Photo-etched details for handlaid turnouts

[peteski]

* Could you clarify how you are powering the points with the underside wire?  If I understood your description correctly, it seems like you need a very flexible wire in the location indicated.  (And I think you meant "adjacent stock rail" not "adjacent point rail", right?)

If the wire is attached very close to the point's pivot point then flexibility is not really an issue. At that location the point movement is in the order of hundreds of an inch.  So theoretically even a well-attached piece of solid copper 24 AWG wire would not impede the point's movement and have enough flexibility to withstand a lifetime of the points moving.

[ednadolski]

How long did it take you to file those points and what were the steps?

First step is to make the very slight, almost imperceptible bend in the ends.  This puts more of the web underneath the rail head, so that when the back side is filed away it does not leave a fragile, tissue-thin web (or go all the way thru it).   I removed most of the back side on a belt grinder, by making several very gentle passes.  It is important to keep the work supported, otherwise it can catch on the belt and become a projectile (always wear safety glasses!).  I then clean up the back side with a flat mill file.  Then I file the gauge-side of the rail head to compensate for the bend.  This should leave a very straight line along the length of the gauge side of the rail head.  I also file a slight round-over and tapered chamfer, so that a wheel can ride smoothly up onto the point rail without bumping or picking.   After the basic shaping, it is typical to do some fine-tuning filing to assure a proper fit.

I wouldn't want to build 50 of them for a layout.   

Me neither!     After doing a few, there probably is not much point (no pun!) to building more anyway.

I also agree with others that once painted and weathered, most of the precision detail will become practically invisible on a layout. 

Hopefully a bit of drybrushing will help things to 'pop' for viewing.  I'm also planning to have pretty strong lighting.  That's what I have now anyways on my little Loop layout, which makes it possible to see the weathering and detailing on the engines and rolling stock.   It's all about the presentation

instead of grinding the gaps in the copper cladding why not etch them?

Seems like it should work, but personally I don't much care to use strong chemicals if I can avoid them.  I have a file from FastTracks that has an almost knife-like edge, it seems useful for gapping.  The only thing to watch for is that some PCB ties have a small bit of the cladding rounded-over on the sides, so a little extra attention is needed to make sure to cut thru that.

Something tells me it took longer than 20 min to build that   

Yep just a little bit

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever.

LOL, I say that every morning when I wake up and look in the mirror.... 

How long is this beast? It must be at least 10" right? 

I'll have to go measure but that sounds close.  It is about 3/4" longer than the template, since I needed some additional ties to fill in from where the concrete ties converge.  (For this proto, the concrete ties do not overlap.)

I have to say that I really do enjoy the look of the long turnout.  I think it leverages one of the benefits that N scale has to offer, just like large curvatures and long rolling stock.  This is subjective, but to my eye it makes the loco & cars just seem bigger as they 'glide' right thru it -- probably because such motion is reminiscent of how a large, massive object should move.   Subtle/Subliminal cues can be effective 

Very neat job with the pulling throwbar.  Did you drill your own holes in the rail base for that?  If so, how?  I need to do that for my code 40 points, which don't come pre-drilled, but I suspect a drill press is required.

No drill press, I just used a marking awl to locate my starting point, and then went to town with the #78 (I think, it was 0.016") bit in the pin vice.  It can't go quite perpendicular to the rail base, since the rail head interferes a bit with the path.  It takes a light touch to get started, since the bit wants to wander down the angled rail base.  The holes thru the PCB bar are likewise angled to match (approximately.... basically I just eyeballed it, not much precision there).

Could you clarify how you are powering the points with the underside wire?  If I understood your description correctly, it seems like you need a very flexible wire in the location indicated.  (And I think you meant "adjacent stock rail" not "adjacent point rail", right?)

Right, thanks for the correction.  I just used the same #24 stranded wire that I used for the other feeders (the solder joints on the bottom side are nothing pretty).  The one thing is, the Tortoise on the underside of the roadbed is mounted on 1/2 inch standoffs, to give the wire room to move without pinching.

