Hi Marc,

RP25 profile wheels as used on most modern 00/H0 models should be fine as is.

John

This might be a silly question do the wheels need re-profiling??

Marc

I too have made a faltering start on a bit of Dolgoch station. ?From recollection, the Boyd book quotes 2'3" plus the width of the plate layer's thumb - that's 1/2" to me so 2'3 and 1/2" is a hair's breadth over 16mm gauge (16.0574.....mm to be precise, but my thumb isn''t exactly 1/2"). ?I have built 16mm gauge track for the public side and plan (if the project goes anywhere) on 00 track for the fiddle yard. ?Regular 00 gauge back to back runs better on 16mm gauge than on 16.5 with check rails laid to EM standards not 00. ?Dolgoch has no turnouts anyway so no need to build any.
Paul?

I forgot to say there is lovely article in this months MRJ which I would love to replicate, if only I had the skills. Not sure which gauge was used and the weight of the track.?

Marc

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I'm mulling over potentially building a small layout representing the Tal-y-llyn circ 1900. I have just finished 8 prototype wagons and I've nothing to put them on. The official gauge is 2ft3 however, reading the wild Swan book, unofficially the gauge was widened by about an inch to 2ft4 to allow Tal-y-llyn to run better. If I go for the official gauge then it should be 0-15.75 or the eased gauge of 0-16.35 which is close enough to 0-16.5 not to worry about. From a stock point of view I can re-gauge them with very little effort. so that isn't really a factor. Although loco wheels might be something of an issue. I'm not a great track builder so I was going to get some EM point kits and get some chairs printed.??

I know this is not 0-14 but I will be using the track standards. What do people think I should do?

Marc

I tried the cascamite method, mixed with Woodland pale limestone ballast but found it didn’t fix the ballast firmly enough and bits crumbled off when brushed. So a soaking of diluted PVA from the builders merchant went on too. It’s all quite solid now! No colour change evident and as the layout is set in the very early days of the LMVLR, it is supposed to be quality trackwork?
Paul?

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I am with John, I use dilute Copydex for glueing the ballast, Woodland Scenics in my case and also undiluted for glueing the track down. The track is held firmly but can be lifted and cleaned off if alterations are needed.

Dilute latex (Copydex) does not seem to change colour and dries very matt. I primarily used it as I wanted the base to remain flexible. I used a mix of sieved cat-litter and chinchilla dust to represent different grades of ballast. These seem to degrade a bit after 2-3 years but easy to patch up.

John

I would like to offer my vote for the Cascamite. I used it a lot years ago and it is nice to use. As with everything the price is rather higher than it was.

Rob

Moons ago I was disappointed with the widely adopted flood the place with PVA method for exactly the colour change reason.
A tip I was given was to use a powdered resin wood glue, Cascamite is probably the best known but I am sure there are others, mixed dry with the ballast granules before you lay them.
Once happy with the ballast distribution you simply spray the area with plain water and allow to set.
It will go rock hard but retain the colour of the ballast and you don't get drips of dilute PVA between your point blades, under your tie bars, etc.
The only issue I can see is it might be more difficult to lift the track in the future if you wish to modify the layout.

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Following on from the topic of my messing about with 0-14 printed track I’d like to here your suggestions for two sorts of ballast.

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For this exercise let’s assume: -……………

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????? A)?? The sample track you have seen pictures of is to be done as industrial track with barely defined ballast. The sort of thing where its all merged into the muck or has been contaminated with spilled mess from the wagons.

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And

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????? B)?? Imagine I printed a different base that was more main line with longer sleepers and a different spacing. Let’s say it’s more well maintained narrow gauge mainline – without getting people over excited, say L&Bish.

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Its been awhile since I built track on a layout as I have played with group layouts where others have done the track. Many moons ago when I did it was on mainline stuff and was the granite and flood with PVA version.

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I have some ideas like using sand and fine N scale ballast and then flooding with PVA but I am looking for ideas on alternatives as I recall that the PVA tended to change the colour of the ballast.

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Ideas and suggestions please [although I do reserve the right to still do my own thing but then when it looks rubbish you’ll be able to say I told you so]

?

Paul

Thanks for the prompt reply, Paul / Robin.
Sorry to hear Howard also has health issues. I was not aware of that.

