uneven tie spacing

[h2w]

the area i want to model had uneven tie spacing what is the best way to create this using atlas flex track and sectional track?
thanks
 Mark

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Turn the flex over, take a sharp xacto knife, and cut the webbing between ties (some gaps should already exist on one side).
Then remove individual ties and adjust spacing.
There should be enough wiggle room to have the ties a little crooked, too:



That's Peco flex but same deal.
That's about 1/2 the ties removed and with ties very skewed, probably more than you want.
Hope this helps.

[tom mann]

If you do this, also cut the length of some of the ties.

[davefoxx]

Be careful skewing the ties.  The effect looks good, but too much skewing can effect the gauge of the rails.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[GaryHinshaw]

Fortunately the change of gauge is only second order in the angle of skew, so in practice this is unlikely to ever bite you.  For example, a 10° skew (which would look very severe) would only reduce the gauge by ~1 scale inch, which is well within model tolerances.   A 5° skew (probably close to MC's example) would only reduce it by scale 1/4", which is actually within prototype tolerances for industrial track.

[h2w]

ok thanks, great idea the track looks good!

[John]

What Are ‘Second-Order Effects’?

Every action has a consequence, and each consequence has another consequence. These are called Second-Order Effects.

Every change you make to a system will have Second-Order Effects, which may affect the system’s functionality.

Be careful when making changes, they may have the opposite effect of what you aimed for.

[tom mann]

Since this is HO scale, what goes hand in hand with uneven tie spacing is slightly undulating track.  Just shim with .04" styrene in some places and apply a lot of pressure in gluing it down.

[Santa Fe Guy]

And rail gaps every 39 feet to match the length of rail, staggered of course to match Toms suggestion.

[GaryHinshaw]

What Are ‘Second-Order Effects’?

Things that scale the the square of a small quantity.  For small skew angle, θ, the gauge change, ∆G, goes like ∆G/G = − θ²/2, where θ is measured in radians.  If θ is small, then θ² and hence ∆G is really small.

[peteski]

This thread so reminds me of



which BTW is the current banner!

[Santa Fe Guy]

Lost me. If I recall didn't do too well in maths.

[engineshop]

Although I don't use uneven tie spacing, I replace every 7th plastic tie with a PC board tie. It keeps the straight section nicely straight. For curves, I solder the ties only on the outer track, lay it down and when I am happy with the curve, I solder the inside track. Now I can even take the track piece out and it still keeps the shape, which could be useful to cut the uneven tie spacing.