Would you model in 21mm if RTR track and models were readily available?

[Rob R]

PM me please.

Rob

[Horsetan]

4 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I'd like to try some of them, please!

 

Same here.

[Mol_PMB]

9 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Same here.

When I look south over Cheshire and see steam rising, I'll know it's Rob's 3D printer trying to keep us all happy! What has he let himself in for? #PecoRob...

[Rob R]

Horsetan,

Pm sent.

[Horsetan]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

When I look south over Cheshire and see steam rising, I'll know it's Rob's 3D printer trying to keep us all happy! What has he let himself in for? #PecoRob...

 

He might need a new printer after doing my batch.

 

1 hour ago, Rob R said:

Horsetan,

Pm sent.

Replied.

[Rob R]

What does a (scale) mile and a quarter of 21mm gauge track look like?

Still awaiting for one of the Beta testers to send me his postal address......

[Horsetan]

On 6/3/2025 at 7:45 PM, Rob R said:

What does a (scale) mile and a quarter of 21mm gauge track look like?

Still awaiting for one of the Beta testers to send me his postal address......

That looks suspiciously like my lot.....

[Rob R]

Your lot is in there somewhere.

I hope it lives up to your expectations.

The last 12 metres is being posted off to the sub tropics on Monday.

If anyone has any preferred specs for 21mm gauge 7mm scale (3ft) track please let me know.

Rail size (code 100/83/75), sleeper sizes and spacing.

Thanks in anticipation.

Rob

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Rob R said:

Your lot is in there somewhere.

I hope it lives up to your expectations....

Beats building it from scratch. Means only pointwork to worry about. 

[Mol_PMB]

Mine has just arrived - looks really good! Many thanks @Rob R. I'll try it out later today.

[Horsetan]

8 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Mine has just arrived - looks really good! Many thanks @Rob R. I'll try it out later today.

So has my lot. Looks eminently useful; just add rail.

I suspect there might be some repeat orders as various people discover that what they have just isn't enough!

 

[Horsetan]

33 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

So has my lot. Looks eminently useful; just add rail.

I suspect there might be some repeat orders as various people discover that what they have just isn't enough!

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

Beta-testing comments...

Threading the rail through is very easy. At first I thought it was too easy and that the rail wouldn't be held securely enough, but once it's in it seems to stay put and there is good resistance to rail roll or gauge spread. So that's all good. The gauge is nominally 21mm or perhaps very slightly over - it might be closer to 21.2mm. Better to be wide than narrow, it will help rigid wheelbases on curves. Also good.

The top faces of the sleepers are slightly textured as a consequence of the manufacturing process, and there are some minor blemishes, but actually it looks pretty much like wood grain with the odd knot hole, and I think that once installed it will look much better than a perfectly smooth surface.

Again, a consequence of the manufacturing process is that there are very fine plastic 'hairs' sprouting from the moulding in places. As yet I haven't found a good way of getting rid of these - they are extremely fine. Any hints from the other beta-testers would be welcome!

Regardless of that last minor issue, this is a very quick way to produce 21mm gauge flexitrack. Bravo!

[Rob R]

 Pleased to hear that you are happy so far.

The slight overgauge is deliberate.

Flexitrack of any scale/gauge/brand will reduce in gauge when you curve it-nature of the beast. Not too much of an issue with normal OO wheel standards but anything finer will have issues with the reduced gauge as Paul Greene found with the 4ft radius curve on Broombridge.

Worst case scenario is the requirement for a gauge widened base just for the sharper corners

The knobbly bits and the stringing are still part of the work on progress. I tried to tweak the settings to improve things but that just threw out the rail fixings. I have just taken delivery of a different brand of filament which is supposed to be better. 

It has been suggested that a scrub with a toothbrish is the easiest way of removing the stringing. I would try it with the rails in situ to provide a bit of rigidity.

Have fun.

[Horsetan]

Yesterday at Scaleforum, I managed to obtain a couple of lengths of Code 82 FB. Some minutes after getting it home, we had our first demo length of 21mm.

This used just a fraction - just 8 panels - of the track bases supplied. I think we are cooking on gas.

Edited September 21 by Horsetan
Adding number of track bases sections used in 1 metre of rail

[Galteemore]

Certainly surpassed the sucking diesel stage! Look forward to seeing some of your 21mm stock posing on this. Aesthetically , that 5’3” is quite captivating. I think it works especially well on FB track as the width is visually accentuated.

Edited September 21 by Galteemore

[Horsetan]

15 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Certainly surpassed the sucking diesel stage! Look forward to seeing some of your 21mm stock posing on this. Aesthetically , that 5’3” is quite captivating. I think it works especially well on FB track as the width is visually accentuated.

