I have just started building a small On30 layout, and have just about finished laying the track (Peco 0-16.5 (On30) flextrack and turnouts). Whenever I read layout articles in the magazines, they make it sound so simple (“all 100’ of track is handlaid, it took me a couple of hours!”).
There are two things in particular that I am very poor at: laying flextrack and soldering. No matter how many articles I read and how much practice I get I know I will never get any better. In fact, only somebody who has never heard of flextrack or soldering could possibly be any worse than me!
Am I alone in this - does everybody else find it relatively easy? I once started a Z gauge layout using Marklin track/switches and Peco flextrack - I abandoned it after screwing it up when I came to ballast it! Now that MTL are making easy-fit Z track with built-in road back (a bit like Z gauge Unitrack) I’ll probably have another attempt.
I can’t recall reading any layout features in MR or any of the UK magazines (I’m in England) where the builder admitted he found laying the track a pain in the neck, involving lots of sweat, cursing, bending, hammering and breaking!!!
Welcome to the forum. I can agree with you about 1/2 way. I found laying flex and soldering difficult. But I did kind of learn how to do it. I don’t know how many of these threads you have read, but there are some tricks. I will name them, we can amplify on the ones that might be useful
Have a big soldering gun, 100 watts. They get hotter but they keep their heat MUCH better. That is important.
1a. Keep the tip clean and well tinned.
Solder joints on curved areas before you bend it.
Use the right size rail joiners.
Take a couple of ties out where you are making joints.
I use a little flux, though the good solderers don’t seem to like it.
Some of the better workers will share more good advice.
Good luck, I learned this a little, there is hope for you.
Thanks for the tips, Art. To be fair, the tracklaying wasn’t too bad apart from originally making the very basic error of trying to join two curved sections of flextrack and ending up with a kink!
I’ve just finished ballasting it and once I clean it up I’ll know if it’s okay (I did do test runs before the ballasting, but with my luck I may have screwed it up again).
My soldering just about works, but it would probably earn a place in every How Not To Solder guide!
I just wondered if everybody else found it as straightforward as most articles seem to suggest…
Of all the things I’ve done so far in model railroading, soldering is the most intimidating. You have all this nice track and you just don’t want to ruin it. The 2 pieces of advice given here are important in avoiding kinks – solder before curving the track and remove several ties. I only solder sections that will curve so that minimizes potential errors. There are different schools of thought on wattage – I prefer higher wattage so I can get the iron out of there real quick.
The only way to get better is to practice – I found I got a little better with each section. And usually you can fix bad joints by either filing or redoing the joint. Fortunately I’m still working on my practice layout so my mistakes have value – as long as I learn from them.
I know one thing for sure – “good enough” is not good enough. If you’re running steam, any little infraction will be found.
I had to check…make sure I hadn’t posted this. I will tell you that “really” my problem was I always expected it to be better that it really could be. For example.
Soldering… I solder something…look it and go him that looks bad…then try to redo it…look at it and it would gets worse. You know the rest of the story. Never thought I was a perfectionist.
But sometimes I look at pictures on the forum and go never in the million years can my stuff look like that.
Another good example…created a unique rock coming out of the wall of my sons overhead o scale layout. He says, “Daddy there’s poop coming out of the wall.” I tried to dress it up with trees etc. I love my wife. She says, “Good try maybe you could get some more foam and do it again.”
Watch Tim Warris on his video that you can download at http://www.handlaidtrack.com/ You will see that the right equipment is everything, and that you must practice. Do 10 practice solders on bits of old flextrack until you get the hang of it. Have a hot, clean tip. Wipe the tip thoroughly on a roll of paper towel, and do it every two or three minutes. Once in a while, plunge the tip into the flux…oh, and use flux paste. When you apply the hot iron, you should soon hear the acid flux sizzle. That is when you apply the solder wire. Iron on to the surface, wire on, wire and iron off, that quick.
I finally becam semi-proficient, and I am sure you can to. But take a half-hour and watch that video.
The other guys have given you some good advice. After 35 years of soldering all kinds of items I have found the most important issue is CLEAN, oxide free materials. Solder will not stick to dirt or to oxide.
A close second is a clean tip on the iron (100 watt guns? Holy heat Batman! I use a 35 or 45 watt iron for HO, it works fast, is light and easy to handle. Experiment a bit and see what works best for you.)
You can clean the tip by dipping it into the a can of flux occasionally (it will smoke), but just wiping it on a damp sponge works wonders. BTW, avoid acid flux if you can. It’s for pipes and real boilers, not models. Too harsh on the materials and you MUST remove ALL residue.
Practice makes perfect or at least proficient. Good luck.
What larak said is true. Clean soldering iron tip.and clean rail. By clean it must be made shiny with a little file or a piece of sandpaper folded up to fit the web of the rail. I like to use a little no corrode flux. In this country Radioshack handles the stuff.