Flex Track

[g-pa1]

Can someone explain to me how to attach flex track to go around a bend and attach to another piece of 9" straight track? When I bend the flextrack one rail at one end gets very long and disappears entirely at the other end. Do I need to take out 5 or 6 ties and attach the two sections of track? I have yet to solder the two track sections together but if I did and then bent it into a curve wouldn't I have to cut ties away anyway? I just seem to be flex track challenged. Gene

[janesew]

Hi Gene, I'm sure that Pete will give a more detailed explanation but you will need to cut the long end of the rail to match the short rail. It's not a bad idea to join and solder the flextrack to the piece of 9" snaptrack. Then you can create your curve, nail it down to the cork which you've preplanned, and then, using your handy rail nippers, even out the free uneven ends. Yes, you will need to nip off a few ties but you can save them to replace ties under joints you've made. Does that make sense? If you are planning a long curve that will be longer than two pieces of flextrack, I found it was a good idea to solder the two pieces of flex together before making the curve and then treat as one large piece of flextrack as above. I love flextrack! I have used it as much as possible except when I had a few pieces of snaptrack left over from the Atlas turnouts. Use a good metal yard stick to lay the flextrack straight. Same yardstick you can use as a compass to make even curves. I don't know if any of this is making sense. I'm just typing as I wait for an email. Good Luck Gene. Don't worry, Pete will be along soon. Fred

[ginzokid]

Gene, Fred is there with the info. Let me see if I can summarize and add to it. 1. When bending flex track, always keep the sliding rail to the inside of the curve, This way you only have to cut one rail as a rule. 2. Cut off two ties from each end to start and save them. Shave off the raised plastic spikes. You will use these later to slide under the rail joints and fill in the tie gaps. 3. Solder the joints of two pieces of flex together before bending. Remember to keep the sliding rail to the inside please. 4. Solder the straight 9" snaptrack to the flex before curving. 5. When joining flex that is laid down, leave about 8" of track loose, not nailed or glued down. Nip off the one end of rail to even it out with the other. Take your next piece of flex, leave it straight and solder the tracks together. Then you can bend these two pieces as one and have a smooth curved joint without kinks. 6. General notes: Get a good rail cutter. Xuron makes a great one I swear by. (It broke after about 12 years of use and I sent it back to the company for a free new one. That is some gaurantee.) After cutting the rail, file the cut smooth on the bottom, ends, sides and top. This will make putting the joiners on easier and the joint smoother. Just because the flex track can be tied in knots doesn't mean you should use radii that are too small. By all means use a straight edge as Fred said. I use a wooden yard stick with holes drilled through it at each inch and half inch mark as a compass for plotting curve center-lines on the layout. Use a screw eye at thezero end, stick a nail into this and a pencil into the hole at the radius you want. This is all I can think of right now. Once you have laid a few pieces, you will love it. Just watch out for the dreaded "S" curve! B-)

[janesew]

As usual Pete has made clear, concise, sense out of my drunken rambling. As an alternative to the wooden yardstick with the eye screw, I used a metal one (cheap at Canadian Tire or Home Depot) and drilled a small nail (or push pin) hole at each of the 1" marks. That way you can put your pivot point anywhere along the ruler when space won't allow the full yard of the ruler to spin around when you only want to plot an 11" radius (a good standard for minimum, especially when running steam or passenger cars.) If your pivot point is at the 1" mark your pencil point will be at the 12" mark for an 11" radius. Simple math to plot any size radius from any pivot point. If you have the space, you can also plot your curves so that you gradually enter the radius as in prototype RRs. This really makes a difference when you see your trains entering and exiting curves. I didn't do this when I put together this layout but I've seen it done and it does look great. I'll try to incorporate it in the next if space allows. Fred (after reading what I just wrote, I wonder if 6:30 am wasn't a bit too early to start drinking... oh well) 😛

[trmwf]

GVene, Just a couple of more points.... 1- be sure to use the rail joiners even though soldering the pieces together 2- when dealing with two pieces of flex track soldered together it can be guite ungainly to handle. Lay it on the floor or somewhere where you have a lot of room, then starting in the middle start bending and shaping to get an approximate size and shape of your final curve. Then you can lay it on the layout board and finish getting it to the proper radius. 3- when cutting the rail be sure to hold the rail being cut securely with your thumb or something as often the downward pressure of the cutters sometimes will "roll" the rail instead of cutting through it. This will pull the rail loose from the plastic spikes and is a booger getting it back in place at times. 4- the same goes when filing the ends of the rails after cutting...be sure to hold them in place. prof

[janesew]

In addition to Mike's #3. If you are using rail nippers (like the one's Pete recommends) cut N scale rail with the two "blades" of the clippers cutting from the side of the rail. Picture if the rail is in the position that it will be on the layout - hold the clipper handles pointing straight down on the track so that the blades are cutting from side to side. This will eliminate the problem Mike was talking about. For HO you cut with the nipper blades slicing through the top and bottom. I should just give up trying to describe stuff today. Mike and Pete are doing a much better job. I'm just here trying to avoid doing a major clean of the ranch before guests descend. Fred

[g-pa1]

Everyone, Thank you for all the advice. I will have to get some rail nippers for sure. I think I will use the flex track for the straights where I can and the snap track for the rest though. I will be experimenting with the flex track and bends until I finally get it!!.I can see how keeping the sliding rail to the inside will make it a little easier.(before this, I could envision bending and cutting until I had two 1' rails and one tie left!!!) Great advice and I am sure I will be sucessful now. Again thanks to everyone. Gene

