Anyone know of any pre-fabbed HO scale tie strips that has irregular and malaligned ties?
Looking to simulate older hand laid rails with ties that have been replaced and/or shifted from thier original position. All i can find is evenly spaced tie strips, all the ties are the same length, and all look cheasily new.
I know i could probably hand lay it, but was hoping i could find tie strips that simulated it already and just needed rails added.
Thanks,
Jay
Jay;
It is probably more work than handlaying, but you could cut some the joints between ties on flex and move them around a bit, and cut the ties to various lenghts, then go in a paint each tie individually.
That is the way Shinohara track came out every time I used it. Just bend it once and try to bend it back. No two ties will be facing the same direction believe me!
Actually, after looking at AMI’s instant road bed, i had an Epiphany on handlaying it, afterall, i was thinking it’d be super hard.
Just got to lay the instant roadbed along my route, buy some 1/8" x 1/8" balsa wood, cut it very inexactly, and stick it randomly spaces and angled on the AMI roadbed. thus securing the ties, making the hard part laying the track and spiking it. which should eb relativily simple at that point since you only have to secure it every 5 ties, thus making it look almost real.
Jay.
What Nigel suggests works very well. Cut out the joints between ties, remove a few ties to increase the spacing and don’t line them up neatly. I use this method with code 83 Atlas flex for my sidings. It takes time but the results look really good.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins
Micro Engineering track has irregularly spaced and misaligned ties. Although it is flextrack with the rails installed, it is available in HO from codes 40 through 100 either pre-weathered or non weathered. When this track is weathered (by the modeler) it looks just as good and sometimes better than hand laid. I’ve used both methods of laying track.
You can also take an exacto knife and shave the ends of ties on Atlas’s fex track to make different lenghts of ties.