A dimensionally stable sheet base or roadbed section to build the turnout on for RTR strength and transferability.

A set of wood ties, or bulk long ties to cut to size

Two sufficiently long lengths of rail for the stock rails and enough rail for the remainder of the turnout

A pair of properly shaped points

A pre-formed frog of the desired type

A set of special turnout tieplates and fittings, including point hinge parts

Enough plain track tieplates that match the model rail code size, to complete the turnout number intended.

About 100 scale spikes for securing the rail section ends

A suitable throwbar or kit to work with prototypically shaped points

A minimum set of add-on details such as joint bars, etc, to correctly cover the major rail joints.

A few inches of very flexible wire for connecting the points electrically and a yard of regular hook up for optionally powering the frog

PROCESSES AND TIPS RELATED TO LAYING TURNOUT TIES:

The Ultimate kits contain sets of precisely pre-cut ties, but scratch builders may cut their own from 16'-6" or longer bulk switch ties.



Both Switch-Works Pro and the Turnout Diagrams may be used as tie cutting templates.

NOTE: REVERSING THE STRAIGHT EDGE OF THE TIE FRAME TOOL PROVIDES A REFERENCE CUTTING EDGE FOR MARKING/CUTTING A COMPLETE SET OF TURNOUT TIES FROM BULK TIES

If you are not building a straight turnout directly on a section of road-bed, it is a good idea, and recommended, to glue the ties to a thin, non distorting base sheet, such as the Ultimate Plastic Turnout Base. This will prevent the ties moving or lifting later, when attaching tieplates. Before laying any ties, PLACE THE BASE SHEET UNDER the Tie Frame Tool, or OVER the full size Turnout Diagram (It's translucent). Then either pin, or magnet clamp, the Base Sheet firmly in place. Use dilute Barge or similar to stick down the ties to the base sheet.



NOTE: DO NOT FIT A BASE SHEET INITIALLY IF YOU ARE GOING TO CURVE THE TURNOUT AT STEP THREE

If using the Tie Frame Tool, it should be squared up at this point by test fitting a few loose ties and checking that the Tie Laying Tool positions the farther tieplates centrally on the ties. See Switch Works Help

Note: The Ultimate base sheet provided is larger than the Frame Tool. THE EDGES OF THE FRAME TOOL MAY BE USED AS A GUIDE TO CUT THE BASE SHEET TO THE NMRA STANDARD 2" TRACK BASE NOW OR LATER WHEN IT IS TIME TO REMOVE THE FINISHED TURNOUT.



A huge advantage of the tie frame tool is that you may safely and easily remove the flexible glued tie base assembly from the tie frame jig for pre-painting as a complete unit. This makes tie painting really easy and simple, as the ties do not have to placed in any sort of holding jig or held individually. You can also see exactly where each tie is going to be finally, in context of your finished paint scheme. You may pre-stain or paint the ties well ahead of time, but ensure they are completely dry and have no loose coatings before commencing further building. But, you should sand or try to leave the wood as bare as possible on the small areas of the ties that will receive the tie plates later. Glue generally will not stick as well to a pre-painted or soft surfaces. You may instead stain the ties later, but you will risk the stain not covering "white" spots if some glue flows out from under the tieplates.

Painting later will of course work fine, but will be more involved if you want to paint the tieplates/rails and the ties different shades, such as "rust" and "wood".

PROCESSES AND TIPS RELATED TO LAYING TURNOUT TIEPLATES:

Make sure you are familiar with the tieplate types and their position in the frets.



Also print a loose copy of the appropriate Turnout Diagram you are going to use to help you decide which tieplate goes where.

BEFORE CUTTING NOTE: Except for the narrow frog plates (FP), IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CUT THE TIEPLATES EXACTLY TO THEIR EDGES, NOR PRECISELY DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE TABS.



Just aim the scissors approximately in the middle of the middle of each set or column of tabs and cut the the tabs through. DON'T cut off the remaining half side tabs. There is an allowance on the jig for the half tabs to be sticking out, which is also used to locate any current or future smaller tieplate sizes.

