All change.... new start

[jerseycentraluk]

All the Fast-Track turnouts are here now, so I’ve started to work on the track now.

I’ve also bought some detail parts from Proto 87 to lift the rather plain appearance of the Fast-Tracks turnouts. The Proto 87 parts are wonderfully detailed and fit well, but come without any instructions. I have needed to trawl through their website to try and find pictures of where to put what I’ve got. Perhaps I should know what all the different parts of a turnout are by now...note to self to study trackwork books more..!

So far I have only tried the parts on one turnout. I have only fitted the parts to the visible side, not only does this reduce the work needed on each turnout but it makes the parts go further too.
This turnout has had the point reinforcing bar and the frog/rail bolts added to it. I then followed Lance Mindheim’s suggestion on painting the turnouts. I sprayed the whole turnout with grey primer
Then I used a thin wash of burnt umber oils to wash the ties. Once dry this gave a nice look to the ties.



After the wash had dried I masked off the wood areas and sprayed the rails with a rusty rail brown colour. As you can see I didn't remember to clean the top of the rails each time, but the paint did not peel too much off the sides of the rails after cleaning.

So this is the finished turnout ready for laying. All the turnouts and crossings will be detailed and painted on the workbench before laying. The Micro Engineering code 70 track will be painted in situ though. Once laid I plan on giving all the track a quick airbrush to blend in any obvious colour differences.


I have ordered some more detail parts including some cast nut and bolts for adding to the guard rails. That’s the area that needs to be detailed more I think.

Please let me know what you think about how they look.