Does it work? Do the wood ties have enough grip on the track spikes all by them selves? Last time I handlaid, the roadbed was soft pine so the track spikes had more wood to grab onto.
- posted
16 years ago
Hand laid hand spiked track on foam?
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- posted
16 years ago
Use homasote or Homabed raodbed - easy to spike, but holds spikes well.
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16 years ago
I have not done too much hand laying of H0 track but the little bit I did was some 30+ years ago. Believe I used Campbell wood ties...not sure they are still made. Anyway, I used H0n3 spikes by Lambert (no longer in existence) Still have 1 or 2 1/2 pound jars of those spikes. Those spikes are a bit smaller than the regular (at least back then) H0 spikes.
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16 years ago
For code 100, I used full depth ties glued to wood-fibre ceiling tile (no longer available here.)
I glued the code 70 rail to the ties. Run a bead of Pliobond along the bottom of the rail, and let it dry completely. Lay it in position, add enough spikes to hold it, and run a hot 100 watt soldering iron along the top. The heat will melt the Pliobond into the ties, and after setting, the rail just stays there, so you can pull the spikes if you like.
BTW, to get a good flat and even surface for track laying, stain the ties, and sand them gently with a long sanding block until all of the tie tops are unstained again. Then you know that the ties are all on the same level. Restain, and lay your rail.
I still have a number of hand-laid turnouts scavenged from the old layouts. These were built on suitably shaped pieces of roadbed on the workbench, and inserted in the layout. I will use them agaain Someday Real Soon Now... ;-)
But I don't handlay track anymore. Saves little or no money, and painted and weathered flextrack looks as good if not better.
HTH