The reason why most diesel locomotives are double-ended, meaning they have a cab and controls at both ends, while...
Cart 0 Product Products (empty)
No products
Free shipping! Shipping
£ 0.00 Total
Product successfully added to your shopping cart
Quantity
Total
There are 0 items in your cart. There is 1 item in your cart.
Total products (tax incl.)
Total shipping (tax excl.) Free shipping!
Total (tax incl.)
Search Tips
Tips categories
Latest Tips
-
Why are most diesel locomotives double-ended whereas most steam locomotives were not?Read more -
How do I cut model railway flexible track?Read moreIf you are venturing into the world of flexible track then no doubt you are discovering that it is not just the track...
-
What is a Post Office sorting van?Read moreA Post Office sorting van refers to a type of specialised railway vehicle or wagon that was used by the British Post...
-
What is a poly-cap?Read moreA poly-cap is a type of plastic cap often used in model-making kits, especially for assembling figurines or model...
-
What are my options for controlling a turntable?Read moreThe available options for controlling a turntable are varied. The most basic method of controlling a turntable is by...
How do I fix track to a baseboard?
One way to fix track to a baseboard is by tacking it down with special pins or nails. If you look closely at the sleepers on most set track and some flexible track, you will notice that every so often there is a tiny hole in the middle of the sleeper, this hole is to facilitate track-pins or track-nails being used to pin your track to the board.
The choice of whether to use thin track-pins or thicker track-nails will depend largely on what kind of wood your baseboard is made from and whether you intend for the fix to be permanent or just a temporary hold whilst an alternative adhesive is used. If you choose to attach your track to a baseboard by tacking alone, then thicker track-nails would be well advised as thinner track-pins can often start to come loose after time.
Alternatively, you can glue your track to the baseboard. This method is generally considered to give the most permanent fix, the fix will be even more permanent if you are planning to ballast your track and set the ballast in place with a PVA solution.
When gluing track to a baseboard you may want to temporarily tack it in place whilst the glue dries (especially when laying flexible-track). In this case, thinner track-pins will do the job just fine and can be removed once the glue has set.
If your track does not come with prefabricated holes in the sleepers then a pin vice with a small drill bit will be sufficient to make your own.
Our top tip is to always make sure that no loose track pins are left lying around on your tracks because your engine's magnetic motor loves nothing more than sucking them up into the mechanism resulting in your motor needing to be stripped down to retrieve it.
Different modellers have different ways to fix their track to a baseboard. As with so many aspects of modelling, there is no right or wrong way, just different ways that will be right for different people.
Click here to receive the tips weekly in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Related products
Setrack Fixing Nails
Price: £ 3.95Setrack Fixing Nails 25g pack of fixing nails for layouts. Can be used to...
Related posts
-
How to clean model railways track?There is of course the old tried and tested method, the track rubber which does the job, no railway modeller should... - What scale is Hornby?Hornby model railways are OO Scale or 1/76th that is 4 millimetres to the foot (12 inches). It runs on a track with...
- Is Peco track and Hornby track compatible?Peco Setrack and Peco Streamline are compatible with Hornby track as they all share the same gauge width of 16.5mm....
- How to weight my model so it does not tip?For wargaming figures, a small coin or washer glued to the under side of the base will usually to do the job. This...
- How often should I clean my track?This a hard question to answer. There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should clean the track. Bear in...