Finding this saved my project! I was having a real struggle trying to lay Hornby flexi track on my twin track helix (the first of two) without having frequent derailments. After several tries at various ways of laying it, I can now get much smoother curves and have a success rate of about 90% compared with 10% before. Thanks so much for posting this detailed tutorial. Paul in NZ.
@user-pw3uq2cj4k Hi Paul 👋 I'm so glad this was helpful to your 90% success rate on your curved rails...that's just , awesome !! Thank you for commenting ...👍 Darrell SoCal 🇺🇸
wow this is just amazing. i was doing the exact same thing mystic said he was doing removing the ties. An then the way you solder the rail joiners i always put the solder next to the rail joiners and then the iron. But putting the solder on the tip would be better that way you don't get a bunch of extra solder on there. You made the perfect video on how to do it. i really appreciate you making this video I'm sure there will be more people will watch this and learn from it. thank you so much i will be doing this today.
Over 50 years ago I was taught that for a seamless curve one needs to solder the track together for the entire curve on a straight line. This will completely eliminate any kinks in the curve. I have soldered as many as 4 flex track sections together in a curve and have had no kinks ever since i was taught this method.
Thanks Darrell, I learned something here. I was removing the end ties instead of cutting between them. then I would sand them down and slide them back under the track after laid. Cutting them between saves a step. Thanks Man :)
Thank you Sparky and i am humbled for your Subscription ! I would SUB back but been a Subscriber for years to your channel which has helped me in many ways 🙂 Derail Darrell
thank, you for youre great helpful video👍 seems i had bad luck on laying peco #83 flex track on a curve. why? well seems the rail was breaking off of the sleepers. so, now ive. got better luck just using the flex track for stright track only.] [now, you have a better way of making flex track work out for a curve]👍
Couldn't you solder 3-4 sections of flex track together all at once? I know different flex track only one real slides, so I could see by soldering the whole curve at once that you might have 5 or more inches of uneven rails at the end. Good tutorial.
You could but when you do that you have 9 to 12 ' to deal with not to mention twisting the rails and because one side moves you will have to take out more sleepers/ties witch leaves a bigger gap that does have ties holding the curved rails .🙂Darrell
Darrell I do the same with my flex track always soldered them with the track straight. Good tip on what to do with the ties I always removed them and then filed them down and slide them under the rails I like your method much better. Thanks
Cheers...I just remove my ties and jamb them back in before ballasting...I did need to cut a bit out on top of the ties so they sit right under the joiners.
Ties under the track joiners will have to be filed thinner most of the time no matter if you take them out or slide them out of the way. In fact if you slide them out of the way, they will not come back under the joiner at all.
Soldering inside of the rail is just fine as long as you have good technique and don't leave "blobs" of solder. I have done this for the past 50 years in many clubs and on many layouts.
Loved the video! Question, if a turn spans two power districts, how do you handle using insulated rail joiners instead of soldering the two pieces together? Or is it just better to wait until the next straight section to add insulated rail joiners?
@JimTittle , Thanks for the kind comment !! Yes , most definitely wait till you got a straight piece of track for insulated rail joiners (plastic) . Hope i was helpful 👍 Darrell
After the track is laid and ballasted all you have to do is cut the rail and the cut will be large enough to isolate the section. If you want to have a seamless joint, fill it with styrene shaped to the outline of the rail.
Hello, so there are many ways to determine your radius. Cheapest way to do a radious is , take yard stick , at the 1 inch mark put a nail in . Next , if you want a 24inch radius, drill a hole big enough to fit a pencil at the 12 inch mark and put the pencil in and draw your radius... hope that helped...Darrell