[untabubba]

Gene, I actually had a thread before called "Flex Track Rookie". First and foremost DO NOT even get serious about flex track until you get those Xuron Rail Nippers. They cut through N scale like soft butter! You'll get the hang of it very quickly. I tried to go "on the cheap" and cut using an Atlas micro saw. Forget about it! Get the nippers! I trust you realize the "moving rail" is the one with the spaces in the plastic underside. Always on the inside. I'm certainly no expert, but I'm getting better at it. Like anything else, there's that darn learning curve. Marc

[g-pa1]

Thanks Marc, I went today to get the rail nippers but the only ones the LHS had were in a $45.00 kit. He said he would order the right ones.I probably will not be working on the layout until after Christmas. I just glued down some of the foam and placed the bridges. I have yet to build the tunnel/mountain and lay the upper track. The AMI roadbed is another thing I have to take into account and place on the foam. Like I said earlier I think I will just keep the flex track for the straights. I have to play with bending and soldering yet and I need to learn to be a bit more patient. I like the look of the layout so far but I need to think through all my elaborate plans of the last few months and realize that modifications will have to be made.The corner mountain with its waterfall over the track and into a stream is looking further away. I still have to plan where to put the structures including the mine and attending z scale track and train. Whew. I am running two trains on the lower tracks just to satisfy my train running jones. Gene

[ginzokid]

Gene, Check out Micro-Mark or Internethobbies or Internettrains on line for a better price for those nippers. Also, what the guys are talking about is called an "easement" in the curve. You don't just jump from the straight to the curve as you do with snap track. Example: With snap track of a fixed radius, let's say 11", you are on the straight and all of a sudden you enter the constantly curved 11" radius piece of snap track. It's like taking a "Sharp" left turn in your car. You always feel the G force pushing you over to the opposite side of the car. With flex track, you ease into the 11" radius by actually plotting two 11" radii. I know this sounds confusing, but bear with me. 1. Find your center point and draw your first radius tangent to your straight track. That just means touching a line extended straight in the same direction as the straight track you want to curve away from. Now you have something that looks like a big letter "b". Get it so far? 2. Now mark another center point 1" to the right on a 90 degree line to the straight track. Think letter "b" above and the new letter "L". You now have two center points on the short leg of the "L" 1" apart. Draw your second 11" radius circle. You now have two overlapping circles. 3. Next, draw a straight line tangent, touching, the bottom side of the two circles, in this case horizontal, 90 degrees to the extended vertical straight line. You now have a new large letter "L" touching two lines on the bottom and on the on the right. 4. Mark the point where the new straight line touches the second circle with a nail or stiff pin and also the point where the original straight line meets the first circle. 5. Now comes the fun part. Get a flexible flat stick of sufficient length to be bent and fit between these two pins. I happen to use a piece of 1" wide by 1/8" thick by 36" long basswood from the airplane dept. at the hobby shop. Pin one end of the stick on the centerline of the straight track for a length of about 4", then bend this stick to the point that it is straight on the new leg at 90 degrees. You will see that the curve is now more gentle than just snapping into the first 11" curve which is what snap track does. Draw a line along the stick and this is your new curved track centerline. What you have is a composite of varying radii that will only be 11" somewhere in the middle of the curve. The beginning and end will be naturally larger. 6. Now here is the best part. Once you have drawn your first 11" centerline and then marked off the extra inch as above, with practice, you can just let your flextrack take a natural easement by holding it just at the free end when laying track. Now that I have totally confused and befuddled you, have a good day. Take two asperin and call me next year. B-)

[janesew]

Please don't give up on the flextrack for your curves Gene. It really is fantastic stuff. The only reason you should use snaptrack is if you already have a poop load of it and don't want to spend more money to replace it with flextrack. It's really VERY simple to use and you can avoid all those joints! You're right, a little bit of patience (at first) is the key. Fred - I :x flextrack!

[janesew]

Pete, Thanks for the "easement" instructions. I'll have to file it away for the next plan. Where I could use an easement on this layout, I just eyeballed it. Most of the curves don't have it because I was greedy with space. But it does improve the look of the trains so I hope to incorporate it into the next plan - whenever that will happen. Gotta go buy some lottery tickets. One draw on Xmas eve, the other is on Xmas itself! Fred - you gotta ask yourself... do you feel lucky? Well... do ya Punk? Codccfadda? Breeze? CJ? Prof? WC? Lou? Dave? Jack? Gene? and dare I ask, EZ?

[nutz2u22]

EZ never plays a game of chance. Stupid waste of money. We, make that Sam, tried a "system" one year. Spent $748, won $34. Not a good return. Never again. Now as for feeling "lucky"......that all depends on what I wear to bed each night....or not....;) And yes sometimes Sam gets lucky...........if I let him. ;) EZ.....getting my red bow ready for Christmas eve......

[trmwf]

I think I'm confused...like Fred, I just eye-balled the easements into the curves. Don't give up on the flex track yet Gene but I do wish you were using cork instead of the AMI as I think it makes it so much easier to lay your track around the curve as you can keep it centered along the line where the cork halves come together and you can adjust it as you go along without having to pull it up from that sticky stuff. prof

[70novahound]

Fred's going to make us all rich!!! I feel lucky now!!! Go get 'em Fredster, make my day!!! CJ