If I had to nit-pick, there are a random few clips which are very loose as you feed the rail through. Whether that helps gauge-widening on curves, I don't know.....yet.

That said, this is an ideal contribution to getting something running. I've loads of track bases left over, so I reckon we're going to need a lot more FB rail....

[Horsetan]

Here's a side view. Doesn't look bad at all. Saves many hours of going at it with gauges and multiple packs of PECO Pandrol clips individually glued down on ABS sleepers....

I'd go as far as to say that, if you want to portray that slight air of neglect that used to hang around Irish secondary/branch line permanent way, the 3D printed bases are already much of the way there - the sleepers even have visible cracks at the end and look somewhat past their best!

What would really finish it would be FB rail in phosphor bronze which has always been useful for representing corroded or rarely used rail.

 

Edited September 22 by Horsetan

[Patrick Davey]

Very impressive!

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

Very impressive!

Still loads more 30ft track bases to be used up....

[Rob R]

Got another pack here if you need more..........

 

[Horsetan]

11 hours ago, Rob R said:

Got another pack here if you need more..........

 

That's useful to know..... How many in that pack?

Edited September 23 by Horsetan

[Rob R]

20 I think. But I can always print more, not just yet though, flying off to foreign parts (no, not Scotland!) for a week.

[Turin60]

Rob PM sent John Bruce.

[cloggydog]

I'm (finally) dipping a toe into Irish railway modelling and following the various threads on here with interest. I have a plan for a small micro/cameo layout set circa 1980 with a fairly small (ha!) stock requirement and kitbashing/scratchbuilding is a most enjoyable part of the hobby for me.

Now, I have made 5'3" gauge pointwork and plain track in the past, albeit for Australian broad gauge and in H0 scale, for a friend's sizeable VR exhibition layout - this used 18.2mm EM standards and gauges (giving 5'2½", which is close enough) but certainly ran fine and looked the part. I'm also one of those slight weirdos who models British H0 (amongst many other scales, gauges, countries and prototypes), so my Irish layout will be 3.5mm/ft scale on 18.2mm track - this satisfies my dislike of the narrow-gauge appearance of using 16.5mm track in either 3.5mm or 4mm scales for Irish outline (but I fully get the reasons why many others are fine with it).

I've had a play in Templot to arrive at 3.5mm scale 5'3" track adapting EM standards. I'll be using code 75 Bh rail for the most part, but might also build some soldered FB track (as I have copperclad H0 sleepers and FB rail left over from the Aussie track build).

Thinking about 3D printed track - there is now a supplier here who can Templot-design and print pointwork bases in various forms, including 'CARROT' track, filing jigs, laser-cut bases, etc., at quite reasonable prices - 3D Track | Kosmik (no connection, but have heard good things from elsewhere and will make enquiries for my own track needs should my own basic 3D printer prove not up to the job). I've seen their stand at a couple of UK shows and was impressed with what I saw.

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by cloggydog
typo

[Mol_PMB]

11 minutes ago, cloggydog said:

I'm (finally) dipping a toe into Irish railway modelling and following the various threads on here with interest. I have a plan for a small micro/cameo layout set circa 1980 with a fairly small (ha!) stock requirement and kitbashing/scratchbuilding is a most enjoyable part of the hobby for me.

Now, I have made 5'3" gauge pointwork and plain track in the past, albeit for Australian broad gauge and in H0 scale, for a friend's sizeable VR exhibition layout - this used 18.2mm EM standards and gauges (giving 5'2½", which is close enough) but certainly ran fine and looked the part. I'm also one of those slight weirdos who models British H0 (amongst many other scales, gauges, countries and prototypes), so my Irish layout will be 3.5mm/ft scale on 18.2mm track - this satisfies my dislike of the narrow-gauge appearance of using 16.5mm track in either 3.5mm or 4mm scales for Irish outline (but I fully get the reasons why many others are fine with it).

I've had a play in Templot to arrive at 3.5mm scale 5'3" track adapting EM standards. I'll be using code 75 Bh rail for the most part, but might also build some soldered FB track (as I have copperclad H0 sleepers and FB rail left over from the Aussie track build).

Thinking about 3D printed track - there is now a supplier here who can Templot-design and print pointwork bases in various forms, including 'CARROT' track, filing jogs, laser-cut bases, etc., at quite reasonable prices - 3D Track | Kosmik (no connection, but have heard good things from elsewhere and will make enquiries for my own track needs should my own basic 3D printer prove not up to the job). I've seen their stand at a couple of UK shows and was impressed with what I saw.

 

 

Great to hear of someone else joining the broad gauge team, and a nice combination of scale and gauge.

That option for printing turnout bases looks very good, lots of options. Thanks for the link. I will definitely consider that for a future layout - I've made my own copperclad points for the current 21mm gauge project.