Concrete Tie strip for N Scale and Code 40 Rail

[narrowminded]

Sorry for the absence but I've had a lot on my plate.  My absence started when I got sick for a couple of weeks, fever too, although not severe.  I was pretty sick but don't think it was bad enough to be Covid, just don't know.  Then did a fairly extensive consulting project for a shop that I still do design and management projects for.  The rest of the time was cleaning up a lot of loose ends at home including getting my truck that had been sitting for two years, wondering whether I should keep it or get rid of it, ready for sale.  A good piece but sitting so needed battery, brake pieces, a couple of ball joints, and all of the usual maintenance aggravated by sitting.  That's gone.  Then did four wheel brakes and rotors on my van for a six week trip out west.  Sitting now in Davenport Iowa on the first night out on that trip, taking time to look at the net, making this post.  Will see northern California and many points between before it's over.  Then it's back to home, a couple of track only sport bikes to get rid of, and back at the Nn3 and track and turnout projects.  As a warning or just information, I expect you'll be seeing more of me now.

[Jbub]

Good to see you back! I had covid about 2 months ago and it was nothing but a mild cold for me. I'm in the high risk category being diabetic. If it wasn't for the pandemic nature of things right now, I wouldn't have even thought about staying home from work or not leaving the house. For a lot of people you don't really know you have it unless you get tested. 
I'm excited to to more purges on the code 40 rail project.

[Maletrain]

Really glad to hear from you, Mark!  We were all worried about scenarios that start with "I got sick..."  Really glad to hear yours came out OK, and it was other life issues that caused your absence here.  I think we can all relate to some current events that are putting some (or all) of our modeling efforts on back burners. 

[ednadolski]

Revisiting this after a bit of a hiatus.  I've made some tweaks to the design mostly around the guides/clips, but (as this pic shows) I'm still working on figuring out a way to paint the clips that is easy, reliable, repeatable, and quick (and doesn't require magnifiers).   I have an acrylic paint pen coming, so we'll see how that works out.

I also tried printing this batch in a resin that is a mix of the Anycubic white and grey.   It's kinda close to the ME ties, tho still not quite right.   In the pics the color just sort of washes out.  However the resin color to my eye still has a bit of a translucent quality, so it seems to me that these are going to require painting in any case just to get the base color (and then the clips too of course).

I'm also thinking to use these with the weathered ME rail. It is an extra step to clean off the weathering from the underside of the rail, so that the Pliobond will hold properly (and so that wired can be soldered, tho I'm not fully convinced that that is entirely necessary either.  More options to try out...

Another thought it to try to build the track without any rail joiners.   For curves it seems like a good idea to pre-bend the rail with the FastTracks roller bender tool, or something similar.




Cheers,
Ed

[ednadolski]

A few more quick pics of the revised ties, with some paint, weathered rail, and ballast.   I used Tamyia Insignia Gray for the concrete color, which to my eye shows up a bit better in pics than my previous color (seen in the short sample strip).   I still have to get better at painting the clips, but the acrylic paint pen seems like the best approach so far.

Ballast is the Smith and Sons Ohio Limestone #60, but I sift out some of the larger and smaller (more dust-like) pieces.

The step-wise aliasing is more evident in these top-down closeups, but is virtually undetectable in-person from a more typical viewing angle.







Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

I think this is looking great Ed.  The aliasing doesn't seem too objectionable, even in the most revealing photos.

I may have missed it, but how to you imagine the work flow going when it comes time to lay the track through a curve?  I assume these strips are of order 6" each, so you'll need to have a bunch of them properly aligned to form a typical curve.  Do you do that with the rail in place, or before?

It seems like you should be able to draw in a slight overhang to the clips so that the rail ever so gently snaps into the bed.  Not enough to hold it for good, but enough that you could pop the rail in place while the tie glue is drying, giving you the chance to fine tune the track line.  I imagine you could also do this with the Pliobond already dried onto the base, so all you have to do in the end is heat cure it.  But I may be throwing out ideas for a problem that doesn't exist.   

[ednadolski]

@GaryHinshaw , one strip is a bit over 4" long (28 ties).  Currently I can print 7 strips with one pass on the printer, tho I think I can increase that if I update some of the slicer settings.

My thought is first to spray paint them (primer then top color) with some styrene strips in place to keep paint out from between the clips.  Then, Pliobond one 3' section of rail over some strips (about 9) and heat-cure it into place, on the web side of the strips, to make something like a flex track but with a single rail.   Then the track can be installed and easily curved as needed.   After it sets, the second rail can be installed and Pliobonded into place.  (wiring will of course have to be attached at some point in the process -- at least one feeder per rail so as not to rely on rail joiners, if any.)

