loathar wrote:Maxman-I believe they currently make S and HO versions. The web site says O and On3/On30 are in the works. It's something they don't advertise. I had to E-mail them to see if they were sold separately. I get the impression nobody ever asked them that question and they just said SURE! I guess we can do that.
Lothar, you are an evil, evil man!
I've been looking for nice looking track that I don't have to handlay for years! Another thing to spend $$$ on!
Don't forget some of us have chosen to 'start from scratch' by switching scales!! I was in O for 15 years, finally got to a dead-end...so few products, so expensive (roughly 5-6 times HO prices) so I gave up and switched to HO. It really reinvigorated me and my modelling. (Of course in a year or two, a thousand new O products came out that I would love to have had when I was in O.) I guess when I moved recently I didn't really 'start from scratch' since I brought my engines, cars and buildings with me, along with DCC and DC powerpacks etc. but in many ways it was another new beginning.
Just take your time!! My new layout is going to be a fairly extensive double-deck layout, but I'm intentionally stopping at what I have now (12'x12' shelf layout) to do scenery, structures and be able to operate now. Later I can expand to the next stage. You'd be surprised even on a 16" wide shelf how much HO operation you can fit in!!
loathar wrote: If anyone is interested, they sell those cool switch stands separately for $4/each.
If anyone is interested, they sell those cool switch stands separately for $4/each.
They do look nice. Are they HO? And I didn't see on the link where they were listed. Did I look in the wrong places?
Most of the long-standing layouts I've visited that are operated regularly were originally built with handlaid turnouts or were in the process of replacing the factory-made. That's the best way to avoid derailments. Factory-made are made to looser standards and have a significant amount of inconsistency of gauge and wheel clearance.
Mark
Geared Steam wrote: Last Chance wrote: setting aside family to take off at 4 am to catch the fish biting.My wife and kids always went with me, my 2 daughters grew up in a boat on the weekends, now that they are grown up, they can both outfish most men. My used boat cost me $1200.00. and uses very little gas, and I catch more fish than the guys in the $30k bass boats.I know your being general with your comments, but not all of us neglect our family.Fishing is not a bad thing.
Last Chance wrote: setting aside family to take off at 4 am to catch the fish biting.
setting aside family to take off at 4 am to catch the fish biting.
My wife and kids always went with me, my 2 daughters grew up in a boat on the weekends, now that they are grown up, they can both outfish most men. My used boat cost me $1200.00. and uses very little gas, and I catch more fish than the guys in the $30k bass boats.
I know your being general with your comments, but not all of us neglect our family.
Fishing is not a bad thing.
Indeed! I havent touched on Ocean Fishing since Familes tend to go along.
My attempts at fishing is a comedy of errors worthy of someone very new and raw to the sport.
Cheers!
modelmaker51 wrote:I hate hand laid track. What real track out there is layed without tie plates and spikes only every 8 to 10 ties? (except some hick logging railroads). PC board soldered ties? How real looking is that. Saving money? Bull. Saving time? Even more bull. Give me $2 sticks of ModelPower flex with all the detail molded in, including the wood grain, any day. I even custom bend my commercial turnouts to fit and nobody's the wiser and I didn't spend 3 or 4 hours building them.Just my
I hate hand laid track.
What real track out there is layed without tie plates and spikes only every 8 to 10 ties? (except some hick logging railroads). PC board soldered ties? How real looking is that. Saving money? Bull. Saving time? Even more bull. Give me $2 sticks of ModelPower flex with all the detail molded in, including the wood grain, any day. I even custom bend my commercial turnouts to fit and nobody's the wiser and I didn't spend 3 or 4 hours building them.
Just my
Ditto. I find Micro Engineering track or CV tie strips with their tie plate and spike details to look much more realistic once they're painted and weathered. There is even ME flextrack (On30) for narrow gauge without tie plates and scale-sized spike detail.
loathar wrote: And to make your decision even MORE complicated...http://custmtrax.com/If anyone is interested, they sell those cool switch stands separately for $4/each.
And to make your decision even MORE complicated...http://custmtrax.com/
I think I'll pass.. thanks anyway
WaxonWaxov wrote: kcole4001 wrote: Bang for the buck wise, this probably is the best hobby goingFor your money you get: historical research, reading, etc.carpentry/woodworking/joinery/finishing, drywall, wiring and lightingmodel building/detailingscenery making/detailing/diorama buildingoperations planning and executionphotography/lighting effectsAll of these are optional to some degree and the emphasis is up to each individual according to taste, of course, but there's a little something for everyone. What other hobby provides all of that entertainment?And THAT, my friends, is why they call it the "World's Greatest Hobby"
kcole4001 wrote: Bang for the buck wise, this probably is the best hobby goingFor your money you get: historical research, reading, etc.carpentry/woodworking/joinery/finishing, drywall, wiring and lightingmodel building/detailingscenery making/detailing/diorama buildingoperations planning and executionphotography/lighting effectsAll of these are optional to some degree and the emphasis is up to each individual according to taste, of course, but there's a little something for everyone. What other hobby provides all of that entertainment?
