... from: John Shelley Ed Callaghan wrote: For glueing down track& ballast, Norman Solomon recommends Febond PVA because it dries flexible, unlike wood glue, and therefore won't crack. Other writers recommend Copydex for exactly the same reason. My limited experience suggests that Copydex is probably more flexible than any brand of PVA, albeit more expensive. I'd welcome views from those in the know. Copydex is a latex based glue and as such inherantly more flexible than most PVA glues and in my view a better solution. When ballast is glued using PVA you get a solid mass which can transmit noise using the basebords as amplifiers. Less noise is transmitted through the flexibly glued ballast and so you get quieter running, not that important at an exhibition, but in the home.... A cheaper alternative to Copydex is the latex based glue used fitting carpets, usually sold in 5litre(?) plastic cans. Cheers for now John from 33820 St Ciers sur Gironde, France. posted: 23 Dec 2011 12:06 from: allanferguson Copydex does, ...

... grain size of ballast and other scenic materials. A woman's stocking can be used to control the application of powdery materials. I recently tried the Gravett technique of talc on wet gloss paint to simulate a tarmac surface with some success, although the texture can be vulnerable to subsequent unwanted abrasions. Getting the yard surface up to top of sleeper height has been a problem for me too. Since the track concerned is being constructed in situ I still have the option of applying Das clay or the like around the sleepers that have been glued in place before fixing chairs and rails to the sleepers. I suspect that trying to build up the ground after the rail is in place might well lead to unacceptable results. However, this particular project (part of my planned West Highland layout) has gone on the back burner with I grapple with the revival of a forty-year old layout, the trackwork on which was finished long ago. posted: 11 Aug 2018 07:43 from: Andrew Duncan Hello John Thanks for the pestle and mortar idea and yes ...

... hint when I first tried to print. The O Gauge switch printout matches exactly the actual one that I built last week using the Fast Tracks Template. This company only has #6 or less frog sizes but I want to go to #11 or #12. Do you have a way to output a vector file of your drawings? I would like to be able to drive a CNC machine but they require vector files. What are the tricks and tips for building an actual switch using a template? I can see gluing ties (timbers) to the template but how does one hold all the track pieces in place and line them up with the template accurately? I can see that there might be a parallax issue when doing that. Am I overthinking the problems and it is actually easier than it looks? In actual construction how are the points filed? The Fast Tracks technique is to file the inner edge of the point to a sharp point. This however breaks through to the other side of the rail web leaving the rail head and ...

... can't stand the pong of butanone. I think Joe Brook-Smith's original riveted ply system still has a lot to be said for it. The Scalefour Society have just upgraded their supplies to precision laser-cut plywood instead of sheared strip. The great advantage of riveted ply is that you can get the track built, laid, tested, wired up and running, and only later add the cosmetic half-chairs at your leisure. If the rivet positioning is done carefully, the end result looks just the same as using glued chairs on plywood. Beginners can deal with any misplaced rivets by fettling them with the edge of a Dremel abrasive disc. Fitting the rivets to the timbers can be time consuming, but strangely satisfying. An alternative to the tubular rivets is to used single-sided Vero pins. These are a push fit in 1mm holes, so don't need closing underneath and can therefore be drilled and fitted with the timbers on the template. But they do need trimming underneath afterwards. I doubt they would hold in plywood, but are ...

... fit to hold the rail. This was using wooden timbers, I'd imagine that plastic timbers would make an even more immovable bond. posted: 18 Apr 2018 11:12 from: Martin Wynne Raymond wrote: Year ago I tested out various glues. The best was Butatone, if the joint was properly made then when trying to pull them apart the jaws of the chair would fail before the joint to the timber failed and the chair is a tight enough fit to hold the rail. Hi Raymond, Rob is asking about gluing the chairs to the rail, not to the timbers. This is for the slide chairs where there is only one jaw. And other places such as bolted half-chairs in tandems, etc. The convention is to use superglue for that, but the problem is its short shelf life once opened -- just a few days usually for the (cheapo) low viscosity types. The thicker ones and gels last a bit longer. cheers, Martin. posted: 18 Apr 2018 13:09 from: Tony W ...