So theoretically even a well-attached piece of solid copper 24 AWG wire would not impede the point's movement and have enough flexibility to withstand a lifetime of the points moving.

There is enough space in the holes and underneath to allow the wires to move freely.  This is different from what I did for my P:48 turnouts, which was to solder a short length of PB wire on the underside of the point rail to its closure rail.  In this case, that would have interfered with the detail etching.


Cheers!
Ed

[tom mann]

Insanely terrific.  Now cover it all up with ballast!

[ednadolski]

BTW can anyone suggest a good paint color to match the ME weathered rail?  (Close is good enough)  Thanks! 

Ed

[ednadolski]

Now cover it all up with ballast!

Yes, figuring out the 'right' ballast is the next challenge 

I might try the AZRM HO ballast, since their N is too fine and looks more like sand.   But I would have to screen out the larger chunks.

Ed

[Cajonpassfan]

Wow, that is truly beyond amazing!
I will never look at a model turnout the same way again; all mine look so..... naked?
Otto K.

[svedblen]

Impressive! Very well executed.
And spikes  , but...

I used the P:87 etched spikes installed individually by hand, tho I did not install them on the sides of the rails that would not ever be visible (which saved a lot of spikes!).

...would it not be nice to know they are there, even if no one ever sees them? 

[ednadolski]

would it not be nice to know they are there, even if no one ever sees them? 

Certainly, but please don't tempt me!   

Really tho, if I didn't have so many other things that I really want to get to, then it would be a matter of wanting to make things 'perfect'  (there is that loaded word!)  With limited time being such a factor for me, I have to pick my priorities.  In this case, I'm more interested in trying to figure out how to eliminate the PCB ties (or make them invisible).

I expect there will be more turnouts to come that *will* be viewed from more angles, so for those  I can justify the effort of spiking everything

Ed

[railnerd]

Holy crap, that turnout looks gorgeous…

[Lemosteam]

Yes, figuring out the 'right' ballast is the next challenge 

I might try the AZRM HO ballast, since their N is too fine and looks more like sand.   But I would have to screen out the larger chunks.

Ed

A thought here to expose the very fine details of the etching could be to ballast it not like a mainline but like a neglected turnout where the ties are above the ballast, with lots of rust and drybrushed highlights to pop the details.  Hate to see all this beauty disappear...

[tom mann]

@ednadolski , consider grinding up your own using Woodland Scenics ballast using some of their colors and a mortar and pestal.  This looks much better up close than the real rock products.  But don't take my word for it, test it yourself. 

[wcfn100]

@ednadolski , consider grinding up your own using Woodland Scenics ballast using some of their colors and a mortar and pestal.  This looks much better up close than the real rock products.  But don't take my word for it, test it yourself.

Before you do that, you can sift out the larger pieces.  Using an IKEA splatter screen you can screen out about 1/3 (IIRC) of the bag which you could then try and crush and screen again.  I had a picture at one time showing the before and two after piles.

Okay here it is.



The left pile is straight out of the bag, the middle is the pieces that get screened out, and the last pile is what passes through.

Jason

[ednadolski]

@ednadolski , consider grinding up your own using Woodland Scenics ballast using some of their colors and a mortar and pestal.  This looks much better up close than the real rock products.  But don't take my word for it, test it yourself.

Any chance you have a pic or two?  I thought the WS colors were supposedly rather uniform-looking (I don't have any on hand, nor a mortar & pestle ftm).

Jason, that looks similar to what I had done a little while back with the AZRM, using a couple of different sized kitchen strainers.  Whatever I don't use for ballast, I can probably use as gravel: N-scale for the smallest stuff, and HO or O scale for the largest


Ed

[Santa Fe Guy]

Edd.
 Micro Engineering sells Track weathering solution that matches their weathered rail once applied a few times. I used it on my SFRSD on their turnouts as all of my track was weathered code 55. Or Neo Lube is a close second.
Rod.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Crap. I think I need to get another one of those screens now (we already have one in the kitchen).