I agree that well painted flextrack can look better than handlaid with giant spikes every five ties or so. But that's not the only way to handlay track. For my handlaid model of track without tie plates, I use the Proto:87 Stores etched 150% HO spikes, which work out to about 110% S spikes, which is plenty small for my aging eyes. And it is tedious, but I do put two in per rail per tie. The exception is where there is a rail joint, then those get two spikes on the ends of each rail so there are four spike in that end of the tie. (I don't use rail joiners, but detail later with joint bars.) I guess I'm nuts.
BTW, Tomalco (now PBL) Sn3 Code 70 and 55 flextrack and switches do not have tie plates, but Shinohara (Scenery Unlimited) Code 70 flextrack and switches have tie plates. So in Code 70 we have our choice of two detail options. On my old layout, I used the Shinohara for the mainline, and Tomalco for the sidings and yards. When that layout was built, Code 55 flex wasn't available yet, so I had to handlay that track with the smallest oversize spikes available at the time. Dave Heine Easton, PA -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pieter Roos Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 7:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: Rail height Hi Bob; I didn't mean to rain on your parade, but we seemed to be really pushing the limits of worrying about a tiny increment in rail size. I use code 100, code 83 and code 70 flex track from Tomalco, so I do like the different rail sizes. And I also agree with you on good flex track looking better than most hand-layed. If your prototype did not used tie-plates, or if someone uses modeled tie plates when hand laying, more power to them. But I don't find typical hand-layed track with the rails directly on the ties and one (oversize) spike every few ties as convincing. I have some track like that, but prefer the flex. The flex track does need painting to look good. Pieter E. Roos ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
