20 October 2009

My very first hand-made turnout and few photos

I couldn't resist and wait for another week-end so I started building my very first turnout using the FastTrack material.
Before starting with the building process I took some photos of what I ordered. Here are few shots.


A bag of Micro Engineering code 55 rails and one of PCB ties


A pack of QuickStick #6 turnout ties, a complimentary laser-cut hex-wrench handler as shipped and mounted with a hex-wrench for the points/frog and stock-rail filing tools


Points/frog for #6 and stock-rail filing tools, code 55 #6 turnout fixture and a very nice N-scale FastTrack billboard I got for free in my order

Then I started building a left-hand turnout following (hopefully) the very well-done instructions and videos on the FastTrack website and on a CD included with the shipment.
So far I've cut the PCB ties to the right length then I cut the required gaps in order to isolate the rails and the frog. After that I cut, bent and filed the guard rails and made the frog point using the points/frog filing tool. Then cut the two stock-rails and filed the base of the rail web where the points will touch the stock rails using the stock-rail filing tool. Finally I soldered the stock rails to the ties.

Considering that it's been quite a long time since I used the soldering iron and all the rest I'm pretty happy for what I've done up to this point. Here's a photo of the current status.


Current status of my first turnout

See you soon with my progress on my first turnout construcion...

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