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In lugnet.trains, Mark Bellis wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Dave Sterling wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jonathan Wilson wrote:
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We all want new larger radius curves and other things. Also, Big Ben
Bricks, BrickArms and others have been able to successfully mold and sell
new custom parts.
Has anyone ever considered extending this and doing some kind of molding of
new track pieces ourselves? Has anyone ever done some investigation of how
much it would cost for a mold for a larger radius curve or other new track
shapes?
Would people (and e.g. train clubs) be willing to donate towards the
(potentially high) costs for producing such a mold? (my guess is that once
the mold is made, the actual costs of producing the parts would not be huge
in bulk volumes)
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I think some people have investigated this in the past for 9V and found that
the cost was to great to warrant proceeding. That said, it is probably more
feasible for the ‘RC Track’ since you would not have to deal with the metal
rails.
However, it appears that LEGO might be fixing the track geometry issue with
this nifty new element.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jastermereel08/3335067544/in/pool-legotrains
Only time will tell though.
-Dave
ToT-LUG
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With a little modding to the internal curves of the parts shown in the
picture above, it might be possible to support ballast from underneath the
track like this:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Trains/Ballasting-Track/ft_ballast_m_bellis.jpg
Mark
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Here is a further picture, showing 64 flexible track pieces in set 8867.
The gaps between the two halves of each track piece are smaller than in the
previous picture, and there are fewer studs for attaching ballast:
http://www.aquazona.cz/smf/download/file.php?id=1729&mode=view
To ballast it means either a bit more modding (4 holes punched per piece, a bit
laborious for 1000 pieces in a layout) or a compromise on ballast width. Take
two 1x4 plate hinges per track piece, one black and one bley or dark bley. Swap
the halves so that each hinge is half black. Attach the hinges to the two studs
in the middle of each track piece. It’s better if the hinges face the inside of
the curve because the hinge can be opened a bit in some cases. This needs two
curves on the layout, each curve using the left halves of one hinge colour and
the right halves of the other colour. This will provide alternate black and
grey stripes to represent sleepers and ballast. Unfortunately the ballast will
not be the full width between the rails but it does have the advantage of not
needing any support from below the track.
I first used bi-colour hinges in ballast on the crossover:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3277249
Unfortunately the hinges are not yet available in black, bley or dark bley in
PaB online.
Alternatives with clip plates and rods might work, giving a wider ballast
between the rails, and perhaps enhancing the randomness because grey and black
colours would merge more. It might not be quite so easy to show clear sleepers
though, unless grey clips would look like a small ballast spillage on top of
them, which is OK in the middle 2ft between the rails.
Mark
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