... ffffee"As there are no check rail chairs available in EM the method used is to have a check rail five chairs long. Three full chairs are put on the check rail and the detail cut off the top of the chair to allow them to slide under the running rail. The running rail is only fitted with two full chairs in the length opposite the checkrail and these are also modified to fit under the checkrail. The crossing flangeway gauge is used to set the check rail at the correct spacing and the five chairs glued down. Then five half chairs with keys are glued down at the outside where there are spaces (two on the check rail and three on the running rail. style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffee"The alternative is to fit nickel silver strips to gauge the check rail correctly to the running rail and then use half chairs on the outside. style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffee"Regards style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffee"John Arkell style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: # ...

... soon as the setting starts. Best Wishes, Howard. 21 Feb 2012 19:07 from: JFS Pierre wrote: By the way I hear a number of people say that Copydex smells of fish, which may be a bit off-putting. Only a very mild smell, not much worse than PVA, and it disappears as soon as the setting starts. Best Wishes, Howard. posted: 21 Feb 2012 22:07 from: Dellboy Thanks for your comments guys. I am already using a latex adhesive for gluing down my cork underlay and my track. One day in the not too distant future I will have to do some serious ballasting and there will be quite a lot of this so I am currently looking at different methods. The latex I am using is a commercial variety bought from a carpet dealer (much cheaper than Copydex). By the way I have not noticed any significant smell, fish or otherwise, from this and once set there is definitely no smell! With latex you get more than adequate strength and the ...

... topic: 2888 C&L Chairs on wooden sleepers posted: 18 Jun 2016 15:32 from: LSWRArt Many years ago I was with a S4 group in Cambridge and we built some track with chairs glued to wooden sleepers. It all looked great until the night before our first show when we decided to slop on some paint and thinners gunk to stain the sleepers. ALL the glue melted and we had a panicked hour trying to simultaneously re-gauge all the track and hold it in position while the gunk dried. So this time in 0 gauge I have been building track with C&L plastic chairs on wooden sleepers. To avoid the risk of the same problem I thought I would do it the other way round. I found some almost black wood dye and put a few coats on the sleepers and then glued the chairs down. It was fine for a few months then chairs started coming loose.At first I thought it was the glue not sticking to the plastic so I tried various different glues, none of which worked reliably, ...

... attached the chairs to the sleepers on all but the centre 5 sleepers. I build the crossings on C&L 0.5mm copperclad strip. You can see I have pealed back the paper on one side of the crossing and cut both pieces of strip flush with the rails. I then superglue these two copperclad strips to their sleeper 982_260230_130000000.jpg I then do exactly the same to the other side, but leave the centre full length piece of copperclad intact whilst the superglue and chairs set fully 982_260235_590000000.jpg The half chairs that are fitted are super glued to the rails for added strength and glued using solvent to the sleepers, as I said I now let everything set thoroughly before repeating the process on the final copperclad strip I use the C&L 0.5mm strip out of convenience, any piece of strip metal 0.5mm thick or less would do. You could also use the strip between the sleepers so all chair parts are used, I feel this would look more visible than the method I have used Attachment: attach_1998_2577_points_107.jpeg 522 posted: 26 Nov 2014 21:25 from: ...

... under the stock rails to keep the switch blades vertically aligned to the stock rails. The wires are soldered into holes drilled in the inner ends of these strips. This track was for street trackage so everything bar the rails would be hidden. For normal track you might want to make a less obvious joint to the underside of the switch blades. The TOU is made from Plastikard strip, a bit of 4mm PCB turnout timbering and some brass tube to be not too tight a fit on the brass wire. The lot is glued to a short bit of B&Q alloy section to allow mounting to the track base. The tube and wire gives the hinge action. This method allows you to fit scale cosmetic tiebars. Jim. posted: 12 Mar 2010 09:27 from: kenbec Jim said, Here's another method which might interest you- with the tiebar underneath the track base. This method is quite popular with a good few people. Ingenious and with care could be installed quite inconspicuously. I like the idea of the tubing which should ...