smallest curve i can use

[gandy dancer#1]

HI:I am setting up an l shaped board using 2 pieces of 5/8 mdf. at the end of each piece i wish to put a u shaped return curve, the board is 36 inches wide what is the smallest curve radius i can use. thanks mike.

[Jerrys HO]

Better make it bigger. I would not go less than 18r. and that depends on your loco's.

Jerry

[jward]

what scale are you in?

[Jim Banner]

Maximum radius on a 36" wide board would be about 17-1/2" radius, give or take a little depending on scale.  For odd sizes like this, you would have to use flex track or hand lay your rails.

If you can frame those pieces of mdf with 3/4" boards then you can increase that width to 37-1/2 inches.  With your 5/8 mdf, you will need a bit of extra support to keep it flat.  The usual material for this would be "1 by 4's" which are actually 3/4" by 3-1/2".  Nailing them to the edges of the mdf will give just as much support as putting them under it and will bring it up to a better width.  Thirty-seven and one half inches will allow you to use common 18" radius curves in H0 or something similar in other scales.

Jim

[gandy dancer#1]

Hi mr. banner: These 2 boards are mounted on large fold up tables with the strips of wood you mentionioned underneath the mdf at 12 inch intervals. so will take a few of these strips out and nail down the sides thank you for your reply and others, that will give me that little extra i need i think.

[NarrowMinded]

Careful calling Jim Mr. Banner he considers us all friends and his friends call him Jim.

Right Mr. Banner? eerr I mean Jim.

[Doneldon]

gd#1-

Even with 18" radius squeezed onto your train table you'll be running what most model rails would consider the absolute minimum plus you'll have no landing area for derailed trains except the floor. And that won't be just at the start of the curves; your entire straight sections will be along the edge of the table -- like walking a tightrope without a net. If you absolutely cannot use wider material, at least add more curve than you need to bring your straight tracks away from the edges. Don't use a reverse curve to do this but use a 1/3 or 1/2 extra curve, a straight section and then another partial curve the other way. Or make a long figure eight so the straights aren't hugging a precipice Better all around, however, would be using a wider platform.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   -- D

[NarrowMinded]

Besides the problems with hanging on the edge, your layout will look better if you are able to add a little scenery between you and the track.

NM-Jeff

[Jim Banner]

Careful calling Jim Mr. Banner he considers us all friends and his friends call him Jim.

Right Mr. Banner? eerr I mean Jim.

Thanks NM aka D.  It's definitely Jim.  When model railroaders get together, we are all model railroaders in spite of age, status, title, experience or you name it.  In Saskatoon, there are many modelers and railroad buffs who know one another through our local museum and we all call one another by our first names.  Even the three year olds who bring along their latest Thomas the Tank to show us, or the hundred and three year olds who stop by to tell us about railroading in the days of steam.  Some parents are aghast at their young kids using our first names, especially the first names of those modelers who are Dr. So-and-so or Bishop Such-and-such in more formal circles.  But we feel anybody at any age who is interested in trains deserves to be heard.  The result is often an outpouring of enthusiasm and knowledge from those we could easily dismiss as too young to have it or too old to have retained it.  I think the most positive feedback we get on the use of first names is when people who we first met as young tots come to the museum as adults to introduce their own children to us by their and our first names.

Jim     

[gandy dancer#1]

 I didnt mean to make a faux pa here, is that the correct word? And thanks to all of you and especially to jim, i am having more fun here than should be legal all the while hopefully learning as I go!! As I have a lot of time on my hands, aside from going to the doctors and fighting with the IRS which in itself is now one of my hobbies I read the days posts in the general, then in the ho segment. then search around for any answeres im seeking, then i pester you guys Sometimes in middle of the night i come up with  odd ball questions, but by morning i have forgotten, probably good for you guys I try not to think too much, and thanks a million to all here!!

[Doneldon]

Thanks NM aka D.
Jim     

Jim-

For the record, NM and I are not the same person, even
if we do live in the same time zone. NM is obviously a
skilled and experienced modeler so I would be glad to be
him but, alas, I am not.
                                       -- D

[gandy dancer#1]

HI: Ahemm I did some re-mesuring, alas i find my board width to be more like 32 inches, first time measured without my flashlight, got to watch that so came up with solution: I am going to reset and see which 2 outer edges i need to widen, and by how much, and posiblyuse brackets and add on extensions to bring board width to minimum of 36 inches,cheaper than buying new mdf sheets 4x8 at almost 100.00 pop out here. will keep you posted on progress may be cheapest way out , and may be a flop

[NarrowMinded]

Donaldon you are Far too kind to a Hack Like me...

I thought Aka.D  as in Dummy, Dimwit, Dullard or something else along those lines.

NM-Jeff

[jward]

HI: Ahemm I did some re-mesuring, alas i find my board width to be more like 32 inches, first time measured without my flashlight, got to watch that so came up with solution: I am going to reset and see which 2 outer edges i need to widen, and by how much, and posiblyuse brackets and add on extensions to bring board width to minimum of 36 inches,cheaper than buying new mdf sheets 4x8 at almost 100.00 pop out here. will keep you posted on progress may be cheapest way out , and may be a flop

adding a piece of 1x4 to each side should bring your table width to 39 1/2" which is enough for 18r.