sponge soaked in
water will do. The
cleaner is made
by Aoyue (Aoyue.
com). I got mine
from Amazon.
com. Once the tip
is clean, I use a
controlled-temper-
ature soldering iron
along the side of
the rail and allow
a small amount of
solder to flow into
the joint.
Once the joint
has cooled, I
check the align-
ment and gauge
using an NMRA
track gauge. Then
I smooth the top
of the joints with
a flat file and fin-
ish with a “Bright
Boy” abrasive
track-cleaning
block.
One problem
I encountered
was that the
10. Soldering iron tip cleaner.
11. File the joint flush with a flat file.
12. Finish the surface with Bright Boy.
10
12
11
Getting Real Column - 5
MRH-May 2014
