Making a TMD

[theoneis1]

Hello all,

I'm looking to have a TMD area on my oo gauge layout. I’m looking to use plaster of paris to make the floor area or filler. the main concern I have is having issues with the trains wheel flanges running on the filler. so I was wondering if anyone has used another 2 rails to run inside the track to separated everything out? I have included images of what I mean. also looking at real photos of TMDs they seem to have this anyway.

Thanks

[swinden dalesman]

Have you thought of using plasticard instead of this method?? One way of getting the correct spacing with plasticard is to use a felt tip pen & draw on the rails firstly then lay the plasticard on the rails to give a ink mark for where to cut. This method with a little tweaking here & there will give you the same result without all of the mess of plaster & if any adjustments need making it can be done with a minimal amount of work. It'll also give you the option of pre painting it before it is finally fitted to the layout. Only an option but thought i might mention it

Simon

[theoneis1]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have thought about that but my tmd is a mix match of curves, points and diamond crossings lots of cutting and adjusting, will keep it in mind tho. Thanks again

[joshv8]

I think running the second set of rails is a fantastic idea! if you run with it be sure to take some photos!

[nathan9117]

it would be good but what i did ages back was get a lenth of string and lay it along the inside of each rail and then plaster it once it starts to go off and is like bouncy rubbery type thing but dry enough not to move just lift the string away and it leaves you with a nice gap for the flanges to run in thx

[Dragonfly]

The trouble with using rails is when you've got curves to deal with. Getting the inner rails to the precise radii you need (leaving enough of a gap for wheels to be able to turn with the track) could be a very fiddly job. It would look much tidier, though.

Would be worth looking at the real thing; do they use inner rails on 1:1 scale? Hadn't noticed myself, will have to research into this for my own layout too...

[theoneis1]

Looking around on the internet I found that tram rails use the same principles. thinking on it the string sounds good, as I did get some rail and have a look at it all but because I am using peco track there is little bolt plates next to the place where the rails are held, and unfortunately it holds the second rails out to fare from the standard rail leaving a very large gap.

[small358786]

I have been doing some experimenting with inset tracks and I have found something that seems to work okay.
When I laid the clay inside the rails what I did then was run a credit card along the inside of the rail,holding it as close as possible using the rail as a guide creating the clearnce needed.
This seems to work okay other than "piling up" the clay a bit on the inside,a bit like a snow plough.
Its not a huge mound and could easily be sanded off when it is dry.
When it dries I will see how successful or not it has been.

[Essex2Visuvesi]

If you look at the profile of the rail it has to "sticky out bits" (that's the technical term ) where the rail joins the sleeper

Maybe you could grind it back to bring it closer

[theoneis1]

Cool all good ideas. Also what do people use for the filling? I have just got some b&q own poly filler to see how it worked out.

[igadam]

On this subject... i run standard hornby OO gauge track and at a recent show i was intending to buy some plasticard sheets but wasnt sure exactly what thinckness to get... 60/80? the 80 seemed a bit thick i thought... any ideas anyone?

[fratton]

if you go down the plaster route,,, colour the plaster grey so when sanding down you aren't always exposing white underneath,,,,, i learnt the hardway on this i have a plaster tmd base on my layout in N gauge

[Flakmunky]

Have you considered track cleaning? The method you propose runs the risk of you removing paint or damaging the surface depending on your preferred track cleaning method.

For this reason I would go with plasticard... Then whatever rail profile you are using you can accurately ensure the surface is slightly below the rail top , enabling you to use your preferred method of track cleaning, e.g. track rubber, IPA, CMX or Tomix, etc...