Z Friends, As I am still in the process of planning my rail road - takes a ton of work I come to realize - I started to wonder about hand laying tracks. From a realism perspective - even though tedious - it seems pretty nifty. While researching hand laying tracks I cam across Fast Tracks. On this forum I have also seen various reference to this company. What I am interested to know your experience(s)/thoughts in hand laying tracks and/or Fast Tracks. Does it really improve the realism significantly? Does it increase the track planning flexibility? etc. Any thoughts you’re willing to share would be very much appreciated. Thanks as always! -Tiest Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I handlaid track on 3 Z-Bend Track modules and it worked good at first, but I got invited to a garden party and was asked to bring my modules. Everything was good for a couple hours, but as the sun got hotter, someone complained the trains were running balky. Then we noticed all the rail was very hot and had expanded, and all my turnouts had wrinkled and pulled up from the roadbed. It was ruined, so I never did anymore handlaid track, because I never knew if our modules would se sunlight again. Over the years my modules have been setup in the sun, so it's a good thing I used commercial track. That said, for a home layout that will never see direct sunlight or excessive temperature swings, it would be OK. Handlaid track can only look as good as how careful you lay it. If you used code 40 rail, it could look better than the normal code 55-60 rail used by all the Z track producers. Code 30 rail, if you could find it, could look even better.
[mention]rray [/mention] as always thanks for this response! Keep you posted on my ‘removable’ model kit project - got the diode to work that for that feedback! I am not happy yet with the polystyrene foundation and the electricity conducting metal/copper that goes through the foundation. Issue I am having is creating a solid hole/holes in the foundation to run copper and/or metal bands through. Great weekend ahead! -Tiest Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I use Copper Tape under the base scenery. It lays flat, and you can paint, glue, or apply scenery on top of it. Just flow a bit of solder over corners or splices to get conductivity from one piece to the next: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CH4LYZ6
[mention]rray [/mention] , I know I am digressing from the hand laid tracks topic. My modeling challenge at the moment is how to ‘channel’ electricity through the model’s foundation. I Included a picture from you which I am using as my guide. The red triangles highlight my challenge. How did you achieve this? I tried to manufacture strips of copper/metal. This worked but was not reliable as it kept moving. I am thinking perhaps a t-nut bolt… Anyways, I suspect you understand my challenge. Any guidance/experience you can share is much appreciated. Thanks! -Tiest Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I just cut about an inch of copper tape, peel off the backing, fish it through one slot and then out through the other slot, wrapping the tape around the floor, then rub the tape flat, and coat with solder.
Copper tape… I have been truly overthinking my approach! Hope you got a laugh out of my question at least! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Copper tape is commonly used by stained glass artists. It comes in several widths. One roll should last a lifetime. Jim
What about insertion of "expansion gaps" here and there, such as on 1:1 scale railroads, to avoid the above spoken drawbacks ? Dom
Have you thought about using "pogo pins" mounted in the base, They come in a verity of sizes. Add a couple small neodymian magnets in the corners of the structure and in the base to align and hold it in place.
Yeah, I should have used expansion joints, but since my track was all ruined at that point, I did not want to experiment anymore, I just wanted to get my modules up and running as soon as possible, so I used the traditional track.
