Tomix r243 curves

[Kanpai Keith]

I’ve done some digging and I’m only finding r243-45 with wooden ties and r243-15 & r243-45 with concrete ties.  Can anyone confirm that these are all that’s available in this radius please?

[roadstar_na6]

1143 is the missing one, C243-15 with wooden sleepers.

[Kanpai Keith]

Brilliant thank you, I thought it was a bit odd.

 

edit: finding stock is even harder than finding the part number 🤣

Edited January 22, 2021 by Kanpai Keith

[MeTheSwede]

243-45 with wooden ties is available at amazon.jp and 243-45 and 243-15 with concrete ties are available at Hobbysearch. At least they were last Sunday as I ordered them then and had them delivered today. 🙂

 

As far as I understand C243-15 with wooden ties is not in production any longer.

[Kanpai Keith]

I’ve seen the PC ones, but I’d like the wooden ties.

 

I might have to put an appeal out for some used ones.@roadstar_na6I don’t suppose you have any spare? 🤣🤣🤣

Edited January 22, 2021 by Kanpai Keith

[roadstar_na6]

@Kanpai Keith, unfortunately not 😄 it‘s probably your best bet to check YAJ and hope for a deal. Here‘s an auction that includes one package 😉

[Kanpai Keith]

I wish my old brain could figure out how these auctions work, I’d be all over that. 🤣
 

Edit: I’ve just registered 😱. Any tips on using it?

Edited January 22, 2021 by Kanpai Keith

[roadstar_na6]

Don‘t let yourself pay more than you want 😄

[bill937ca]

Here's what shows for C243 on Hobby Search.  There is also C243 overhead track.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=104&cat=rail&state=&sold=0&sortid=0&searchkey=C243

[MeTheSwede]

Zenmarket is very easy to use. The only problem I've encountered is resisting my urge to spend all my savings. 😅

[Kanpai Keith]

So with ZM you buy the item/s, vendor sends to zen (you pay domestic postage?), they bundle your items, you pay international postage, package arrives in U.K. you pay fees & taxes.

 

have I got this correct?

[MeTheSwede]

On 1/23/2021 at 9:05 AM, Kanpai Keith said:

So with ZM you buy the item/s, vendor sends to zen (you pay domestic postage?), they bundle your items, you pay international postage, package arrives in U.K. you pay fees & taxes.

 

have I got this correct?

 

That's pretty much it, although technically you hand over money to Zenmarket and then Zenmarket buys it, not you. When buying from the big auction sites through zenmarket this is not obvious since you are the one pressing the bid button, but you can also ask Zenmarket staff to buy something from any obscure webstore in Japan. You provide an URL and an instruction like "buy two blue ones extra large size please" and they'll take care of it for you.

 

If you buy stuff from a lot of different places you can have it put into the same shipment.

[MeTheSwede]

I see you are still looking for wooden sleepers 245-15 curves. Have you considered making your own?

 

 

(This is Kato track but the process ought to be pretty much the same I presume.)

[Kanpai Keith]

Thanks @MeTheSwede Yes I have, probably the only I can get my hands on some.  Video is great.

 

shouldn’t be too problematic.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Kanpai Keith

[cteno4]

This works really well to make your own custom tracks with appropriate ends, I’ve made a lot of these. Little tricker to do on curves, just have to measure things out carefully to clip out the correct sized arc in the roadbed. Easiest way is to trace the roadbed on some chipboard and then measure the half way point and cut out a half section. You then just move this along the track until it lines up with the ties appropriately to have your joint in the best looking place and make your cut marks for the roadbed. Straight is a lot easier just cut a strip of cardboard the length you need to cut out and use it to locate the best position near the middle of the track to locate the splice.

 

i also just glue the two roadbed sections together tight with some epoxy. Joint disappears and not any different than usual track joints in the roadbed. 

 

another trick if you go to saw the rails (instead of nipping and filing) is to take a little block of wood (like 3/4” stock) and use the razor saw to cut two grooves in it at the rail gauge. Use a file to widen so the grooves fit over the rails. Then put this over your rails at your cut location ans the edge of the block will be a little guide to saw squarely and keep the track from getting loosened or ripped from the roadbed which can happen if any saw blade teeth catch on the track. If you cut the grooves so the block is flush with the edge of the roadbed you can then use the guide in a little saw miter box as well to have even more saw control.

 

jeff

[Kanpai Keith]

Thanks Jeff, great advice. 

[cteno4]

It really is pretty easy. Take an old piece of track and do a test run or two to get comfortable and find any gotchas for you (everyone is different in the little gotchas) as well. Fine hacksaw blade usually better than a razor saw (and much less dulling of the razor saw). Or if you have a roto tool a small cutoff wheel works well to trim off the rails and even clean up the ends smooth. Also a little burr bit makes fast work of trimming off the roadbed bits from the track on the section you are removing or just do a deep nip with sharp clippers on each spike. Still usually need to use a hobby knife to release the last bits. That’s probably the most tedious part of the whole process!

 

jeff