Now go ahead and cut ONLY the particular tie plates you need from the fret with the good quality scissors and place them in the appropriate marked sections of the tie plate holding box. This will allow you to later rapidly reach in and pick up the correct tieplate types very quickly, and without hesitation, as you later fill the tie plate laying tool. The kneadable rubber pick-up tool performs the selection and positioning of each tieplate remarkably easily and well.



Alternatively others have had great success picking and positioning tie plates with a sharp probe with the very end bent at a right angle.

Wipe the tie tops with a solvent to remove any oily residue and let dry in preparation for applying the tieplates. Only proceed to actually lay any tieplates after the glue holding the ties to the base sheet has set completely.

The ideal glue for fixing tieplates is a slower setting epoxy, but it does require pre-mixing and will set up irreversibly in any syringe and needles you use. An ACC gel is simpler to and quicker to use, but will set very quickly. On the other hand, ACC can be unfastened by applying Acetone, in case any replacement or adjustment is necessary.

The goal of the tie plate gluing process is to apply a very small drop of glue that is enough to cover most of the space on the tie that tie plate fits over, but also only as much glue as will stay under the tieplate, when the tieplate is pressed down in place. It is good idea to practice this on a few spare tie plates to find what size droplet works for you, before commencing gluing the switch tie plates proper.

Then, when confident, apply glue to only as many tie plate positions as you can position easily before the glue starts to cure. NOTE THAT THE TIE PLATES SHOULD BE GLUED IN SEQUENCE COMPLETELY ACROSS EACH TIE, BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT TIE. This way there is much less chance of a loose tie moving out of position between gluing applications, and adversely affecting the eventual track gauge.

If using the "Switch-Works" tieplate jig to lay the tieplates, be sure to slide an extra magnet clamp very close to the current tieplate position. Also press down firmly with a spare finger or so on the jig right next to the tieplate and over the tie being glued. This will ensure the tieplate is firmly held in the exact position by the jig and is not able to slip out place, by sliding partly underneath the jig aperture.

Also if using the Tieplate Jig, lift it carefully up off the ties after laying each batch of tieplates with ACC a little before the glue sets hard, and check for, and wipe off, any glue that has crept on the jig. Then let the current batch of tieplates set firmly before replacing the jig. This will prevent the possibility of accidentally gluing the jig to the tieplates and/or ties. Slower setting epoxy should not be a problem, but in either case, remove the plate laying jig top completely and clean it off, before the glue has fully hardened, once all the tieplates have been set, for the same reason. It NOT necessary to leave the jig on until the glue has finally set.



NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING USING A RB MANGANESE OR SELF GUARDING STYLE OF FROG, OMIT THE LAYING OF THE FROG PLATES (FP) DURING THIS STEP.



The flat edge of the "D" shaped hole in each tieplate both marks the exact gauge line, and indicates the direction in which the tieplate should face when properly positioned. THE "FLAT" OF THE "D"SHOULD ALWAYS BE TOWARDS THE INSIDE OF THE TRACK.

If you are NOT using Switchworks and the Tieplate Laying tool, you will need to mark the exact tieplate positions on the tie tops. Do this by temporarily sticking an extra copy of the Turnout Diagram on the laid ties and then use a 1/32" chisel sharpened music wire as a punch, and punch shallow pits in the tie tops precisely through the marked "D" shapes in each tieplate position. You can position the tieplates exactly later, by using the music wire and pit as a jig.

NOTE: FOR A VERY LOW COST, AND/OR LESS DETAILED, SCRATCH-BUILT TURNOUT: You can instead prick the spike holes through with an inked needle, and just scale spike the rails down later without using any tieplates at all. Or of course, you can still use tieplates, but scale spike the rails down through them in the holes provided





With all the tieplates firmly set in place, you may move on to lay the rails.

NOTE: IF USING A SWITCH-WORKS TIE FRAME, THE FRAME CROSS LINKS MUST BE REMOVED BEFORE LAYING ANY RAILS PERMANENTLY. Otherwise the cross links may become trapped between the rails and the tie base.



PROCESSES AND TIPS RELATED TO LAYING THE VARIOUS RAILS AND FROG

The methodology of rail laying is to lay the various rail sections in the grooves formed by the tieplates and the dummy spike heads.



