TT scale trains and models

Those weekends are good for me too. Weekdays, depending on what times people will be there, Tuesday and Thursday might be possible...

Merry Christmas everyone. Nothing like real snow for a picture.

Merry Christmas Bill!

Curves on TT-Tracks have been an evolving issue.
Our first setup back in 2011 showed that the curves on the small corner R1/R2 were too sharp.
We immediately jumped past the Medium Corners R2/R3 to the Large corners R4/R5. We used these for years even though they were still rather sharp curves. We had many good displays with these corners.

Then in 2017 came the first of the new larger curve modules, the 45 Degree Modules R6/R7. These were good although their design brought the outer curve close to the edge of the module. These were good but still lacking something and needed unsightly trimming to fit in a standard module transportation box.

Designed and built in 2018 and used in 2019, the thirty degree curves R10/R11 were what we were looking for. The trains look really good on these curves and they fit in a standard module transportation box.

The next issue is that we only had two good sets of corner modules. Unless we used an older Large Corner R4/R5, we could only build a U or C shaped display. We need another set of corner modules. Build another set of 30 degree modules or contemplate the next size larger.

In late 2019 doodling started on the 22.5 corner concept. Sadly Covid arrived and with it Covid malaise. With no prospect of a setup to spur progress not much was done in 2020/21. Not much of anything was done those years.

With the prospect of a non-public setup in February 2022, interest has been sparked. Full sized paper templates were made to get an idea of how they would look.
They look great, Trains will look fantastic on the R15/R16 (~36" - 37 1/2") curves.

The question is scenery.
I liked the scene on the Diamond shaped large corner so two modules would be used to recreate it. One with the stream and bridge and the second one with a cluster of Railway MOW buildings.
We don't have a lot of water on our modules, Two streams, one bridge on one of Terrys modules, and Bjoerns bridge.
One thought is to use one or two adjacent modules to model the tracks on a causeway through the water. Trains would look good in this scene and if we could get a good enough finish on the water we might be able to get pictures of the reflections of the trains.
Much to think about.

Almost 1 meter radii Trains are going to look amazing. If you also add a smidge of superelevation....

Thinking about a large(ish) body of water, I needed a smooth surface to start with.
Trying to fill and smooth a foam surface did not sound like fun so I decided to use Styrene. I used .060" styrene. Measuring carefully (for once) I ended up with this as a water surface. Paint it a blue, glue the causeway to the top, and add a supporting sheet to the bottom. Add a few coats of gloss to the water to give a nice shine and the possibility of reflections for photos.

I also realized after I had cut it out that I had a template to cut out the four corner pieces. For once I have corner modules that are almost identical.
I saved the diagonal off cuts to glue under the ends of the modules to provide support.

Now to see if I have enough track, rail and ties to build these.
Thanks to the shipment from Germany I have all the Bedding track pieces I need. I have or can get code 70 rail. Not sure about ties thought. Will do some digging tomorrow.

Regarding the set-up at BCSME in February: Is it still a go? What is the plan? Should we open a dedicated thread under "Events"? Am I the only one excited about this? Who is coming? Etc...

I'm looking forward to this too...

My how time flies when you are having fun (or suffering from Covid malaise).
Lost track of the date and missed an important anniversary last week.
On the 18th, TT-Tracks was 11.

The new corners are progressing well. All track is down. Some of the curves are not as smooth as i would have liked.
I am experiment with raising the ground level up 1/8" to make the bedding track less prominent.
All the new curve modules have this modification.
As I am not sure how far I will get with scenery in the next two weeks I have painted all the modules (rather garishly) to indicate what I have planned for scenery.
I hope to at least get ballast down. Then the water module (left one) cut and glued. I have two packages of Woodland Scenics ready made trees to populate the right two modules. Am going to try Woodland Scenics N-Scale wire fencing on the big open filed beside the water module.
I have two of the WS Hedge Row assembles to try out as well.
Much to do but I also need to allocate some time to customer repairs so not sure how far I will get.

The February setup 5/6 and 12/13 (plus maybe a weekday or two) is still on. Looking forward to that. Train therapy is needed right now.

I opened a new thread for the BCSME set up under Events