Trackwork:
The track has been laid to finescale '0' gauge standards using the 'C & L Finescale' timber tracks system of (in my case) 1.5mm ply sleepers but with 'Exactoscale' chairs. I did experiment with 31mm gauge through the crossing area of the points and 1.25mm checkrail gaps but found that whilst this suited 'Slaters' wheels very well other makes were not so good. (I think the difference is in the flange thicknesses rather than 'back-to-back measurements). In the end I settled on normal finescale '0' gauge standards but used a checkrail gap of 1.25mm rather than the normal 1.75mm as this does "steer" the wheels through the crossings in a smoother manner, particularly as I have used A5 as well as B6 turnouts, all with C & L ready prepared crossings and blades.
The ply sleepers were given a coat of water based 'dark oak' wood dye before the chairs were fixed to tone down the bare plywood and, once the track was all laid, it was given a spray of "Railmatch Sleeper Grime" before ballasting.
The track was laid on 1.5mm cork sheet (stuck down with PVA glue) and ballasted in the usual way with two colours (pink and grey) of a mixture of 4mm and 2mm scale ballast.
The points were made up in the time honoured fashion on the workbench using the C & L timber tracks bases and the chairs glued to the ply sleepers using 'Carr's Butanone' adhesive. It gives a very strong joint that, if necessary, can be undone by carefully working a fine scalpel blade or razor blade under the chair to break the joint.
Peco ready-made track was used in the fiddle yard (being cheaper than C & L) and (as planned!) the 3mm thick plastic sleepers matched up well with the 1.5mm ply sleepers on 1.5mm cork - within a few thou. anyway!
The ply sleepers were given a coat of water based 'dark oak' wood dye before the chairs were fixed to tone down the bare plywood and, once the track was all laid, it was given a spray of "Railmatch Sleeper Grime" before ballasting.
The track was laid on 1.5mm cork sheet (stuck down with PVA glue) and ballasted in the usual way with two colours (pink and grey) of a mixture of 4mm and 2mm scale ballast.
The points were made up in the time honoured fashion on the workbench using the C & L timber tracks bases and the chairs glued to the ply sleepers using 'Carr's Butanone' adhesive. It gives a very strong joint that, if necessary, can be undone by carefully working a fine scalpel blade or razor blade under the chair to break the joint.
Peco ready-made track was used in the fiddle yard (being cheaper than C & L) and (as planned!) the 3mm thick plastic sleepers matched up well with the 1.5mm ply sleepers on 1.5mm cork - within a few thou. anyway!
Point tie bars were constructed as detailed in an article by Derek Mundy in the August 2010 issue of the Gauge 0 Guild Gazette. They are a little on the fiddly side to build but work very reliably and are extremely realistic and unobtrusive.