For curves I am also thinking to print a variety of the tie strips that have an additional, raised strip under the web, to create a superelevation.   The strip can further be varied in thickness along the length to make transition sections.  What superelevation do you use on your layout (I recall hearing something like 0.015" or 0.020"), and what transition lengths do you use?

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Ah, good idea: single rail flex sounds like a winner.

My superelevation is indeed .020" via styrene strips placed more or less under the outside rail.  If I recall correctly, I cut the strips to 1.5" lengths (for no great reason) and space them end to end on ~2" centres.  I managed the transition with one strip of .010" and one of .015", then the rest with .020".  That has worked very well.  If I were printing my own ties, I doubt I would bother with adding superelevation to the them.  It just makes a lot more inventory to manage, especially if you have transition sections at intermediate heights.  The strips are simple, and it's probably going to be a fair amount of work just to print enough normal ties for the layout. 

Now that I think of it though, I have no idea what your plans are for this track.  Is this for a full-sized Loop diorama?  Something else?

[ednadolski]

Is this for a full-sized Loop diorama?

No definite plans at this point, tho I am thinking I really do need something to run my sound units on. 

I do in principle have space for a 100% scale Loop in my current basement, tho I really doubt that I have the time and energy to actually build something of that size (the thought of painting a +150 square foot backdrop is daunting, to say the least). Plus, I do not want to make something immovable or that could not fit into a (potential) future space, should that ever be needed (again).   Something that fits into say a single garage bay could be practical, tho that could be no more than about 2/3 of scale size max.

I put together this mockup a little while ago.... what do you think?

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

I put together this mockup a little while ago.... what do you think?

I like! Keep going.   

[ednadolski]

My superelevation is indeed .020" via styrene strips placed more or less under the outside rail.  If I recall correctly, I cut the strips to 1.5" lengths (for no great reason) and space them end to end on ~2" centres.  I managed the transition with one strip of .010" and one of .015", then the rest with .020".  That has worked very well.

Thanks Gary.  IIUC then your transition length is 4" total?   And there is no 0.005" 'step'.... any reason you passed on that?

I like! Keep going.   

Thanks!  I do want to be sure that I can build the kind of track I need before I really commit, but this (and the C40 turnout) seems about there.  Plus, I need all the encouragement I can get

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Gary.  IIUC then your transition length is 4" total?   And there is no 0.005" 'step'.... any reason you passed on that?

'cause I didn't have any .005" stock handy.  Is that a good reason?     In practice, the code 55 rail makes the transition from level to .010" pretty smoothly, so it doesn't really seem necessary.  (Code 40 could be a bit less forgiving there.)  The overall transition is more like 5-6" by the time you go from fully level to .020".  It has been trouble free on my layout, and to be honest, hardly noticeable unless you're really looking for it...

We'll be happy to keep encouraging you!

[nickelplate759]

I have done N scale superelevation using 4 layers of 1/4" wide masking tape, with a transition of about 12".  It never occurred that I could compress the length to only 4" without ill affect.

[ednadolski]

I have done N scale superelevation using 4 layers of 1/4" wide masking tape, with a transition of about 12".

Which lends itself almost perfectly to the 4" length of the 3D strips:  1x each of 0.005", 0.010", and 0.015".

The transitions on a strip could be tapered along the length for an even smoother slope.  That would mean having a left and right handed version of each transition, which seems to be getting into the overkill zone.  That said, something like the Loop has so many curves and transitions (and very little actual tangent track aside from a few short places), and recalling my past (feeble) attempts at SE with tape and/or styrene strips all had rather pathetic outcomes, so having the SE built into the track itself does seem to have some degree (no pun) of appeal.

The time to actually print the strips doesn't seem like it should be much affected, as the total length of the track would be the same.

(IDK what the actual SE  is supposed to be for the 10-degree curves on and around the actual Loop, but the 2"-3" seems about right.  It doesn't really matter all that much since for a model it's basically a matter of what 'looks good').

Ed

[C855B]

Simple is good. After messing with SE off and on for about four years (same method as Gary), I came to the conclusion that incorporating 0.005" units didn't accomplish much, at least with C55. Here's an S-curve with 6" of 0.010" transition to 0.020" at each end. It's still subtle.

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