Hi all, Here is a little help with glueing balast. I have posted this in the layout area of this forum also. Here is a cut and paste from that area.
I have been installing a lot of balast lately and I have given up on any kind of bottle applicaton for applying glue…
I was in Ace hardware over the weekend and in thier culinary area and I found a “flavor injector.” It’s a 30cc syringe with a 2" long injector tip. As a matter of fact I went back today and purchased another one. I use one to with a water/alcohol mix first and then the other one with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water.
I am laying N Scale track and in my switch yard I don’t want any loose balast on top of the ties so I clean ALL the balast off the top of the ties. For the balast between the rails I apply the water/alcohol mix first this locks the balast in place. The water/alcohol fix is placed on to the top of the ties and let it run off the sides into the balast material (maybe two drops.) I do two section of track at a time. Then I go back with the other glue/water syringe and apply one drop of glue directly on top of the balast. With the balast locked in place you don’t get any divet holes from the glue droping onto the balast material. For the end of the ties I put one drop of water/acohol at the end of every other tie and then go back with the gule.
Dewayne - great idea - I got tired of spray bottles clogging and to pacify the spray bottle I made my mixture too watery. I will try - Turkey injectors?
Excellent! That’ll make for a few less “haul it out to the picnic table” trips.
Scratch one extra sheet of foam.
LOL…who told ya that I’m the Murphy’s Law poster boy? For me, the woodworking part of this endeavour, including the door joints…will be the easy part. There will be at least two cross braces spanning the two doors…both to keep the doors together and aligned, and as table mounting points. I’ll probably break out the ole biscuit joiner just to be sure the joint stays in line. Chances of me ever trying to climb on this thing (intentionally) are probably slimmmer than those of me winning the lottery…since I don’t play the lottery, those are some seriously slim chances.
I recently picked up a few N scale cars and some Kato UNITRACK to experiment with (Micro-Trains and Atlas cars). After using HO I was very surprised at how light the cars are. Being that light, it seems like they would easily derail. Is that a common problem or do they run pretty well?
Also, a few questions:
Are plastic wheels the norm or are metal available?
Can most N locos handle up to 3% grades okay?
Does the Rix pick work best for uncoupling? With the cars being so light it seem that this could easily throw them of the track if one is not careful.
I have one of the Kato uncoupling magnets but the top surface sets a bit below the top rail so it doesn’t spread the couplers like it should. Do the Micro-Trains top of track magnets work better? And do they fit on Kato UNITRACK? I tried one of my HO under the track magnets and they really pop the couplers open nicely.
Which code and type of track would be best for a 74 year old beginner? I’ve read of some of your problems with expansion and contraction so that’s why I was thinking that UNITRACK might be best for me. What do you think?
jwils1, to answer your original question, I can’t say I’ve had any problems with derailments that were not track-related. N scale may be a little less tolerant of marginal trackwork than HO, but that is easy enough to deal with - avoid marginal trackwork!
Also, a few questions:
Are plastic wheels the norm or are metal available? Plastic wheels are still the norm, but several companies make metal wheelsets. I’m switching over to metal using Atlas wheelsets. Keep in mind that MicroTrains wheels are a bit different than others and as a result there are separate wheelsets for theirs. Atlas makes MicroTrains compatible wheelsets as well as ones that fit the rest. Northwest Short Line (NWSL) also makes metal wheelsets that are outstanding, but they are not cheap.
Can most N locos handle up to 3% grades okay? Others say they reliably can, my experience is not really. I tested my locomotives a year or so ago on a 1.9% grade and found most road switchers could pull 12-14 cars up the grade. Some of the heavier locos (Intermountain FTs, Kato E8s & PAs and Life Like FAs) pulled 20 or more. The problem is weight, and most N scale locos have too little of it to be strong pullers. I’ve heard steam is worse in this respect, but mine is an all-diesel fleet.
Does the Rix pick work best for uncoupling? With the cars being so light it seem that this could easily throw them of the track if one is not careful. I’ve used the Rix without any problems, but I am careful about it.
I have one of the Kato uncoupling magnets but the top surface sets a bit below the top rail so it doesn’t spread the couplers like it should. Do the Micro-Trains top of track magnets work better?
I’ve got some Unitrack that I used as a temporary line(It was cheap…dirt cheap) and I like it. If it wasn’t so expensive I would use that on my layout I also use Atlas Code 55 flextrack and turnouts. Plastic wheels are still the norm as already stated, but I’m going to switch everything over to Metal Wheels soon.
Atlas/MTL cars are nearly the best in Nscale. Other brands can be made to run well. Depends on QC of the trackwork & locos. Atlas/Kato make the best locos.
1)Some LL cars use chemically blackened metal wheels. Old cars use shiny metal wheels. Keep any wheels clean!
3% grades are steep for any scale. Sets of cab units (E’s, F’s) etc do best. GP’s don’t fare as well. SW’s may be lucky to pull 10 cars on flat ground. You will need mutiple units of anything to pull a train up that 3% grade.
3)The Rix pick is good. You can use a skewer or a small screwdriver.
May depend on how strong that magnet is. Be careful placing it in mainline track if you don’t want unint
Well…Garden Railroaders aren’t the only ones that have problems with the Local Wildlife. I have a Skunk living under my layout…
When I turned 12 my parents decided that they would give me my own space to do modeling. At first it was gonna be a small corner of my dads garage. But he didn’t want to give that up so they went and bought me a Garden Shed to build my layout in. For the first couple years that was great(and still is) untill about a year ago when I had a skunk decide to move in under the shed. The whole place reeked of the smell. Well here I am a year later and I have another skunk living under the shed. Today, I’m gonna grab some shots of my layout and then pull all the equipment out of there becuase I’m exhibiting with an N scale modular group and I don’t want my equipment smelling bad at the show.
Well, I returned from the show, with a little less money in my wallet, and a little more stuff to cary. I picked up 2 more Triple Crowns, and 4 boxcars. I also got a hell of a deal on some Code 55 track. The pictures from the show are in the current Weekend photo fun(March 3 and 4)
N scale cars can be too light like with any scale, empty double stack well cars are a great example. Usually a problem to watch for is curves that are too tight. Long cars won’t make it too well and lighter cars at the front of a train will get yanked off. I’ve also found that with certain types of cars, again I refer to my intermodal train,that you have to try to keep certain ones together or risk problems. And I have done all sorts of work on these, I simply have to set them up a certain way.
I was at a show in Allentown last weekend and picked up an NS -840b and UP Autorack (Yes I paid a little extra). Plus a couple of miniature NJ International crossing signals. Can’t figure out how they work but darn they look nice!
We’ve been a really lively bunch lately. I finished the last of 3 passing tracks on my layout yesterday. Today I laid down one of the spurs, and in a couple weeks I hope to be installing torti!
In the mean time I have to take a trip to Pittsburgh for a Robotics Competition. I’m hoping while I’m down there I can get some NS action and maybe even see if I can get some shots of the ever elusive NS SD80MACs
Those deLuxe Innovations twinstack cars are the lightest of all…I did put Intermountain metal wheels on them and it helps a bit. I also body-mounted the couplers, which keeps them from derailing when reversed. Their Maxi-stack cars are made of diecast metal, so those run fine empty, as well as the Walthers doublestack cars.
THe DI Twinstacks came with some steel slugs. These were for installation into containers. I can’t recall if there were 3 or 5. Anyhow, I glued them down inside of containers and run them on the bottom row. It helps the reliability, no derails and they can be backed up when the bottom containers are in. You are right in that they are extremely light when not loaded. I haven’t tried thier Maxi cars yet as I am in the middle of redoing some track to handle some big steam.