Modding Unitrack wood sleepers to concrete

[Hayashi]

Has anyone tried modifying the Kato wooden sleeper track to concrete-style? 

 

Option 1: Painting wood ties with concrete colored paint. How would you rate the results?

Option 2: Lightly sanding the wood ties to reduce the grain and then paint with concrete colored paint. How would you rate the results?

Option 3: Do option 2 or not, but touch the center of the ties with a Dremel tool to put an indentation into them so they more resemble the profile of a concrete sleeper. Then paint. I suppose a dowel stock wrapped in sandpaper could also do the job of placing the indentations into straight track. How would you rate the results?

 

 

[gavino200]

8 minutes ago, Hayashi said:

Has anyone tried modifying the Kato wooden sleeper track to concrete-style? 

 

Option 1: Painting wood ties with concrete colored paint. How would you rate the results?

Option 2: Lightly sanding the wood ties to reduce the grain and then paint with concrete colored paint. How would you rate the results?

Option 3: Do option 2 or not, but touch the center of the ties with a Dremel tool to put an indentation into them so they more resemble the profile of a concrete sleeper. Then paint. I suppose a dowel stock wrapped in sandpaper could also do the job of placing the indentations into straight track. How would you rate the results?

 

 

 

Seems like a lot of work, but an interesting project. Why don't you experiment with three pieces of medium length straight track. 1only, vs 1 plus 2, vs 1 plus 3. 

 

I'd be interested to see your results.

[Kiha66]

If you use unthinned tamiya paint you shouldn't have to sand out the wood grain, as it should be thick enough to hide the texture.

[gavino200]

To make the process easier you can remove the joiners and slide out the metal rails. Then replace them when the paint has cured.

[Hayashi]

I've also been thinking about how to make single track slab track. As I'm drawing up my Shinkansen portion of the plan I run into spots where I wish there was single track slab. Examples are where one side of a double track has a turnout and I need a 186 slab to match the space where the other part of the double track has the turnout and a 60R or 60L. Other examples are where I'm using 29, 33, 38, 46 or 64 to make things meet up. I would then cut a single slab to the appropriate length instead of using the mini pieces.

 

I think taking a double track slab track and cutting it down the middle would work. I'll be ballasting the sides anyway. Has anyone done that? Any issues? I could also not cut it down the middle, but more towards the side, leaving the communication cover in place on one of the split tracks.

[Hayashi]

Regarding painting wooden sleepers to look more like concrete, would painting them to look like composite be a better choice?

[katoftw]

Lots of examples of curting double track online. Modeller just use ballast to hide the cuts.

 

No idea if using slab double track how you would hide the cuts.

[Hayashi]

Thanks all. 

 

I've seen the videos on cutting Unitrack to modify the length, but I'm interested in cutting double slab track between the double tracks to create single slab track. Haven't seen any videos or examples on that yet.

[kvp]

1 hour ago, Hayashi said:

I've seen the videos on cutting Unitrack to modify the length, but I'm interested in cutting double slab track between the double tracks to create single slab track. Haven't seen any videos or examples on that yet.

That's actually very simple, just remove the raised part between the two slabs, while keeping the small low levels lips both on the outside and between the two tracks. A small circular table saw with a plastic blade and a side guide rail could do this without problems.

[Hayashi]

Thanks KVP. I appreciate the image. I'm thinking I would get a Proxxon 115 (for US; Proxxon 230 for EU). It seems appropriate for this type of work.

[cteno4]

These are good little saws. I have the microlux/micromark version of this one and very handy to work on small thin things. Warning it won’t coek on much over about 1/4 - 3/8” thick objects. Saw blades are also limited but the proxxon can use the micromark blades (more expensive)

 

https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-Miniature-Table-Saw_2

 

ive been looking at these as well (although I don’t need another mini table saw, I have two, tools like this always make me look!). Bit cheaper and looks like it may have a better range of blades that might be used and the blade can raise and lower. You would have to research the blades out, I did a year or so when these showed up on ebay and amazon, but can’t remember the results clearly. I think a number of the small around 3” flooring blades worked and you can get a range of them and abrasives for cutting metal. You can also put a chuck on the side to hold grinder wheels, it has a sanding disc as well.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Mini-Precision-Small-Table-Saw-Blade-DIY-Woodworking-Cutting-Machine-100W-24V/142845055862?epid=28020325482&hash=item21423a9376:g:vzQAAOSwd-BalSin

 

cheers

 

jeff

[gavino200]

8 hours ago, kvp said:

That's actually very simple, just remove the raised part between the two slabs, while keeping the small low levels lips both on the outside and between the two tracks. A small circular table saw with a plastic blade and a side guide rail could do this without problems.

