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Turnout installation

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  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Ontario, Canada
  • 180 posts
Turnout installation
Posted by Ballantrae Road on Monday, December 24, 2007 4:22 PM

Merry Christmas everyone.

I have installed my Peco turnouts over 3/4" plywood overlaid with 1/2" Homasote. No problem cutting out the hole for the turnouts and installing them. However there is  a noticeable gap underneath. What do I use to fill in this area under the turnout so I can ballast over it?

 

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 Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Monday, December 24, 2007 4:58 PM
I cut a piece of thin cardboard (think 30-pack) and put it between the turnout and the switch machine when I assemble them.  Usually, I put a piece of duct tape on it to get it about the right color, and to protect the cardboard from the ballast wet-water and glue.  Trim the cardboard to cover the gap, and ballast over it.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Monday, December 24, 2007 5:18 PM

Cardstock should be fine, maybe even a square of painter's tape or masking tape.  I even use cotton batten and scrunched paper towel strips, sometimes forcing them into crevices with a small screwdriver. 

If you are actually going to ballast in and around your points and throwbar, you should only set it with a light mixture of white or yellow glue and water, a drop or two of dish soap added.  You will very likely want to take up that turnout eventually, and you will appreciate being able to break up the ballast with just a small screwdriver.

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Ontario, Canada
  • 180 posts
Posted by Ballantrae Road on Monday, December 24, 2007 7:28 PM

Thanks,

I'll try the cardboard/cardstock ideas. I'm pretty sure I can do it fairly easily.

 

Tom 

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Southwest US
  • 12,914 posts
Posted by tomikawaTT on Monday, December 24, 2007 10:51 PM

one technique I saw in an ealier thread called for duct tape, sticky side up, with a slot for the switch machine drive.  Ballast would stick to the tape - no water near the switch machine.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

  • Member since
    October 2005
  • From: Ulster Co. NY
  • 1,464 posts
Posted by larak on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 10:10 PM
 tomikawaTT wrote:

one technique I saw in an ealier thread called for duct tape, sticky side up, with a slot for the switch machine drive.  Ballast would stick to the tape - no water near the switch machine.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

That's what I do with painters masking tape. It works well even over a half inch diameter hole.

Karl

 

The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open.  www.stremy.net

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