That looks very tedious but I must say you've done an excellent job. We gotta get you some more 123 blocks, all that canned food is making me hungry...lol. Great job Drew! - Jason
OOh! A rotary cutter! Glad I watched this video. I had no idea such a thing existed. I still have a lot of track to lay and this looks like a great way to trim cork once it's glued down. My track doesn't always totally follow the cork centre. I will still use my bench saw to cut the strips aa that is really fast and accurate despite the amazing mess it makes. Once again, a RU-vid vid gives greate product ideas. Good stuff. Glad to find another layout construction series. I admire you using individually cut ties. I am afraid I cheated and used pre-drilled TwistTies from FastTracks.
Glad to pass along this tip. Rotary tools can be really handy. The ties don't take too long, only a couple of hours for around 1000, but I'll admit I'd get the twist ties if they were in my budget.
I forgot to add: You mentioned that you had trouble getting the correct frog angle when using the PointForm tool and ended up using the "Crossing" slot. Well, you have me totally confused here..... that slot is only used for the reverse frog in double crossovers. The "Frog" slot is definitely the one to use. I've build dozens of these critters in #5, #6, and #8 and never had a bad "V" soldering angle unless I used the wrong PointForm tool. By the way, a coarse rasp wood file is great on cork to get a shamfer edge for the ballast. Have fun and keep up the enthusiasm.
My understanding is that silicone is not an adhesive and yet I also think it is a great adhesive for laying cork. I did not realize you were going to spike all the tracks. I am definitely not trying that with N scale. I have a tool from MLR, Track Toool Set. It comes with a Parallel tool that might be easier than using the track gauge for spiking the track. I am glad you got the train running at the end.
Have you thought about picking up a 3 point gage? You put the single point on the finished rail and the other 2 go on the 2nd rail. You put the spike in between the 2 points. They come in code 100 and 83 and maybe a few others. I used them about 30+ years ago when I tried laying some HOn3 track. Worked pretty well for me. Are you going to be laying any of your turnouts? That can save you some bucks. Anyway it looks great so far and having that 1st loco run is always a great feeling.
I plan on picking up a couple of 3 point gauges for sure. Should help me quite a bit. I've built several turnouts already and have a video on it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Gj3xZC46aZ0.html I also have a double crossover planned and I going to attempt to build my ladder yard in one piece. Thanks for stopping by.
Great to see a train running after so much planning and hard work, congratulations! I'm in the planning stages for an n-scale layout, so I'm really enjoying your series, and watching your layout come together.
Wow I watched you push those spikes in & thought of Claudes The Cowboy and timber valley R.R.trackside beans too) you may want to see the spring tool he made your doing a Fantastic job and you got a new Sub!
That's great work, really came out looking good. I found it fascinating viewing to see you do all that but I don't think I would have the patience! 👍 John
Great episode but wow those spikes look tedious to install. The finished product looks great and the staining makes this ties look so realistic. I also liked the jig you had 3D printed. Look forward to seeing the next episode
Back in the 80’s, there was a company called Ramax (I think) that made a plastic spine type jig for pre spacing crossties, and it could be screwed down to a piece of wood with a curve radius centerline drawn on it. When filled with ties, they would perfectly match whatever radius you set it to! I don’t think they make them anymore though. Another hint on laying rail on curves is to leave the last 3 or 4 inches of the spiked rail unsoiled, slip the next piece of rail into the joiner, then line up the new and the unspiked section perfectly straight and solder bit! You can then proceed laying rail! Same goes for flex track with the added step of being sure that the “loose” rail is on the inside of the curve. Installing it with the loose side out will result in the loose rail disappearing back into the tie strip! The layouts looking great! Thanks for posting!
It's a shame Kadee no longer makes their Spiker hand tool. It looked like a regular handheld stapler from Swingline. Did both sides of the rail at one time.
Oh good god all mighty 😊 ……. YOU are Really up to a real challenge, and I say “ good for you “ !!!!!! I always wanted to hand lay track but never had the confidence to do it !!!! Maybe I can try it one day! What beautiful track 👍👍 !!
You should have soldered two 3’ sections of rail together going into the curve to give you enough length to get you beyond the full radius…soldering this joint prevents any “straightening” in the curve…placing that “dry” rail jointer the way you have is/will create problems later…just saying. Aside of that…great looking layout…good luck with the hand laying. Use to model O scale the same way but used a Kadee Spiker with 3 weighted three point gauges and an NMRA standards gauge with code 100 / 125 rail…a lot easier than needle nose pliers.
@@WhiteRiverLine Unfortunately your going to have to pull that rail…better now than afterwards once you finish the end-of-the-curve transition…it will be a pain in the butt…but a huge headache later…good luck…looking forward to you layout updates 😎
Me too. I've found facebook groups dedicated to it and I've found a few videos here on YT. I'd guess we're in the minority because it is a LOT of work. So much faster to put down flextrack.