GROOVES DETAIL

This groove fit is so precise that it should not be necessary to separately align the rails to gauge. Each rail section should be glued into all the tie plate groves and additionally scale spiked with at least a pair of spikes at both ends of each section end and the section center. Add more spikes on longer sections as needed.

We recommend using ACC gel as the rail to tie plates glue for normal household environments. If your model environment is subject to very large temperature swings, then the glue you use between the rails and the tieplates may need to be diluted barge cement, or a similar permanently flexible adhesive, to allow for a slight rail expansion movement. Dilution of barge, etc., is recommended primarily to make sure the adhesive is free of any lumpiness, so the rail sits flat, fully down into the tieplate groove.

The grooves formed by the dummy spike heads firmly hold the rail base from moving sideways, while the glue prevents the rail slipping. The spikes ensure the rail is held firmly down into those grooves while the glue is curing to full strength, and stays there even if the turnout is accidentally lightly bumped during later installation and use.



NOTE: Both the Ultimate and Fast and Easy turnouts are designed to realistically follow prototype design and practice and use the correctly formed Three Way Planed Points. CONSEQUENTLY, IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO FILE AWAY THE BASE OF THE STOCK RAILS AT THE POINTS. In fact the stock rails should be left completely intact for the points provided to work correctly

NOTE: Four lengths of rail are provided in the kit. The two longer lengths are for the stock rails while the two shorter lengths will need to be cut to size later for the closure, guard and frog extension rails.

At the time of fitting, the raw rail ends should be trimmed with the file or a Dremel disk, to make the ends neatly and realistically square.



If building either a straight or curved turnout, the first rail to be fitted should be the (most) curved stock rail. (see later notes if the turnout is to be curved). This curved stock rail will be most easily shaped if it is minutely "notched" and then pre-bent with your fingers at the "sharp bend" point between the TOE and the SWITCH as shown on the turnout diagram and above, to give the correct switch angle. Using the turnout diagram as a guide, similar minute notches should be added at the other places shown in the picture, to keep the different bends from just flowing into each other.

The rest of the bending is easily done by then leaving the SWITCH portion perfectly straight until the position of the points hinge. From there it should be worked with fingers gently into the curve that runs up until the toe Beginning of the frog section is reached. From there, through the frog and the end of the turnout, the rail should remain straight.



NOTE: WHILE EVEN AN UNPRE-BENT RAIL WILL BE HELD TO THE CURVE BY THE TIEPLATE GROOVES, THE PRE-BENDING AROUND THE SWITCH (POINTS) SECTION IS RERCOMMENDED TO ENSURE THE SWITCH SECTION OF THE TURNOUT REMAINS PROTOTYPICALLY STRAIGHT. AND ALSO TO MAKE SURE THE STRAIGHT POINT IS PROPERLY HOUSED TO ENSURE RELIABLE RUNNING.


(note this early picture incorrectly shows the straight stock rail being fitted first)

Trim the rail as necessary to the exact size needed and fit permanently by gluing and spiking as above.

NOTE: IF INTENDING TO BUILD A CURVED TURNOUT, AT THIS STAGE, ANY TIE FRAME TOOLS NEED TO BE REMOVED AND THE TURNOUT WITH ONLY THE SINGLE STOCK RAIL FITTED, GENTLY AND CAREFULLY CURVED TO FIT THE DESIRED OUTER RADIUS OR TEMPLATE. IT MAY THEN BE GLUED DOWN TO A BASE SHEET TO HOLD IT PERMANENTLY IN THE DESIRED POSITION. Then continue to follow the instructions as below

The next rail section to test fitted is the pre-formed frog. The appropriate frog plates, if fitted earlier, should align a bent rail frog correctly, with a small amount of possible longitudinal movement and the position of the nominal vee point should match the turnout diagram. However, for absolute NMRA compliance, the gauge along the frog section between the vee and the curved stock rail should be confirmed as no less than 0.650" using a NMRA or P:87 gauge. A moderate amount of fine adjustment to allow that can be made by sliding the frog slightly either to or from the toe end of the turnout. You may also confirm the gauge between the vee and the straight stock rail by temporarily pressing or clamping a short length of straight rail into the straight stock rail tie plates, but do not fix the second stock rail in place yet.

