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Lots of great info here from everyone !Bit more background first...I come from HO - the scale where you can smash and bang things, and get away with. Really my first time laying N scale track.Got a few Atlas turnouts as you can see, so I don't have to hand-lay the curved ones on my first attempt. I did handlaid in HO which was ok, but N is 1/2 the size so I'm still building up courage for it. @trainzluvr Having laid both HO-scale track and N-scale track, the only significant difference between track and turnouts between the two scales is how to secure the rails to your ties. In HO, I used spikes because I was laying Code 83 rails, and there was no problem with flange clearance with rail that high. In N-scale, the best way IMHO is soldering rails to PCB ties because with Code 55 and Code 40 there definitely are flange clearance problems using spikes. Plus, your clearances are much more precise soldering rails to PCB ties. Other operations building N-scale turnouts are identical to building HO-scale turnouts, so if you're conversant with building HO-scale turnouts, you should have zero problems with building your N-scale turnouts. The sad fact is that there is no N-scale rail available for building your own turnouts and track in Code-55 and Code-40 because both of these rail heights are HO-scale...their proportions are too large in several aspects for N-scale, with only Code-40 being a prototypically correct height for any rail ever used on a North American railroad. I was going to use soft-steel blocks to hold the track down, although these one were used for HO and in N-scale appear to be an overkill. Might get smaller blocks if I have to.Although I can't easily judge how large these steel blocks are, if you are going to use them for mashing Midwest Cork Products N-scale Roadbed against your subroadbed when gluing it down with carpenter's glue, I would make sure that I used stiff, flat boards between the cork and the weights when doing that to more evenly distribute the weight. My cork roadbed "mashing boards" are made from flat select 1X2's and 1X3's from my scrap box...meaning they are 3/4" thick, and on yards and other long, straight sections, they can be as much as 4' long. Even at that, I still sand the tops of the cork after the glue has dried.Is it possible that the results you have been getting with ME are due to the old stock track you still use?I haven't noticed any difference between the old stock and the new stock ME track other than the new stock has much less flash on it that needs to be removed. I'll admit that after looking at your photo, that none of my old Rail Craft track is perfectly straight, and some strips are twisted a bit, but...that has never been a problem for me. I just straighten it when I lay it, and twist it in the opposite direction if it's twisted a bit. I've only had problems with vertical unevenness with my recycled track, and that's almost always smooth imperfections, not sharp kinks. Once again, bending the flex carefully will cure these problems...unless you have a really sharp kink...then it's easier to cut it out.Past few weeks I have been considering selling all of my track and turnouts, and switching to PECO Code 55 - it being more robust and forgiving to a first time user (got a few flex pieces as a test). Though seeing what amazing looks are possible with ME, it's really keeping me on the fence. I might never accomplish this look myself, but the possibilities are there.Since you are a self-admitted perfectionist, I know that you will NEVER be happy with PECO Code 55, so I will encourage you to learn how to manipulate ME Code 55...which, once you get started in a big way, will come to you quickly and soon it will be just the "norm". I don't care how well PECO Code 55 is painted, weathered and ballasted, it will never compare to ME Code 55 appearance-wise. And, "robustness" doesn't mean squat to me since my layout is sectional and portable, and in the decades I've been tearing it down, transporting it, setting it up at shows, then bringing it back home and setting it up again, I've never once had a problem with something bending my rails or ripping up my trackwork (other than that one bad swerve to miss a moose on my way to Evanston a few years ago!!) either with my Rail Craft Code 55 nor my hand-laid Code 40 trackage.Bob, your post is incredible and in-detail insomuch that I promise to buy you a lunch if I ever get a chance. Please do write more about the ties and short rail joiners, because I find the ME joiners very difficult to work with even at their full size - I have no idea how do you manage with those little nibs of joiners that you put on, especially cutting all the pieces flush and sliding on without losing your mind and bulging your eyes out! I've decided to do a comprehensive post on how I make and use my short little rail joiners, which I'll publish in a separate post this weekend. However, the short joiners are much easier to slip on the rails than the full-sized ones, and there are tricks to properly de-burr them which are extremely simple. Also, I make sure my cut rail ends are also de-burred with little 45 deg. angles filed on the railfoot corners to help guide the joiners onto the rails. I would do that with full-sized ME rail joiners too, and I would always cut the "tongues" off of the full-sized joiners since they are superfluous and definitely will draw blood when inserted into your finger tip! The reason the tight ME joiners are difficult to slide on is because the guy trying to do that has not properly de-burred his cut track ends. Simple. The reason my eyes don't bulge out any more is because I wear Optivisors for 99% of all of my N-scale model railroading...even during operating sessions when I'm not making anything. Yes, the little joiners ARE tiny, and I've lost quite a few over the years with unscheduled sneezes, which is why I put them in an old Floquil bottle cap now when doing track work. It doesn't take very long to make 'em and joining your track this way only takes a bit longer than not doing it, but looks exponentially better than using full-sized rail joiners.
Doing track work and soldering rails and joiners is definitely NOT the same as soldering for electronics, and if you do what you're supposed to and put a 22AWG solid copper feeder on every stinking piece of rail that carries DCC signals and current to your motive power, then your joiners are there only for their structural benefits, NOT for electrical conductivity or carrying DCC signals. This means that you should use a 96/4 Tin/Silver solder rather than the usual Tin/Lead electrical solder, because the silver-bearing solder is 6 times stronger than Lead/Tin solder. Also, proper flux is really important, and, as I almost always do, I highly recommend the very best flux for model work which is Superior Supersafe No. 30 Self Neutralizing Flux. Using it will totally change your experience of soldering and turn you quickly into an expert (but only if you tin the tip of your soldering iron and clean it for every solder joint), and you'll never have track that starts to corrode and eat the scenery in a year or two. Buy solder, flux and flux dispensers here: https://www.hnflux.com/
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Topic: What adhesive do you use for ME Code 55 track? (Read 1574 times)
