Constructing a Detailed Proto:48 Turnout From Scratch

[ednadolski]

Now that I have a 3D printer and I can make the kind of parts that I need, I've decided to go ahead with this effort of building a Proto:48 turnout to see how it turns out.  If it goes well then I am thinking this could be the focal point of a P:48 one-turnout, shelf-style layout -- something to give my GP9 the kind of workout that it has been wanting for a long time now.

I'm using code 125 rail, all-wood ties, and the frog/point/guardrail castings from Right-O-Way. I picked a #7, rail-bound manganese style frog, with the idea to represent a relatively recent kind of turnout, yet not one so new that it has pandrol clips instead of spikes. This is really more of a generic turnout anyway, as opposed to any one specific prototype.  The ROW castings are nicely detailed parts and really speed up construction, even tho they do need a bit of cleanup with the belt grinder and files to remove all the casting artifacts and make sure the points fit properly against the stock rails.  The frog and guard rails are already sized to proper P:48 dimensions, which is a big help, tho of course you still want to use the correct gauges to make sure everything is done right.

This first pic shows the ties glued into place (based on the P:87 template enlarged to O scale).  A while back I had stained them with Minwax Jacobean as a base color, but most of that goes away after sanding the tie tops level.  I rough up the tops with some sawzall blades and a few other sharp implements to get rid of that 'fresh new furniture' look. After a final sanding to get rid of any 'fuzzies',  I re-stain the ties with several water and/or alcohol washes using the colors shown in the photo.  I was trying to keep from going too dark or too much toward the browns, since I want the tieplates and rail colors to have some visual contrast against the ties.




Here the rail is cut to approximate size and laid down just to get an idea of how it look, but nothing is fastened into place just yet. I did pre-bend the curved rails, since C125 rail is pretty stiff and I don't want to rely on the spikes holding aganst that forever. (I can imaging that steel rail must be even harder to work with.)  Speaking of spikes, my plan is to use the P:87 Stores O/S scale spikes (the ones that are long enough to go almost but not quite all the way thru the ties).




Rather than continuing to ramble, it's probably better at this point to let the pics do the rest of the talking:













Here is my first pass at the 3D printed detail parts. Some came out better than others.  I didn't have enough support on the 'hook' portion of the hook plates, so they did not print well. I suspect that even so they would not be strong enough to hold the rail in place, so I'm thinking just to use spikes instead (perhaps some of the slightly oversize ones if they fit, or perhaps bend something from brass bar). Also my gauge plates did not print correctly for some reason: the holes all filled in, and the end detail went MIA. I'll probably just scratch build something from styrene strip since I don't need a lot of these anyways.  The rest of the parts seem OK, tho I did have to take a swag on some of the dimensions.




Thanks for looking!  More to come! 

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed, you might enjoy this guy on YouTube. He covers LOTS of behind the scenes track stuff.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCTWNOX8VRkBtevxsPpC3cBA

[svedblen]

This will be good!

[ednadolski]

Ed, you might enjoy this guy on YouTube. He covers LOTS of behind the scenes track stuff.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCTWNOX8VRkBtevxsPpC3cBA

Thanks, that looks like some really good stuff -- lots of content there

[Santa Fe Guy]

 This should look stunning when completed, loving all the details on the frog etc.
Looking forward to seeing it completed, rail painted and weathered, mounted on sub-road bed, ballast added along with some weeds etc.
Hmm very tasty.
Rod.

[GaryHinshaw]

This will be fun to watch.  The ties look great!  Are the points entirely cast, or a sandwich of cast parts and filed rail?  They look really nice.

[ednadolski]

Here are a couple of quick pics of the straight stock rail and the frog going into place.  It's not fully spiked yet, so I will be able to make adjustments as needed.   The frog took a bit of extra filing in the flangeways, as they were a little too tight in some places, but the gauge goes thru them OK now.  The guard rail likewise took some extra filing underneath the spacer blocks, as they were hitting into the base of the stock rail.








It looks like I will have just enough of the guard rail tie plates without having to print more.   I am pleased so far with how the P:87 spikes are holding in the sugar pine ties, and I haven't bent too many of them.   One trick with those is: to remove them from the fret, just grab a spike and bend/twist it and it will just pop right off the fret... no need to try to cut them off with a shear.


Ed

[gregamer]

Looks great Ed! I like the tie plates you created. The spikes look great too. Did you solder the guard rails to the stock rails?

[ednadolski]

@gregamer that's just spiked for now.  At this point IDK if I would want to heat up the plastic tie plates too much by soldering, but I figure if I ever need it any stronger I can always epoxy with a JB Weld or such.


Ed

[svedblen]

Looks real fine!
I wonder if you could spike plate with one Proto87 Store spike and one ME spike, just as a test to show the difference? Would be interesting since I have still not seen a Proto87 Store spike in real life (the pack I ordered is still in transit somewhere).

[ednadolski]

Are the points entirely cast, or a sandwich of cast parts and filed rail?

They are 100% cast metal, including the transit clips and the "heel block" joiners (which slip onto the ends of the closure rails).  Seems it typically takes a bit of work with a file and/or belt grinder, to get them so that they nestle snugly up against the stock rails, and to make a bit of a chamfer and round-over on the toe tops so that wheels do not bump.

Ed

[ednadolski]

I wonder if you could spike plate with one Proto87 Store spike and one ME spike, just as a test to show the difference?

YWIMC:



The holes in the printed tie plates are actually too small to take the ME spike, so I just laid them out next to each other.  They are, going from smallest to largest:

 - P:87 HO scale spike (elongated -- I use these for N scale)
 - P:87  O scale spike, regular length
 - P:87  O scale spike, slightly longer length (strange, it looks rather skinnier that the other, I'd thought they would be the same  )
 - Micro Engineering "Small" spike (I dont' have one of the "Micro" size... they are not much smaller, and look like bent wire)
 - Walthers Code 70/83 spike
 - Peco track pin
 - Atlas track nail

[ednadolski]

Time for an update, I've got all the non-moving parts of the turnout fully spiked into place.  It may look like a lot of work, but once you get going it almost sort of falls into place, esp. compared to soldering and filing from rail.   The tieplates have those shoulders which does help to keep things aligned when spiking.















Next up:  Points!


Ed

[svedblen]

Looks great. And thanks for the spike pic!

[GaryHinshaw]

It's going to be super hard to distinguish this from a proto turnout when it's done.  Really awesome.