Bang for the buck wise, this probably is the best hobby going
For your money you get:
historical research, reading, etc.
carpentry/woodworking/joinery/finishing, drywall, wiring and lighting
model building/detailing
scenery making/detailing/diorama building
operations planning and execution
photography/lighting effects
All of these are optional to some degree and the emphasis is up to each individual according to taste, of course, but there's a little something for everyone.
What other hobby provides all of that entertainment?
And THAT, my friends, is why they call it the "World's Greatest Hobby"
May I add the bull sessions that occur at train shows, hobby shops and online (like this one)?
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
loathar wrote:! I think it looks OK for an old style narrow gauge layout. I much prefer the tie plates and turnout details you get with the CV or Proto87 products. Waxon-My ...I think your defeating the look of hand laid turnouts if your going to use commercial flex track. I'd pick one or the other. Heck, the straights and curves are the EZ part!
Waxon-My ...I think your defeating the look of hand laid turnouts if your going to use commercial flex track. I'd pick one or the other. Heck, the straights and curves are the EZ part!
Wow... I had not seen those switch-works things from Proto87.... that looks intriguing...
Hmmmm.... Central Valley.... maybe those for the first self layout, Fastracks later.....
May I make an honest reccomendation?
Keep track of individual costs. To make sure you are getting the best value, But I'd take a giant sharpie over the $1500 mark right about now if not before. That's a big daunting number I wouldn't want to see. Just focus on the weekly budget later you can add up when yuor 2x8's "done", whatever that means here, if you so desire. It may even make things go a little faster.
I for one don;t forsee me handlaying track, but the switch jig might be useful.
-Morgan
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
or dude, if you know you want to go with Fast Tracks for turnouts but don't want to traditionally handlay the non-turnout track, then you DEFINITELY should go with the Central Valley tie-strips. Its basically flextrack, except you get to lay the rails. Plus, theres a lot more detail than you would get even with Micro Engineering's flextrack.
The tie-strips have built-in alignment grooves too, so all you have to do is put the rail in. And you can either glue it to the tie-strips, or use spikes. Your choice.
Personaly, I think starting out fresh is a good opportunity to do things the right way. I just started a few months ago, and it's nice to begin with a clean slate, as long as you don't want it all at once.
The one thing that I've learned from my test layout is that there is no alternative to properly laid track work. It is, for future operations and hobby enjoyment, IMHO worth almost any expense, and shortcuts wil likely cost you not only more money, but more importantly time as you have to rip up and fix problems. There is nothing worse than getting a new loco down the road, and finding that it jumps the track becuase of a slight kink or gap that every other car or loco glides over.
Not that you need fast tracks jigs, but if they help you achieve the perfect track goal, than they're worth every penny. I personally hope you do get them, and keep folks informed on their use, so when I get to that stage on my final layout I'll have your experience as a reference.
Cheers
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
One usually starts with a train set-basic loop-and adds to that basic loop one or two switches at a time,then comes extra cars and then structures..Unless one has a lot of loose pocket change that is how most start the hobby and oddly no special high dollar tools needed.
Start up cost varies with the price of the train set and plywood.
How soon we forget our simple and very basic first steps in this hobby.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
modelmaker51 wrote: I hate hand laid track. What real track out there is layed without tie plates and spikes only every 8 to 10 ties? (except some hick logging railroads). PC board soldered ties? How real looking is that. Saving money? Bull. Saving time? Even more bull. Give me $2 sticks of ModelPower flex with all the detail molded in, including the wood grain, any day. I even custom bend my commercial turnouts to fit and nobody's the wiser and I didn't spend 3 or 4 hours building them.Just my
Mega Dittos! I think it looks OK for an old style narrow gauge layout. I much prefer the tie plates and turnout details you get with the CV or Proto87 products.
Well, you can buy a lake boat for fishing, a trailer for it, a SUV to pull it and sink your paycheck into beer and bait each weekend. Adding insult would be the gas to pull it and setting aside family to take off at 4 am to catch the fish biting.
Are we having fun yet? I hope so.
I have a loop of kato track on benchwork. Total is about 200 dollars give or take a few bucks.
