Hi all-
I’ve just started laying my track tonight (HO). I’m using clear latex caulk on top of cork and holding things in place temporarily w/ push pins. I’m having some difficulty inserting the tiny track nails and now I’m wondering if the caulk alone is sufficient. Or will the track start to pop up over time?
Thanks.
JB,
The latex caulk should work just fine. It’s strong enough to hold the track securly - yet you can still peel the track back up, if necessary, with a wide blade puddy knife.
Tom
They may not be necessary, but they do come in handy where ends of flextrack that are gapped (i.e., not joined) are found on a curve. It might be cheap insurance to use a fine bit and to drill a hole in the middle of the last tie on each side of that gap. Push a track nail into each, and you should maintain good alignment if the caulk doesn’t happen to want to hang on. As Tom says, though, it should suffice.
A lot depends on your skill at laying curves. On tangents, I think a nail is probably wasted. On curves, though, especially tight ones, two nails could keep you out of trouble. Later, though, when you want to take up the track, you’ll probably break those ties since you’ll have forgotten where all the nails are.
One other place where I have resorted to using nails; on the outside of the rails near throwbars of turnouts that are very free-floating. Sometimes moving the throwbar causes the entire turnout to shift a bit, so a couple of nails pressed tightly against the outside of the stock rails near the throwbar should help to keep things more rigid.
[#ditto]
I used Peco code 83 HO flextrack, which has no nail holes in the crossties. It is fastened down with latex caulk and I have had no separation problems at all. I soldered all the rail joints on curves while the track was straight to avoid kinks, and weighted it overnight to give the caulk time to set.
The nails aren’t necessary, but make sure your caulk is paintable. Some of that clear stuff isn’t and you will have trouble getting paint and ballast to stick to it later.
I use track nails rather than push pins when temporarily positioning track (I like to test-run my trackage with my ‘professional derailers’ to insure that I’m not building any potential problems.)
Then, when I put the flex back down on the fresh latex caulk, I put the track nails back in the same holes to make sure the flex is exactly where I want it to be. The nails are still there - not because I think they’re necessary, but because I’ve been too lazy to pull them [
].
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I haven’t used track nails since ummm 1983. The only problem I’ve had was that originally I used Elmer’s type white glue. It got brittle after 18 years. Since then I only use matt-medium for an adhesive.
[#ditto] Matte medium is the way to go, it sticks the track well and causes no problems with scenery later on. I bought some track nails in 1981, I still have over 3/4 of the packet. I think I 've used them for everything BUT track nails.
On visible track I use caulk and no nails at all. On hidden track that will not be ballasted I use nails (trains are much quieter than on the caulked sections). Here’s how I hold down track in fresh caulk:
