Hi Stu,
It was a pleasure talking with you in Philly. You seem very enthused for NTS 2007. Glad you found your way to the list here.
The Z-Bend Track standard calls for 1" centerline to centerline spacing at the modules joints. You can actually vary from that one you move away from the module joints (although I wouldn't recomend going lower than that because of clearance).
The standards call for pretty exact placement of track at the module joints, but in practice I've seen over 1/8" of slip in the placement to either side of the centerline and the trains still run OK for the most part. I typically use white glue to secure the track on the ends of the modules so if it needs to be realigned, just wet it and glue it down again.
Again, the standards calls for bolt holes to join the modules, but typically the bolts are used more for alignment and then they are cinched together tight with C clamps. Some of the earliest modules built still don't have bolt holes in them since I believe this was added in the 2004 edition of the standard.
ZBT standards can be found at:
www.zbendtrack.org
Stu, and anyore else interested in bringing Z modules to Detroit, please drop me a line when you get a chance (I was actually going to write you tomorrow anyway as a follow up to our conversation in Philly). I wanted to talk about NTS 2007 in Detroit. I did not reserve any module display space with Dean and Debbie while in Philly but a couple of other module folks have expressed interest if you want to try to do a combined display. I likely won't be able to make it to Detroit since we have a family reunion planned for the same week. :-( However, both Tom Gilcrest from Seattle and I are thinking of shipping a couple of modules to the show if folks are going to set up a Z-Bend Track (and possibly other standards using transition modules) display.
Thanks,
Randy Smidt
randy@...
ZTrack magazine module coordinator
cgwcnw <ksonta@...> wrote:
Hopefully all got back from the NTS without any problems. One of the things I forgot to ask
the module owners was: How tight is the track spacing from the centerline of the module.
How much error can the module tolerate in the width direction of the track spacing??
The other million dollar question is are modules bolted together or just c clamped together?
I have four modules built that I would like to have ready for the 07' NTS here in detroit mi.
More to come.
Thanks
Stu
