By the way, I made the pattern for this turnout on paper by putting the paper over the turnout that's currently in the Eugene staging ladder and then rubbed a number 2 pencil on the paper to make an impression of the railheads. I also marked where the points throwbar was.

Then I just picked the right CV turnout ties to fit (#7 in this case), and cut every other tie connector on the outside so I could curve the ties to fit. I spiked the plastic ties down to my soft wood workboard using spikes at the end of the plastic ties (every 5th tie or so), removed a few plastic ties, replaced them with PC ties, and went to town soldering down the rails.

The result is what you see here. As I went along I carefully checked the turnout and it's spot on the NMRA specs - and performs very smoothly when I roll a truck through it.

Very nice work Joe ! I wish they made HOn3 and Duel Gauge Tie sets and maybe some day with the new rise in Narrow Gauge in most scales CV will make those for the N.G. crowd to utilize, once again Very nice.

One thing how do you compare the CV Frogs to the trouble free "Fast Tracks" Frogs do the flanges ever show any wheel bounce as the wheels pass through the Frogs? The no bounce through the frog with the Fast Tracks Turnouts is my favorite component on the Fast Tracks Turnouts. I really got tired of having to grind down the plastic filling in the shinohara Duel gauge turnouts it was always so tedious and time consuming. I have to admit the Idea that I've seen here by you and others of filing off the foil from the the PC board ties and leaving the area where the solder is needed looks very nice wish I'd seen this Idea before having already made and painted 19 Duel gauge turnouts I still have 34 Narrow gauge Turnouts to build so I'll use the file the foil on them and now I've found a source for tie plates for my wooden ties I may use them too in areas Highly visible to my friends.

It's nice to see that you have time to model, Joe. I have to say, I think the best tip that've gotten from you (videos et al) is the way you make templates off of the existing trackwork.

Such a simple concept, but one I would have easily overlooked without the suggestion.

Yes, I insist on making some time to just model railroad for the fun of it - and my wife supports that. It helps my mood and she also understands the value of "just playing trains" with no work-related (as in MRH or Model Trains Video) motive in mind.

Dan, I'm actually building frogs from rail using the Fast Tracks methods and filing jigs. They drop right onto the CV turnout ties and they look great. The frog is spot on the NMRA specs. I lay the frog using long pieces of rail and then later isolate the hand-built frog by cutting gaps with a motor tool and a very thin diamond cut-off wheel. Since everything is well soldered in place to the PC ties, cutting the gaps is a simple process and everything stays in place, no problem.

The new Proto:87 Stores turnout kits intrigue me - I definitely will have to give them a try since the frog comes pre-cast. Andy's $10 pricing right now for the full turnout kit with everything included is a great deal.

she also understands the value of "just playing trains"

Aint that great? My wife is like that too.. all the more precious given we have two young kids.. nothing says a keeper like a wife that understands hobby time.

I definitely will have to give them a try since the frog comes pre-cast.

He sells the frogs by themselves for $4 each which seems like a really nice way to handle the most chancy part of the whole turnout thing. I am looking at getting some of those rather then try to make my own frog when I get to that part. Not so sure on some of the other parts.. I would like to keep my turnout costs a little lower then $10.. but thinking with a $4 frog I can keep it under $7.

Chris

Joe,

I hadn't noticed it before, but the ends of the wing rails (say "wing rails" 5 times, fast!) appear to be bent only slightly, then filed to a bevel.  Is that the case?  I've been bending them after a square cut. 

P.S.  No, I can't say "wing rails" even once, and I can barely type it.

If you check out the NMRA info on turnouts and bevels, you'll find they recommend a combination of a slight bend plus a compound bevel on the railhead to be the best - so that's what I do.

The bevel is a 1/8" long (approx) angle along the top inside edge of the railhead, to roughly halfway through the width of the railhead at the end. Then on the very end of the rail, file a tiny 45 degree angle to break any sharp edges at the end of the rail.

This combination will tend to reroute any errant wheelset back into the desired path better than almost anything else you can do. Sharp flared bends tend to grab a wheelset and jerk it into alignment, which often results in over-correction and a derailment the other direction.

Comprehensive, gentle correction is the best.

Thanks for the info, Joe.

I have read a lot of how-to articles on building turnouts using PCB ties but I have never tried it although I have experience using wood-ties and spikes.

Do you tin the whole length of rail or spot the locations and just tin those - or no tin at all? You do need to clean the bottom of the rail?

Do you clean and flux the ties before soldering?

If you use a conventional iron - not resistance soldering - how big (watts) and what kind of end - point, wedge?

How do you keep the ties tight against the bottom or the rail when you solder? -assuming that most PCB material is thinner than wood ties or plastic tie-strip.

Thanks for any guidance.

Art Armstrong - Artarms

.

Art,

Absolutely, clean every surface to be soldered, flux every surface to be soldered.   I recommend Joe's Siskiyou Lines thread on the subject:  http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5125     There's where you'll find lots of answers.