Worst 'kitbash' on this forum!

DieCastoms Nov 25, 2007

  1. DieCastoms

    DieCastoms TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure if this falls under kitbash, since I am cutting up and combining two parts, or if it's a hand laid turnout..

    If you've not read my other posts, I am working with 1/32 plastic trains on one-piece plastic injection molded 45mm track. Since these sets did not come with turnouts that I know of, I am building my own out of a section of curve and a section of straight. I regret I did not take more pictures before this point but I will eventually be making another because I don't think this one will be very reliable. Here are a few pictures. Yes, they are taken on the kitchen stove, and yes, the wallpaper in the kitchen is grotesque!

    In the first picture, note the only tools I used, a dirt cheap plastic hacksaw blade handle, an emery board, and a folding pocket razor knife. I do have a dremel but everyone is sleeping so I cannot use it right now. All six rail ends are the snap-together ends from the original track sections. The straight stock rail is untouched except for a slight cut in for the point to fit in. The curved stock rail is composed of the snap end and first tie from the straight section of track, and the remainder is the unmodified remainder of the curved track section. The curved closure rail is the remains of the other half of the original curved track section. The straight closure rail does not yet exist, since a lapse in judgment destroyed the remaining half of the original straight section.

    In the second image, you can clearly see how many ties are missing. I am not sure yet what I will do about that, considering I was trying to use ONLY the plastic track pieces and not replace anything, if possible.

    The third shot shows where the ties are cut up the middle of the two sections. The two white blocks are 1/2 x 1/4 basswood spreaders that I cut to make sure the gauge stays correct.

    The last picture is a bonus, it's the Model-T "Tootsie Toy" I had as a kid in the mid '80s. The axles clip in place and happen to be exactly the same width as the extra axles pulled out of my train so it would handle curves better. At some point I will buy a cheap baby's radio control car, the kind that only goes forward and turns while going backward, and squeeze the motor and radio into the rumble seat :p

    Let's hear your opinions. I think it is going well for my first bash, but it will probably be cosmetic and not used, or will be glued in one position or the other. I am planning an 'in progress' trestle somewhere on the layout, this may be the switch to it. I wont have to worry about running trains off the cliff..

    Another long winded post by Mike from DieCastoms.
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 25, 2007
  2. traingeekboy

    traingeekboy TrainBoard Member

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    I think you are doing some awesome stuff there. I really don't think it's always about doing the nicest job. Sometimes merely doing is a great start.

    I like the rail car that's pretty awesome.

    Have you considered replacing the plastic ties with wood? there are lots of web links on hand laying if you just google hand laying train track. Try some googling and see what you find.

    the On30 guys although a different scale are very clever and may have some good ideas for you. I've seen people use HO scale track and just replace most of the ties with wood, while leaving some plastic to hold the gauge of the track.

    Keep posting your progress. :)
     
  3. DieCastoms

    DieCastoms TrainBoard Member

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    Hey Geek!

    Thanks for replying and thanks for your compliments! At first I wanted to do it completely out of the original New Bright plastic, cutting up whatever track sections I needed to to get enough ties and to extend ties to make it work, however there is really no way to salvage the ties themselves. The rails can be sawed off the ties and filed down well enough, but when you save enough material to salvage the rail, the ties are destroyed. You can save enough plastic to salvage the tie, but when you do, the rail is destroyed, which is moot because it leaves large ugly holes in the ties anyway!

    I have to say that I had fun doing it, and I believe I will finish it, and glue it one way or the other and use it on a siding that I do not want trains to ever be able to enter, it will be the siding to a trestle that is "under construction" and is only half complete. I would not want to drive anything off the end of the trestle...

    I would like to try to do a hand lay, now that I have done the plastic one, just because I think it wont be as difficult as I thought originally. That requires I get some good rail and a railbender, which I have no money for!

    I made a deal today that I had not expected, I believe I will be able to trade a website for all the lumber I need to build my trestle!! So that's what I will be working on next.

    Mike from DieCastoms
     

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