A few years ago I experimented with concrete sleeper bases to use with Micro Engineering code 83 rail. These represent sleepers used at Victoria Sugar Mill in Ingham Queensland. The main line of the Illawarra Light Railway Museum (ILRMS) is now laid with 2nd hand concrete sleepers. I had a number printed by Shapeways in FUD. Whilst the experiment was moderately successful there where two issues. The cost per sleeper was way too high and the fastenings on the sleepers were rather fragile. However I did try to make the fastenings close to scale. My results can be seen at?(The shop is really just to show off my efforts, not to make my fortune. If anyone really wants some send me a message and I will remove the markup) I think they produced a good representation of concrete sleepers.

Recent advances in printing technology and a less scale fastening would mitigate both these problems. I think printing will always be more expensive than casting, especially with the large numbers of identical sleepers required. Would it be sensible to print a few masters and use these to cast bases in a stronger resin? It would probably be better to pre-bend all rails before threading the sleepers on so that they are not stressed.

Sleeper bases for pointwork are a very good idea. It may be better to leave the spike holes out as this would allow for a greater choice of rail sizes and fastenings to be used.?A suitable cast frog/common crossing would be nice to have. Despite the number of frogs I have built (including some full size ones) I never seem to be able to bend the wing rails correctly and get everything to line up properly.

I use Micro Engineering code 83 rail?and??3 way planed blades from??Have a look in?/g/o14/files/mjm%27s%20Folder/N5_points?for a design I did some years ago.
There was also a lengthy discussion under the heading of "Checkrail and crossing wingrail lengths" that may be of interest to some people.

Regards,
Michael Milway

My printer comes as an industrial package with full support and development and whilst it doesn’t preclude the use of 3^rd party resins I haven’t felt the need to use them. One of the things they have done for me is to print samples of items in other resins to explore the properties without having to make the investment in setting the machine up for the different resins.? I would add that setting it up for a new resin isn’t hard but it comes with a cost of the new resin and a new tray and as the trays last 4 or 5 resin cartridges you need to know the resin is one you want to use.

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One way you may see this soon is in a chassis idea that is being developed with their help. At the moment I am printing everything in their bog standard grey but this chassis may see the main block printed in an engineering resin trading detail for strength, rigidity and a small drop in detail but then with, say, the cylinder block, firebox/ashpan printed in the more brittle but high detail grey resin. There is even a printable version of Delrin so there may yet be printed bearings.

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Also, my machine connects to them (and me) via the internet and so gets any updates in the profiles for each resin to optimise the quality of the print. An interesting new feature in the latest software is a variable layer thickness. ?When I got the machine, you selected the layer resolution at the start. You might think finer the better but finer = slower and it’s just not necessary for many parts but the latest (trial only at the moment) version has adaptive layer thickness so the machine/software dynamically alters the layer thickness, fiddly bits done on fine, fine blocks done less so with a considerable time saving.

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The machine comes with its own program, slicer as you’d call it, which does a lot of the clever stuff setting optimised print angles, layouts and layers. The software is very capable, and I have sussed out how to do most things with it but am still learning the secrets it has at the edges.

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In short, I am happy with my machine, the support, the material and the software. It has proved more than once so far that the limitation is me.

This has rather got away from track but on that subject the goal I set myself was ready to use track with the convenience of Peco. If it becomes a commercial prospect remains to be seen but I no have something i can use on my layout.? I will keep exploring but its going to pause for a few days now as we have a show on Saturday in Reading, I wagon bashing at Beamish on Sunday and then one money earning tasks next week

Cheers for now

Paul

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Howard is your source. He has taken over the range and has been sorting it out into a proper registered business.

However, as you may or may not know Howard has some serious health issue and is in and out of hospital. I have been doing some design work for him and he hasn't been in touch for awhile. That usually means he's on one of his spells in hospital. If he is available he generally replies quickly.

Recently found new enthusiasm to get going in O14 again and wanted to order some Avalon Line / Black Dog Mining parts.
I had dealt with Steve previously so placed an order at Pepper7 but later realised the error of my ways and got a refund.
I understand that Howard Martin took over but I have been unable to get a response from the two e-mail addresses and phone number shown on the 7mm NGA website.
The Avalon Lines website also does not appear to be live so does anyone know if the Pepper7 range is still available anywhere?