. In the image below see plates 1 & 2. The #1 tie plate is at the bottom, and the #2 tie plate is in the upper right hand corner. Sorry I couldn’t get a closer picture.

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/423809_10150654630766912_838651911_9430432_963989209_n.jpg)

But you can still see the triangle type brace that holds the rail in gauge. The top of the triangle part fits under the head of the rail, and it follows the web, and then lays over the base. Screws are then driven in the holes to hold everything together. So any ideas how I can make this piece myself? I’ve thought about using styrene and warming it up to fit, but I’m not to confident. I may have to crave something out of thick strip stock? I’d only have to carve 18 different ones… (oh how I miss my casting stuff right about now) You can kind of see the piece in the background of this image.

(http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/378608_10150490801851912_838651911_8894683_731738502_n.jpg)

Craig