 

 

Any tips on how to cut curved track? Dremmel and lots of patience?

[cteno4]

Band saw or Scroll saw (yours would do nicely). By hand a long reach scroll/frett Saw and a jewel’s v block would do the trick. There are some more specialized saws as well that would, do it. Could do straight sections as well with all these just take it slow and clean up with a sanding block

 

https://www.micromark.com/V-Block-and-Clamp?_ga=2.24621882.1870393021.1536020868-1377864116.1528227203

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Saw-Frame-Sawframe-Jewelry-Making-Tools-Jewelers-Tool-German-Style-140mm/162421485588?hash=item25d1133014:g:j6IAAOSws0Jabbxh

 

Btw hayashi if you are not doing a lot of other straight cutting a small, inexpensive scroll or band Saw might be a better addition to your woodshop than the mini table saw. I’ve not used my mini table saws all that much really over the years, but been handy when it was needed! A scroll or band saw is really handy all around. You can do decent straight cuts with them slowly with a fence in place on stuff like this.

 

cheers,

 

meff

[gavino200]

2 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

 

Btw hayashi if you are not doing a lot of other straight cutting a small, inexpensive scroll or band Saw might be a better addition to your woodshop

 

 

I'll second that. I got one of these on Cteno's advice and it opened up new worlds of possibility for me.

[Hayashi]

Thanks for all the info. Seems like this was a good topic. Jeff, I appreciate the band saw/scroll saw suggestion. Not sure which way I'll go, but lots of choices. 

[cteno4]

Hayashi,

 

band saws have kore umph and can handle thicker stronger blades for heavier matierials, but scroll saws can cut in very very tight curves. Band saws can chop off a finger (they use them for meat saws) if you are really careless, but hard to do more than a good cut with scroll saw misuse.

 

for light use an inexpensive one would do you fine and is pretty affordable

 

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-3920-Two-Direction-Variable-Flexible/dp/B005UKGL58/ref=sr_1_2?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1536042367&sr=1-2&keywords=Bandsaw

 

high quality scroll saws can get really expensive but are great for super detailed work. When I was a kid I had a cheap old second hand one I used for years (but probably earned a couple thousand dollars making wooden toy cars and trucks with in junior high) and now I have a really nice German one I inheritated from my father who did loads of intricate scroll and inlay work with.

 

small badsaws are pretty generic. Again for light use a decent quality inexpensive one will do you fine. Issue with band Saw is the depth you can do a cut. Small ones are like 9-10” max cut width and it get expensive to get bigger or deeper depth ones fast. But when things get big I move to the saber saw or router.

 

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-3959-2-5-Amp-9-Inch-Benchtop/dp/B077QMBTLP/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1536042501&sr=8-6&keywords=Bandsaw

 

Cheers,

 

jeff

[kvp]

For people who are afraid of power tools, it's possible to score the parts with a knife in the inside corners under the red lines until they could be snapped apart. Cleanup of the cut would be required but doable with a hobby knife, rasp and sandpaper.

[cteno4]

But take care doing scoring with a knife on stuff like this. 50 years of using power tools a lot has left me with a few scratches, but I have numerous nice scars (luckily none horrid, a few could have used a few stitches to minimize stitches to minimize scars...) from hobby and matte knives — and I am very good with a blade and have had a huge amount of experience cutting lots of materials over the years. Power tools used carefully are very safe. Knives seems pretty limited in their damage until you slip or something sticks with ones holding things the wrong way. It happens and I know...

 

just saying this to try to rationalize the risks, both can be dangerous if you are not careful. I’ve avoided any major damage in over 50 years with both, I just try to be careful and think first.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kiha66]

Seems kato realizes people want more concrete sleeper tracks, they seem to be concidering doing a release of the wooden sleepers painted in concrete colors to match switches in stations.

 

[kvp]

3 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

Seems kato realizes people want more concrete sleeper tracks, they seem to be concidering doing a release of the wooden sleepers painted in concrete colors to match switches in stations.

This has beed already discussed a short while ago. Imho those are real concrete textured sleepers, not the wood grain ones painted over. Only the #6 turnout, matching curve and s64 diagonal straight has been announced together with the already released s248. Enough for station bypass tracks with island platforms on a double track line but not really much else.