MRH
isn’t convenient, I normaly use a cutting disk in a rotary tool (such as a Dremel™ tool) to slice through the track at as near to a 90o vertical angle as possible.
Questions, Answers and Tips
I don’t recommend using rail nippers such as the tool from Xuron™ or other manufacturers, since only one rail end will be flat and to trim the other end flat you’ll have a bigger gap than you want.
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You definitely need to fill the gaps or you risk having the rails shift back into contact, negating the effect of the gaps. Common methods of doing this include using insulated rail joiners like these from Atlas, using a drop of glue, or inserting a piece of styrene plastic into the gap.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: I was in Home Depot this morning and was wondering about using ¾” MDF instead of plywood for benchwork. Is this a good idea or not? A: I’d say it’s probably not a good idea. MDF, otherwise known as Medium Density Fibreboard, is a particleboard-like material made of leftover wood from other manufacturing that’s been finely chipped and glued into boards. While MDF can replace plywood in general construction, for model railroad applications it requires sealing to prevent warping/expansion. MDF may swell or break if waterlogged and many model railroad scenery techniques involve water. MDF can even shrink in a very low humidity environment.
All in all, MDF’s stability sounds questionable for model railroad purposes. Additionally, MDF is very dense, and certainly heavier than plywood. If you need to cut it, not only does it dull blades faster other wood products, you’ll want to wear a respirator to protect yourself from the large amount of dust created. You can learn more about MDF on Wikipedia. — Jeff Shultz Q: When gapping track, what’s the best way to do the gaps? Do I need to fill them with something? A: If I can, I like to use a natural joint between the rails to gap the track – either between sectional track sections or between flextrack sections. If this
Page 31 • Issue 4 • October 2009 • MRH Questions, Answers and Tips, page 1
In all cases you want to trim/file the insulator material so it doesn’t interfere with equipment wheels rolling over it. For instance, when I used the code 100 plastic rail joiners that I had on hand for some Code 83 flextrack joints, I found the wheels on my cars “bumped” over the extra 0.015” of plastic sticking above the top of the railhead. I simply trimmed this excess off and that fixed it. — Jeff Shultz
Figure 1: Two of the many types of solvent-based liquid plastic cements and a small paint brush suitable for applying the glue. There are many brands that will work well for you: Figure 1 shows a couple common brands). Don’t use the thick stuff that comes in a tube – it’s hard to get into the joints and any excess will leave an awful mess behind. With the two pieces of plastic being joined held firmly in place, dip a brush into the liquid cement and paint it along the joint as shown in Figure 2.
Q: I just bought my first building kit and I don’t know what kind of glue to use. What do you recommend? A: Congratulations on getting started with structure building! I’m going to assume you have puchased a plastic kit. For this I recommend liquid plastic cement.
Figure 2: Using a brush to apply the liquid cement to an inside joint of a plastic building wall.
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