Hey guys, here is the review I promised on the T-Trak module I got from Stewart Denniston Look him up on Facebook, he doesn’t have a website as of this post, but he says he is working on it. So I received a standard double from him about a week ago now. Mine came without the holes pre-drilled, I have since drilled holes for mounting the track. The module came in a box already sanded and assembled, it had corner protectors taped on to prevent damage in shipping. The box was well fit to my module which was also filled with a couple pieces of styrofoam that prevented the box from being crushed in the center. The foam can be used for scenery if you desire. Looking at the overall construction I’m impressed. The module is well built and solid. It has been sanded to the point where it is already ready to finish. I have not yet done my distressed staining so I can’t say how well the wood takes to stain as of yet. I will update when I do it. The sides of the module are thick and solid providing a good rigid structure for the rest of the module, the top is thin, about 1/8th ply by the look of it, again nice and solid with no signs of warping. The joining is flawless and overall the module is well built. The underside has 4 “feet” in the corners that have furniture nuts in the for the adjustable legs. They are threaded in 1/4-20 just like Masterpiece and will even accept the same plastic legs from Masterpiece, or your favorite 1/4-20 bolt for height and level adjustment. There are corresponding holes in the top of the module for topside adjustments if you have legs with hexes. My module didn’t come with any type of foot, and I wish it had at least come with the plastic studs like the Masterpiece modules have. Those plastic feet are not everyone’s favorite but having something would have been nice. This is my only complaint. Also a nice feature on the underside that is easily missed is the routing work where the track screws would go. Due to the thick sides the first and half of the second screws would be blocked by the wood. So this area was routed out to allow for access to both screws. Moving on to the rear of the module, you will see 2 holes for the sky boards, and these holes have nutserts in them providing 1/4-20 threads to bolt the sky boards to. There is also a large rectangular hole that is for an Anderson power pole plug. This area is also routed out in the back so the retaining clips will be able to lock in place. All and all my overall take on these modules is positive. To date this is the highest quality best built module commercially available. I’m used to these being in kit form, and this comes as a complete assembly. The cost is on par with the kits and honestly for the couple dollars extra Stewart’s modules cost it is well worth every penny to come already built with a top notch fit and finish.
I agree with your assessment. I want to add a little mention here. He does slight alterations in his modules, at buyers request. Yours has the Power Pole hole, I did not need that, so it is not in mine. Also, yours has sky board mounts, which I also did not need. Mine came with the track holes pre-drilled, for a couple of dollars extra charge. As to feet for a module, I dislike "T" nuts, as they can come loose after some time of use, so he did wood inserts for mine. I also opted to not have the adjustment screw holes in the top. Nice that someone will make these alterations for us!
Hey guys, good news Stewart reached out to me and said the modules are supposed to come with the feet I mentioned above not having. He is sending them to me, it was an accident that they were not included. Also I forgot to put his email in the original post so here it is. dennind@gmail.com If it will still let me edit the original post I will add it there as well.
A fine review of a good looking, well-built module base! It's also nice that they provide minor customizations upon request. I too prefer the screw-in brass threaded inserts for the feet. They don't pop out like T nuts will. But if you seldom take your modules away from home, it probably doesn't matter. I suspect modules suffer the most abuse during club setups & teardowns before/after shows, etc.
I found the price list so here it is. There are no pics yet to go with the price list, but I hear Stewart is working on them as well. I would like to see how the branchline and Jackson Junction modules look!
Stewart was true to his word and sent me the feet to the modules. These feet are a step above the standard fare as they have acorn nuts on the bottoms to give a bit more surface area and a smoother surface to make adjustments easier. The acorns also have a hex if you desire to use that as the adjustment. He also threw in some standard 1/4-20 bolts to use as feet or they could even be used to hold the backdrop. I correct my statement above about the missing feet, once again top quality work in these modules. Stewart, thank you, for building such a fine module. I hope you are able to build these for many years to come, and I will be buying more here soon. Oh yea, there is a hex on the top end so you can adjust the feet with an Allen wrench.
