Moving right along, last night I began the task of installing the missing ties from the track work.

It's a little tedious, but it moves along pretty quickly.  It also means that once completed I can begin painting the track.

I'm working on improving the operation of my HO scale switch points by upgrading the wire that came with my tortoise switch machines from 0.025 to 0.032 or 0.039 music wire. Regardless of how closely I inspect the points for obstructions, I can't always find what is causing extra resistance to the movement of the points in my Proto 87 Fast and Easy Code 70 turnouts.

I've been searching the net for half an hour or more trying to find out what the tie dimensions and spacing are for ME code 83 HO flex (wooden ties). I'm really aggravated by the number of times I've seen the description of the stuff as "scale ties". Well, what is that exactly? 

Good afternoon,

Everything I read about painting tracks talks about masking the turnouts prior to painting.  I'm sure I'm just Googling the wrong thing, but I can't find detailed instructions on how to do it.  Before I make a permanent mistake, does it look like I masked the turnout correctly?   Should I use more or less tape?  Is it in the right spots?  I plan on spray painting it using this color.