The amount of stuff under the layout in boxes exceed a few thousands of dollars, accumulated over the years. And so on.
da_kraut wrote: Hello everybody,the spread sheet from WaxonWaxov is a good way to look at how expensive it is to get started in this hobby. The replies to this post are very informative and a great read but one must also not forget that things are not cheap these days. A fellow co-worker this spring was talking about his boat. This is a fishing boat for his recreational use only. The boat was 15,000 dollars, the trailer was almost another two thousand dollars. The fish finding equipment cost another thousand as well. All this for an item that he has at his cottage and can at the best of times only use 7 months of the year. These costs do not include the gas, repairs, winter storage, or the truck to pull it with. Sure there are other hobbies that are cheaper than this but one must also take into account the joy that one has from this activity. Start slow and over time the layout will take shape and joy the steps along the way.Frank
Hello everybody,
the spread sheet from WaxonWaxov is a good way to look at how expensive it is to get started in this hobby. The replies to this post are very informative and a great read but one must also not forget that things are not cheap these days. A fellow co-worker this spring was talking about his boat. This is a fishing boat for his recreational use only. The boat was 15,000 dollars, the trailer was almost another two thousand dollars. The fish finding equipment cost another thousand as well. All this for an item that he has at his cottage and can at the best of times only use 7 months of the year. These costs do not include the gas, repairs, winter storage, or the truck to pull it with.
Sure there are other hobbies that are cheaper than this but one must also take into account the joy that one has from this activity. Start slow and over time the layout will take shape and joy the steps along the way.
Frank
Is there a cheap hobby? I don't think so and I've had and have a few. But that doesn't mean you've got to start the most expensive way. Nor doews it mean doing everything from scratch either. I don't remember how much the HO Scale setup I bought was in 1977. But I do remember it wasn't expensive. It was a Tyco which I new wasn't the best but it did what I expected it to and that was to provide fun for my son and me. I never expected the model railroading bug to bite but it did.
Frankly, no one said that the only way to do things in this hobby was build from scratch, hand lay your own track. It's one way but the only way unless you think it doesn't pay to be in this hobby unless you can do those things. Thank G-d it isn't the only way or there would be very few model railroaders and there would be practically no inductry to support this hobby.
Irv
Dude, take a look at http://www.handlaidtrack.com/slideshows/general/index.html
and tell me those turn-outs don't look fantastic.
I've alread said earlier in this thread I'm going to use flex track for 'non-turnout' track.
R. T. POTEET wrote: Lets see if I understand this correctly: you are going to buy a Fast Tracks #6 jig so that you can build 10 #6 switches?
Lets see if I understand this correctly: you are going to buy a Fast Tracks #6 jig so that you can build 10 #6 switches?
This is ten, for now. This 2x8 module is the beginning of a larger pike.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
da_kraut wrote: Hello everybody,the spread sheet from WaxonWaxov is a good way to look at how expensive it is to get started in this hobby. The replies to this post are very informative and a great read but one must also not forget that things are not cheap these days. A fellow co-worker this spring was talking about his boat. This is a fishing boat for his recreational use only. The boat was 15,000 dollars, the trailer was almost another two thousand dollars. The fish finding equipment cost another thousand as well. All this for an item that he has at his cottage and can at the best of times only use 7 months of the year. These costs do not include the gas, repairs, winter storage, or the truck to pull it with. Sure there are other hobbies that are cheaper than this but one must also take into account the joy that one has from this activity. Start slow and over time the layout will take shape and joy the steps along the way.
dk:
Things were never cheap, and things are always cheap. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Boats - A friend dreamed of owning a Cape Dory. He found one for $500, put maybe $1000 in materials and lots of spare time into getting her shipshape. Then he went and talked to an old salty sailmaker. He showed proper respect, so the sailmaker made him some fantastic sails for quite a good price. The man never made sails that small - yachts were his specialty - but anyway, he made these. My friend already had a motor from the old, battered Catalina he used to sail (affectionately called the Bleach Bottle), and after that it was just sailing time. Of course, a sailboat with a keel is going to be somewhat costly at best, but still, there was a lot of fine sailing for quite a bargain, as such things go. The best thing, however, is this fellow's first boat...he bought somebody's almost-finished plywood pram and completed it, fitted it with a small Mariner outboard, and he was boating. Launching was by the "manhandle it off the truck bed" method. Where there's a will, there's a way.
This hobby is a much cheaper one, and it can be really inexpensive. If it couldn't, I wouldn't be in it. If I had just been starting out, with no equipment, I could have gotten my current railroad up and running for under $200, including the equipment I was using when I started with it.
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."