NOTE: A manganese or other style frog will need to first be manually aligned at this stage, and its supporting tieplates manually added. A managanese or other frog should be test aligned as above using a gauge and then plain (not FB) tieplates slid and glued in place under the edges of the frog wherever the FB tieplates would have been fitted. After those tieplates have set, then the frog may be correctly placed as per the Normal bent rail frog instructions above and below.

Tack the frog temporarily in place with a few spikes and then prepare to cut a pair of two different pieces of rail from each of the two shorter lengths. One piece of each pair should be just over the length of the guard rail and one should be slightly longer than the frog extension rail. Before actually cutting, confirm that the remaining lengths are still sufficiently long to use for the closure rails.

NOTE: The Guard rail length is the same as the length of the wing rail tip through the toe end of the frog.

Place the four newly cut rail lengths temporarily in the tieplate groves on all four ends of the frog to confirm the rail ends can be made to line up perfectly, or if necessary, by sliding the frog outwards slightly, more toward the heel of the turnout. Do not move the frog at all inwards if you have already confirmed the gauges at the vee as 0.650". In the case of a cast frog, it may be necessary to adjust, by bending slightly, the rail ends of the frog itself, with the frog vee still in the correct position. Then glue and spike the frog down permanently. If the frog has a power wire attached, first make sure it is fed down and sideways conveniently (or drill a hole in a tie if needed) to where it may conveniently soldered to later.


(note this early picture incorrectly shows the straight stock rail being fitted first)

Now the frog extension rails may be trimmed and permanently glued and spiked in place. Leave an approximately 0.010 isolation gap if wanted between them and the frog ends.


(note this early picture incorrectly shows the straight stock rail being fitted first)

The closure rails can be similarly permanently trimmed and fitted with a mandatory 0.010 gap at the toe end of the frog. Note the closure rails should end half way between the two ties of the points heels, as shown on the correct turnout diagram.

Now we are ready to fit the points hinges, the points and the throwbars. NOTE: THE POINTS LENGTH AND POINT HINGES POSITION IS DIFFERENT, DEPENDING WHETHER YOU ARE BUILDING A HO OR PROTO:87 TURNOUT. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING THE CORRECT DIAGRAM.

Assemble the two throw bars (push and pull) as per the throw bar help instructions. Note that we now supply full length plastic strips for both bars, so the the pull bar will need to be trimmed to length. The extra length provided is to ensure that the bar ends always remain trapped under the stocks rails in either extreme position.

Test Install the assembled throw bars in the two adjacent tie slots as shown and make sure they both freely slide and drop flat to the bottom of the slots. If they are are all tight, then remove then and sand the side of the bars and test again until they do move completely freely.

Now fit and glue the second stock rail into place. Test fit, then glue the correct size point heel filler block (HB) between the end of the closure and the already fitted stock rails, flush agains the closure rail web and leaving 50% protruding from the closure rail end. These will each form half of the points hinge, so being flush to the closure rail web is important for the point hinge alignment.

Trim the (blunt) end of each of the points to the length shown on the turnout diagram. AGAIN THIS LENGTH WILL BE DIFFERENT FOR AN HO OR A PROTO:87 TURNOUT. NOTE: THE POINTS ARE A LEFT AND RIGHT HAND PAIR. PLACE THEM ON THE CORRECT SIDE. Test fit the points. If the blade end railheads do not exactly match the stock rail rail heads, you may VERY CAREFULLY bend them slightly at the point where the base is already prototypically bent. However, if the error is very small, it will probably be automatically corrected by the central pressure of the throwbar. So do not even attempt to adjust the points at all until after trying the throwbar action.

This is a good time to add the extra-flexible wire provided by soldering short pieces to the underside of each point near the hinge end.

PROCESSES RELATED TO GUARD RAILS AND CHECK GAUGING:

Now the guard rails may be fitted. Although the guard rail plates nominally set the guard rails in the correct place, you should verify that with a check gage, before spiking and gluing them in permanently.

PROCESSES AND TIPS RELATED TO ELECTRICAL ASPECTS AND WIRING:

Finally, the points should be electrically connnected to the stock rails by soldering the other ends of the point wires to the underside of the stock rails.

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