Noah's T-Trak Module

[tossedman]

My eight year old son wanted to make a t trak module today, so after a quick trip to the lumber store we came up with this. It's still a work in progress. Tomorrow he wants to add a road and ballast.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman
Uploaded image

[katoftw]

Nice job.

 

Is the house papercraft?

[tossedman]

Thanks. Yes that's a Sankei kit.

Edited April 12, 2015 by tossedman

[cteno4]

Kudos to todd! That's a really nice job, beats most ttrak I've seen around!

 

How did he take to the sankei kit?

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

Thanks Jeff. I built the kit. He didn't have the patience. Maybe sometime down the road. He's still into the instant gratification, just take it out of the box, nope, no stickers, no paint, I want to use in now frame of mind.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[cteno4]

ahh a tomytec customer! those are probably perfect for him just a little assembly but all click together like the btrains.

 

jeff

[tossedman]

You are right on that count. Now he wants to make 4 more modules. We'll need to make some corners or loops too. It's a two man show around here. Don't know of any other t trak modules in this part of the country. He is trying to get his friends involved though so that's cool.

 

Todd

[westfalen]

Nice start.  Making four corners will get things going.

[tossedman]

Took some wood into the school shop today and did some cutting. Three more modules are on the way.

 

Todd

[cteno4]

OOOH you can still use the school shop! Thats great!

 

Thats so long gone down here. You use to be able to take an adult class at night for like $20 for the semester and do open projects in the shop. no more...

 

jeff

Edited April 14, 2015 by cteno4

[tossedman]

They're disappearing up here as well. I'm lucky to be in a school that sees the value of such a program. Have the added benefit of using it from time to time as well. For fancy things like T-Trak modules.

[ToniBabelony]

Awesome. Nothing but awesome! I can't wait for my son to be old enough to pop out these kind of projects. I'm sure there will be friends around to join, as well as some places where wood can be cut and modules can be built. The DIY shop in nearby where I live has a small workshop that you can use for such things IIRC. I'm already boiling up ideas to organise little workshops at the community centre for the kids :3

[cteno4]

I'm glad to hear that! Around here the only option to your own shop is one company that has a woodworking store and shop you can be a member of, but it's not cheap (well it's cheaper than the cost of a full shop full of tools and the space for a shop!)

 

I wanted to go take an arc welding course to catchup from years away from it, but the only courses that are to be had at our local community college were for auto body work, only lie 20 hours worth and hundreds of dollars! Bummer

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

Toni, it sure is awesome. Best thing going is doing stuff with your kids. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. You'll be having fun with your kids before you know it.

 

We started with Brio wooden trains, bought a cheap HO set and he fell in love with that but wanted more so we went N scale. Atlas track and trains was where we started but were too finicky for a six year old. Once we discovered Kato there was no looking back, perfect as connectivity is no longer an issue. He builds huge layouts on the floor and then wants to leave them up for weeks at a time. I built a table with two doors for him. It's big enough for most of what he wants (about 1m X 4m) and layouts there constantly change. We've put together a bunch of B Train Shorties. He loves building those. We also have a little shelf layout that I work on and then he steals the track for his layouts and I'm starting again. Then he saw T Trak and wanted to build one of those, so here we are. It's a great way to introduce adding scenery to a layout.

 

Jeff, have you checked out TechShop? There's one in your area and they have some serious equipment from what I've read. With a CNC router you could pump out T Trak modules by the dozen.

 

Todd

Edited April 15, 2015 by tossedman

[tossedman]

Got the production line going tonight. 3 more T-Trak modules are complete. Noah's getting pretty good with the hammer and little finishing nails. Waiting for glue to dry on the ballast on the first one.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman

[cteno4]

Interesting, never heard of them. Interesting tech gear and reasonable class prices to learn the basics and check things out. Welding class looks good to brush up on them. Free time is not cheap though at $175 per month and $1395 per year, but lots of cool toys! It's about the same shop prices as the woodworkers club.

 

Unfortunately it's located about 40 min away w.o traffic, but near commuter times it would not be fun, but some classes are in the afternoons. Would be a great way to checkout a cool tool and learn the basics quick.

 

Actually for ttrak modules you can slam out dozens on the table saw. I did 3 dozen Lee boxes in about 2 hrs making all the parts. Hardest thing is getting someone to help while ripping down a full sheet of ply!

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

Took Noah's module outside for a bit better lighting.  We did the ballast on the tracks. Probably overdid it a bit but ya gotta start somewhere.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman

[cteno4]

Todd, looks great! Great to hear Noah is getting into the wood work as well, I think my dad let me smash my first finger at about 4.5 yrs old! Still have one of the first sail boats I made out of wood! Sewn sail to boot that is to my grandma showing me how and letting me do it (probably a pricked finger as well!). Important to start them young doing stuff like this they will always be able to use it and build on to!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[westfalen]

That looks pretty good to me.

[tossedman]

And then there were two! Noah, who's now 9 years old, spent the weekend creating a new T-Trak module. Here are the results.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman

[katoftw]

Looks good.  Whom is the manufacturer of the sakura trees?

[tossedman]

These are the trees.

I picked them up second hand from a fella here in town. He threw in a bunch of trees when I bought a building from him.

 

Todd

[tossedman]

Noah had a buddy sleep over last night and got him convinced that he like trains. That wasn't too hard. Noah then asked if they could build a T-Trak module together. We had a module already built so they cut some grass and glued it down and then laid the ballast and planted a sakura tree. Sent him home with it. He's got plans to add roads and some buildings. It's just track, grass and tree right now.

 

Here's a pic.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman

[cteno4]

Ha you guys are insidious! Perverting other children's minds! Their children come home brainwashed from a sleepover!

 

Good job dudes!

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

Not sure if 'perverting" is the right word Jeff. Just planting seeds...