Free-moNebraska

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I'll take sticky, uniformly painted end plates over sporadic flashes of bare wood here and there when modules of different width are paired. 

That's what we thought, until some modules REALLY stuck together and paint came off anyway 
Actually, not painting the 12" centers does the trick.
Or just use a quick black spraybomb to darken the endplates rather than a thick coat of latex (worst!).

I'm sure you'll figure out what works best for you guys.
Looking forward to seeing pictures and video!

[milw156]

You also might want to have some signs that say, "YES, THIS IS N SCALE!" as "Is this N Gauge?" will be the #1 question asked the whole weekend 

At the shows we take the Modutrak layout to, the question more often than not is "is this Z scale?"!!!   One thing you will hear a lot of is "WOW!!!" Enjoy it, it makes all of the research, re-dos and time spent on your models soooooo worth it! Have fun,
Rick

[superchief]

looking great guys, love the Free-mo standards, still in a long time Ntrak club, wanted to start one-trak but could not anyone else to start(no more modules, have a permanent layout in a train store), love the free-mo stuff. Gordon

[Solarnet]

Our first public show is NEXT WEEKEND! 

I'll be there. Looking forward to seeing your layout in person. Ilso hope to get a chance to talk to you for a little bit also..


Richard

[Mark W]

And that's everything!!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Gives me chills/PTSD to see the stacks (and the car seats already out) 
Looks like a great set of modules!

Are you going to have super-tall trees or buildings on the modules?
Otherwise you can cut 3"-6" off of each endplate to create smaller bundles.
Then you can fit in more modules! 

Have fun and post picts/video!

[C855B]

Robyn and I were seriously discussing a trek this weekend just to see the layout. We like Omaha, it having been a frequent destination for my job. If it wasn't for the harsh winters we'd likely have retired there.

But this time, no. Unfortunately, the way we do road trips - relaxed, with stops to railfan - it is a full day's travel each way. Three days away aren't in the cards this month, considering we have our own GTE in two weeks to prepare for.

[Mark W]

Robyn and I were seriously discussing a trek this weekend just to see the layout. We like Omaha, it having been a frequent destination for my job. If it wasn't for the harsh winters we'd likely have retired there.

But this time, no. Unfortunately, the way we do road trips - relaxed, with stops to railfan - it is a full day's travel each way. Three days away aren't in the cards this month, considering we have our own GTE in two weeks to prepare for.

We'll also be showing at the Lincoln show February 21-22. 

[Bendtracker1]

Just to clarify, this is local train show held in Lincoln, NE

https://www.facebook.com/events/357490757708854/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

[C855B]

Heh! I think we've had this discussion before. There was a sea change in 2010 or 2011, I think in prep for the arena construction. No, no parking ticket here, just my observation as a traffic management professional that something was afoot. I have knowledge from the inside that when parking (and other vehicular) enforcement is shopped out to contractors, the motivation is revenue generation and not equitable access to resources, or safety.

IOW, what you guys now perceive as "normal" is... well... not really.

Now Allen, you know I've been there when it's been -25. That's not exactly swimsuit weather. 

[CyRail]

Looking forward to seeing your progress this weekend... and seeing what Dave from House of Trains digs out of storage for his table!

Also, a +1 for the new downtown Lincoln and the ped overpass north of the arena, though I only had a few minutes to check it out before the Pearl Jam show last Fall.


Lee

[Mark W]

Wrapping up the last of my pre-show checklist!  I can't wait to see trains roaming through these gorgeous curves!

Take THAT NTrak. 

[C855B]

Wrapping up the last of my pre-show checklist!  I can't wait to see trains roaming through these gorgeous curves!
...

Which begs a question about the curves and how they land on the gap between sections. That's quite an angle at the break - do you have any problems with wheels catching the joint? It's great if you don't, obviously, but it just seems like the resulting point is laying in wait to catch a flange.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

We have several modules that have tracks at a curve/angle over a section joint:







And they work totally fine.
Mainly because we use alignment pins with those sections, but even if you don't (and we've had shows when we've forgot to bring the pins), you can line them up pretty easy.
I'd say it's even easier to align the angled track as it's all-or-nothing instead of "close enough".

The trick is to lay the track after you've pinned and clamped the sections together, and then use a very very thin blade (like the Dedeco separating disc) to cut the track, because you CANNOT use the spacer-between-sections trick to compensate for blade thickness when the track is curved/at angle.
(Ask me how I know  )

Mark: looks good!
You guys should be proud how much you've accomplished in so little time.
Have fun at the show!

[C855B]

We have several modules that have tracks at a curve/angle over a section joint:

...

The trick is to lay the track after you've pinned and clamped the sections together, and then use a very very thin blade (like the Dedeco separating disc) to cut the track, because you CANNOT use the spacer-between-sections trick to compensate for blade thickness when the track is curved/at angle.
(Ask me how I know  )

...

Oh, you discovered trigonometry the hard way, did you?

I assumed laying-track-then-cutting as a given, even with simple 90° joints. Do you dress the rail ends on angled cuts? Maybe not. I can suppose if you're using one of those super-thin cutoff wheels, we're only talking a gap of ~.010". More power to you (and Mark) then.

I would be interested in how they perform, say, 10 years from now. Even the loosey-goosey N-Trak system suffers with age. We have ills that have come with shrinkage in the cork base for our yard - 20-25 years old - and the jogs at the joiner tracks are .