Does anyone have experience, either good or bad, using the CVT kits to build switches. I bought a couple for use in a staging yard where I didn’t want to take the time to handlay my switches. They seem pretty straightforward, but I’d like to hear from anyone that has used them in the past. Did they work well, not at all, or do they need some tweaking to work right? Are there any helpful hints you can offer before I take the dive and install them?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Tom
Hi Tom
I picked up a couple of #5 R and L to try my hand at them. Really nice to do. I did not use the plastic frog that comes with the kit but instead used the closure rails. Make sure your rail matches the template perfectly for a good fit. The first took me about 2 hours start to finish but the second was much faster and easier. I glued the rail (code 55) to the ties instead of using spikes. I built them at the work bench and made a small test layout to see how they worked. I am very satisfied with them. When I build the home layout I will use CVT ties and switch kits in the whole layout with code 70 mains and code 55 elsewhere. As for tweaking, Yes there is. The white brass points need cutting and filing. Making the frog point with out a jig is time consuming but once done works very well. They work better than my code 100 Pecos that are on my modules.
Pete
I’ve used them with my Diamond Valley. I’ve exchanged the frogs and throw bars. Here’s my HowTo.
Wolfgang
I built one as a test, to check them out. The detail is very nice but I found them to way to fragile. The points are soft metal and easily damaged, the throw bar is complicated and not repairable after it is installed, and the frog was less than ideal.
So I decided against them. If you are going to do a buch of modifications to them, you might as well just hand lay the turnout, maybe using their ties if you like.
After years of hand laying track and turnouts, I now use Atlas code 83 except fro special situations. And I have disassembled Atlas #6’s and #8’s and used the frogs and points to handlay special track work. Atlas code 83 is less expensive and operationally better than the more expensive brands in my opinion.
Sheldon
That’s what Joe Fugate shows. This way you get very good turnouts with much details.
Wolfgang
Hi Tom,
Tony Koester is using the CVT turnout tie strips with Details West cast frogs and making his own points from Micro Engineering weathered rail. You can read about this in his article, “Custom trackwork the easy way,” in our current MR special issue, How To Build Realistic Reliable Track. It’s in stores now, or you can order it on this Web page.
So long,
Andy
I have built about ten CV turnouts in code 70,mostlly 9’s, a couple 8’s, some straight and many curved at a 26’ radius.I build them at a bench and install them when everything is dead on There was a bit of a learning curve but the effort was worth it to me and I am very happy with the results. I picked them over handlaid or other alternatives mainly for the tie plate detail but also for the detailed points and ease of curving. The main learning had to do with the points. First I check to see if the point rail is straight on the side that touches the stock rail and also as viewed from the side. It can get bent during shipping, but most do not need attention. I find that to get it to lay flat on the ties requires some filing on the underside and the top of the “tongue” that engages the plastic slot. Sometimes the point rail will need to be twisted so it meets the closure rail perfectly, but I don’t do this until later. Now I concentrate on the throw bar and spacer, but first glue the stock rails to the ties-I use CA. I like to end up with the bare minimum point gap for realism. This requires gauging the stock rails fairly tight at the points. The stock rail opposite to an open point serves as a guardrail to keep the wheel flange from “picking” the point, so for a small point gap to work you want the stock rail close to the open point. I try to gauge the rails just a few thousandths over the minimum, otherwise the width of the point can bring the gauge below minimum. If this happens , the point will have to be filed, possibly on both sides. So after the stock rails are in I assemble the points into the throwbar and spacer. I find I always have to sand (I use a nail sander board) the throw bar narrower so that it slides freely. To make the assembly repairable I use a 00-90 screw with a nut to hold the spacer to the throwbar. If the gauge looks good I file the end of the point thinner on the rail side and sometimes on the other side so the point blends into the stock rail. To get a narrow point gap I sometimes need t
I built one switch a #5 RH to replace a #4 Atlas code 83 and don’t plan to build any more. After reading about handbuilt ones using PC board ties, I think I will spend less time than I did on making the CV switch fully live.
The main problem is that the ties are plastic, so all of the wires I needed to make the points, closure rails and switched polarity frog I was uncomfortable soldering in place for fear of melting the tie strip. Getting wires to the points is especially hard since CV suggests putting a wire through the hole in the points which is underneath the ties. The plastic pivot point in the tie strip has to be modied to get the wire through and this risks not having the back of the points match the closure rails.
the tiny piece of wire provided for this was too big to go through the hole in the pivot end of the points. I used a small solid wire soldered to the non-wheel rolling side of points at the pivot. When I tried to file it too much, it broke off. I know the points are supposed to get power from the rail on the side that’s closed, but I wanted more security for my DCC system.
I really didn’t like the looks or the non solder contact of the foil strip which brings power to the closure rail from the adjacent through rail, so I soldered wires to them as well.
The trickiest part of the switch is the way the throwbar is held in place. The locking piece has to be filed to fit and then glued without getting glue on the adjacent non moving parts.
Finally, both of the throwbars broke in the process of building the switch. They may look prototype but they are very fragile. After breaking the same one break a couple of times, I cut a small piece of .010 thick styrene over the top.
I cut the gaps in the frog on the diverter side (the points side is plastic and therefore isolated) after installing the switch. In the process, parts of rail came unglued and the heights no longer line up despite a l