Micro Layout Update: Thoughs about Turnouts, and Lots and Lots of Sanding ~ Monday, September 11, 2006

Thanks to the guys on the NScaleTraction listgroup, it's come to my attention that there may actually be commercial turnouts with small enough radii to work for this layout. They're made by Tomix, and are hard to find in the U.S., but Japanese Model Supplies may import them, as well as Mokei Imports (no webpage).

Meanwhile, I stopped by a local hobby shop, Tom's Trackside Trains, in Burlingame, CA (close to the Millbrae BART/CalTrain station, and the place in the Bay Area for obscure, hard-core N scale stuff), and picked up some Micro Engineering code 55 rail. It's pretty cheap, so I want to at least find out for myself if I can handlay track. If I actually pull it off, I can have exactly the trackplan I want, build track that really looks like streetcar track, and get the reliability of live frogs.

Meanwhile I picked up some short pieces of oak to build the top window frame for my table, and started sanding the varnish off of the table proper. The bare wood looks better, and matches the new parts I'm adding. Still, it's slow going, but it's kind of therapeutic and guarantees I'll spend a good long time thinking about what to do next, which should in theory improve my chances of success.