Mudkip Dentetsu!

[serenityFan]

What I do is as I get everything ready to solder with the flex track, I then take a razor blade and insert it between the track at the rail joins and push it apart just a little bit, then I solder. You don't want it too much of a gap or the trains might derail. That little gap helps with the change of seasons when the track expands and contracts.

 

ok, but by soldering, don't you put some solder in the gap between the rails, so there won't be a gap anymore?

[Bernard]

What I do is as I get everything ready to solder with the flex track, I then take a razor blade and insert it between the track at the rail joins and push it apart just a little bit, then I solder. You don't want it too much of a gap or the trains might derail. That little gap helps with the change of seasons when the track expands and contracts.

 

ok, but by soldering, don't you put some solder in the gap between the rails, so there won't be a gap anymore?

 

A little solder will fall into the gap but it will leave enough for expansion and contraction. If you butt the ends of the rails on the flex track, you might get what happened to me in the photo I put in an earlier post in this thread. You don't want the connection between the flex tracks too tight.

[Mudkip Orange]

I'm now 1500 miles from Philly and the first M.D. layout. Now begins the 100% Kato/Tomix phase of oepration. Last night I set up pretty much all the Unitrack I have:

[Sushi Train]

Lookin good 

[Bernard]

Mudkip,

What is happening with the flex track layout you were working on?

[Mudkip Orange]

Mudkip,

What is happening with the flex track layout you were working on?

 

It's in my parents' basement outside PHL.

[Mudkip Orange]

First time setting this thing up in almost three months.

 

Sometimes you just don't wanna pay an extra 15 bucks for the over-under set.

[Mudkip Orange]

Here's the whole setup.

[bill937ca]

First time setting this thing up in almost three months.

 

Sometimes you just don't wanna pay an extra 15 bucks for the over-under set.

 

Japanese train catalogs would also work very well. 

[Mudkip Orange]

Finals are over and I got some spare time but not a lotta spare money.

 

Some paper, colored pencils, scotch tape and a couple hours = platform!

 

Apparently I'm not the world's most awesome producer of scratchbuilt paper models. But it looks okay from a top-down view, which is how you end up watching trains most of the time anyway. Now I got a platform for the 900.

[bc6]

Mudkip I like the platform & I really like the 900, I have one and Im looking to acquire another

[Mudkip Orange]

Three or four years ago I requisitioned an ancient K1 Unitrack set that my parents bought for a christmas train years ago. It has the old-style ballast where it's glued to the track, instead of molded in one piece. It also has the old style rail joiners, which are brass.

 

For whatever reason, the newer Kato track pieces like to eat the rail joiners off the old ones. Every time I unsnap a piece of new and old, both unijoiners end up attached to the new piece. This is a pain in the butt. Plus the difference in ballast color/tone is pretty noticeable.

 

So it is that I voluntarily returned ye olde ancient K1 set to my parents over the christmas holiday, and I've ordered a few packs of track to replace it.

 

Here's the current setup: there's not enough straight track to park an entire E531 set on the straightaway.

[Mudkip Orange]

And here's what it looks like with the new track laid down.

 

E531 says: "I feel whole again"

[disturbman]

Hum... I think you could use a double crossover on the top right part of your layout. :)

[Mudkip Orange]

I have acquired some more track. Five turnouts now.

[KenS]

Is there a track plan, or are you still in the experimenting stage?

[cteno4]

Mudkip,

 

Fun! Be careful running on the carpet. I just fixed a chap's son's 500 that had sucked soo much carpet fuzz into the truck gears it stripped both driveshafts. Trucks were jammed full!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

 

Ps limit the beers while walking around the living room there!

Edited April 10, 2013 by cteno4

[Mudkip Orange]

Is there a track plan, or are you still in the experimenting stage?

 

There was a track plan, but when I drove out to the guy I used to buy Kato from 3 and 4 years ago, it appeared he hadn't replenished his stock in some time. Lots of empty hooks. So I just grabbed what was there and freestyled the rest of it. The other train store in Houston (Papa Ben's) charges full MSRP, so there is a question of do I go there, do I pay to ship an MB Klein order that's just track, or do I wait 'til my next HS order, since with the yen down HS is now marginally cheaper than MBK. Analysis paralysis.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Mudkip Orange

[cteno4]

mudkip,

 

like the shape, very nice feel to it. the center figure 8 also will mix things up a bit nicely. we had that on the original jrm layout plan with the inner loop being a figure 8 that was contained in the big loop of the outer loop that was a folded figure 8. made trains very unpredictable where they were going and less feeling of looping around that way.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Ochanomizu]

Mr Orange,

 

I like your track plan.  It has positive energy.  I think the successful freight layout is forthcoming.

 

With regard to buying product there are many shops cheaper than Hobby Search willing to ship product internationally.

[Bernard]

Muddy - why did I think you were a "flex track" type of guy. I like your track plan, what are the dimensions?

[Mudkip Orange]

why did I think you were a "flex track" type of guy.

 

Oh yeah, definitely. But I anticipate hopping from apartment to apartment for the forseeable future, so the only real practical options are Kato, Tomix, or some sort of modular system. And among those, there's no question. Modules confine you to 90 degree angles, while Kato or Tomix will let you operate in multiples of 15.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Mudkip Orange

[Mudkip Orange]

Too many buses...

 

[Mudkip Orange]

What I'm rockin' right now:

 

 

Single Ikea VIKA tabletop, all I have room for at the moment.

[Mudkip Orange]

CHOSHI TRACTION MOTORS PULLING KEIHAN CARRIAGES ISN'T NORMAL

 

But on Mudkip Dentetsu it is.