I have been using Atlas Track Nails for years. They work great but the nail heads appear to be large boulders in the center of the track when viewed with a gondola mounted mini camera.
Is there a better brand of track nail, maybe with a smaller head?
Rich
I use the Atlas track nails too but after ballasting I remove them. I don’t ballast my hidden track and just leave the rocks (nail heads) on the ties.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I have used Life Like’s track nails which have a flat head rather than a rounded head. They still look obtrusive if they are a contrasting color to the tie.
Now that I use adhesive caulk to lay track, I use pins to hold the track in place only until the caulk sets, then remove and reuse them. Now and then there are times when a stategic track nail or two is still useful however.
Dave Nelson
I use track nails, too, but don’t recall which brand - they have flat heads, and aren’t all that noticeable under normal viewing…
…although in some camera-on-layout views, they are noticeable…
As noted, the nails can be removed after ballasting, but their appearance doesn’t bother me enough to worry about it.
Wayne
Sounds like the first time a took a “ride” on my little layout. Never mind, nothing to see here…[:^)] Why did I even buy that camera! [(-D]
I’ve always used caulk. My first plywood centrals I used nails, never got to balasting or scenery, just track and wire, track nailed to plywood, or what ever wood I found to use.
After that, I switched to caulk.
Mike.
It is amazing what the camera will pick up. I use to use nails until photography entered the picture, now it is caulk. Also, I find my “to do” list has me running around with a paint brush at times dabbing little tiny problem spots that I only can see in photo’s. [(-D] Maybe I am being just to anal.[^o)]
ahh, interesting replies from everyone. I like the idea of the flat heads.
Rich
For sure.
Rich
Not me!
I use adhesive caulking which dries clear and then put some weight on it, some 1 X 3 scraps of wood laid on top of the track, and weighed down by a brick. Then I leave it alone for close to 24 hours. My club uses liquid nails. Either way there is no nail head to deal with. I am not sure that in the event that the track would have to be torn up, that the liquid nails would be easier to disolve than the adhesive caulking.
And, BTW, expired credit cards make great spreaders of both adhesive caulking and liquid nails. Something I learned on these fora.
Rich,
I use these in Atlas flex track…but My roadbed is 1/2’’ Homasote very easy to put in with needle nose pliers. Same diameter of the hole that is on the backside of Atlas flex track:
https://www.walthers.com/track-nails-1-4oz-7-1g?ref=1
For curves when need be at rail joiners, I use ME spikes 3/8’’ long. They are the same diameter of the Pico, but have the head shaped like a spike.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
EDIT:
Can You spot the nail heads or spikes? Photo may be clicked on for larger view:
Is this trickery, because I can’t see these so called nail heads you speak of. Not to mention there is too much else to look at.
Maybe that makes your point.
Still voting for homasote roadbed and caulk…
Sheldon
I have used Peco track nails for years.
.
I started using them in N scale, and just carried on the tradition.
.
I have never used Peco HO scale track, but I love their track nails.
.
-Kevin
.
If track nails are desirable, make up a countersink tool piloted to the existing hole size in the plastic tie and cut a recess deep enough for the flat head track nail of your choice. Smear some caulk across with a stiff brush if you want to hide any ‘circular’ artifacts.
Same approach, slightly different countersink to use small flathead wood screws (covered up the same way)
And just as a note: stone the nail point to sharpen it but still have it reasonably ‘self-center’ as it is driven. A sharp long taper will go through the hardest normal subgrade materials with only controllable pressure from a hollow-tip nailset while, if necessary, you hold the shank laterally with needlenose pliers until the set develops.
My track is also Atlas flex, but some of it is on standard cork roadbed, while the rest is directly on the plywood. I insert the nail into the opened-up holes in the Atlas ties (or drill a new one where needed), then use a pair of standard blunt-nosed pliers to push the nail into place - no need at all to grip the nail, and if the nail hits a hard spot in the plywood, I simply move the head of the pliers so that I can use both hands, one each side of the nail’s position, to apply pressure to the pliers. No need ever to hammer the nail, and very few bent ones, either, despite using Firply, where some of the grain is quite hard.
Wayne
I began my layout in 1995. Perhaps caulk had not caught on at the time but for most of my track I used very light passes of spray contact cement. 3M Super 77 if I recall correctly.
At that time Micro Engineering spikes were what a friend was using and I had followed suit. Maybe, in hindsight, I should have gone with a slightly longer spike as I noticed some were not holding as well as I was expecting and they barely penetrated the 1/4" cork.
Track_83Shin4 by Edmund, on Flickr
After a while I adopted what I believe are the Atlas nails shown above. Although I seem to recall getting a few lots where the Atlas spikes looked more like somethinga Colonial plank floor may have been spiked with. A very crude shape with a large, squarish head. Fortunately they went back to the smooth, rivet-shaped round head.
I may be in the minority as I use Shinohara code 83 sold by Walthers. The spike holes are next to the rail where they seem to make the most sense. There is hole in the gauge side but I have never used it. Spiking close to the rail is especially helpful when laying superelevated curves as it seems to hold down the inner rail very well.
Track_83Shin by Edmund, on Flickr
I slightly enlarge the hole with a pin-vice and a #65 drill for the .035" spike.
Track_83Shin2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Above is the original “bent-over” M.E. spike.</
Wayne,
I also use the needle nose pliers to set the spike/nail with the blunt nose end…I’m just so used to doing it that way I continue to do it…those Peco nails are very sharp and in many cases do not need a hole…thats why I use them…the serrated jaw type grip the spike/nail better to start your own hole. I just use a minimun of six spikes/nails per piece of flex. No need for any more. When you ballast and glue that is what keeps the track down. I have always found that using the spikes/nails for affixing the track down is superior to caulk. No spreading of caulk…no drying time, with pinning the track down to dry also takes time. And if you make a mistake… it can easily be corrected without having to scrape caulk off and redoing. Just grip tie at nail point and pull up or use a putty knife under ties…re-set track, use same spikes/nails already in ties. Another reason for using Homasote…so much easier to use…and believe Me I tried many others over My yrs.
To each their own on that one…I do what works for Me…
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
I have always used track nails on my layout, and the results are quite satisfactory.
My main objection to the track nails is the boulder-like appearance when viewed on a mini-cam video. There they are right in the middle of the ties between the rails.
Has anyone ever considered or tried using the nails on the ties outside the rails?
I’ll bet that would look a lot better on video.
Rich
Rich,
I believe the problem You are having is just the choice of the nails You are using…a smaller round head is very hard to see. I use the thin spikes outside the rails and inside at rail joiners in curves. Two inside, one outside or reverse position…also very hard to see. Did the same thing when I hand laid My brass track in the 50’s into cork roadbed…wish the hell I took pictures of it.
Heck…silicone, latex caulk wasn’t even invented yet!
Good Luck! [:D]
Frank