Dopey me, I was at the WGH show in Edison today and figured I'd pick up Kato piers and try to do an up and over.... DOH! they are for Viaduct use and don't seem to easily fit plain Unitrak. Since I want to set up and take down, are any pier sets easily adaptable to Unitrak? Thanks
I would recommend getting the viaduct pieces especially if you are going to set-up and tear down. The stuff is bullet proof and you can easily sell it if you ever don't need it anymore. CG
Ahhhhh..yes...the ever famous 'bulletproof' Unitrack. If you look at Unitrack under a microscope you will notice the trackbed is made from Kevlar !! No wonder its as expensive as it is ! *Bulletproof my A** !!! LOL :tb-biggrin:
I do not know of any and I believe you will have difficulty adapting any pier set such as the Atlas set to Unitrack as the piers are going to grip the track differently. As I set up and take down as well, I made the investment in a K3 set and have found it to be extremely reliable. The wide base of the piers seem to make Kato piers more stable than Atlas piers. I hope this answers your question or at least gives you some information - which I believe is why you started this thread. Andy Tetsu Uma
As mentioned above, the piers are designed for the viaduct track sections. They do this because the sides molded into the viaduct track give it strength so the tracks don't flex vertically. Standard track, of any brand, is really too flexible to be supported by piers only. I usually try to discourage customers from buying the pier sets in any scale at the shop because of the unreliability of them. Take TetsuUma's advice and either get a V2 (new number for the K1) or buy some viaduct track sections for the elevated portions.
CG, TetsuUma and Tony. Thanks. That's the info I was looking for. I will look at the sets and price out the bits, as I have the piers. Unitrak critics Sigh.... Track is track. Does it matter if someone likes something different than you do?
My own thoughts would be to make your own from foam. I'm not sure how easy it would be but I'm willing to work on a design.
Foam might be interesting - do you mean foam piers or a foam rise that could be set up and taken down? Foam piers for Unitrack would be interesting as you could make them look any way you want. The down side would be possible durability issues with set-up and take-down and getting the rise just right. Maybe Gatorboard or something similar? Andy Tetsu Uma
Nope...I say go with what ya like. My comment however was in regards to people falsely calling Unitrack "bulletproof". Its like fingernails on a chalkboard :tb-wacky: NOTHING is 'bulletproof'...not even Unitrack...especially in N scale...LOL :tb-biggrin: .
George Maybe bullet proof is a relative term... It's bullet proof on my table, but you add that one little thing and oops, there's a hole in my shirt and uh oh... Steve, Thanks for the offer. I really want to put it up and take it down. That's why I was hoping to work with various radii I already have, rather than buy a zillion different new pieces. Ultimately it won't do. to send a $50 loco plummeting, much less a more expensive loco off the side of a wobbly track. Also, I want to see those FVM wheels and loco rod work when the train was up high. My O scale track isn't an issue in this respect. On O42, I can get up to speed with no derailing. Foam just won't allow me the flexibility to experiment. Viaduct it will probably be, if I have to buy more stuff.
Quite the opposite George. If you look at Kevlar under a microscope you will find it is actually made from Unitrack!
I was thinking risers or risers with a "track bed" to rest it on. I once created a set of risers from used Styrofoam coffee cups. They worked when connected with 1/2 foam which the track lay on.
