QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Details West truck screws
Q.
I have a couple of HO Details West kits I’m putting together
and the screws supplied to mount the trucks to the frame are
too short. The screws are fatter than the 2-56 screws in Accurail
and Athearn kits. What do people do with these kits?
– Steve
A.
Inexpensive cars with snap-in trucks have the same problem.
Later Details West kits have a raised collar on the underframe
that looks pretty Athearn-like and takes a #2 self-tapping screw.
But there are plenty of the early cars around to be fixed.
Joe Fugate says: “Drill out the hole to the size of available sty-
rene rod, put a couple drops of MEK in the hole, poke a length
of styrene rod or tubing in the hole and let it set up overnight.
Then, trim the rod flush with the bolster on the frame and drill
and tap it for 2-56. Works very well and I’ve not had a problem
since. On one car I tried to make do with the existing screws, but
the car didn’t last an op session before a truck came off.”
If you build plastic kits, you don’t need to buy styrene. Use a
piece of leftover plastic sprue (the runner that holds all the parts)
to fill the hole. If it’s too fat, warm the sprue over an open flame
(don’t set anything on fire) and gently stretch it as it warms. You
can then cut it off, stuff it in the hole until the taper fills it, then
follow Joe F’s instructions.
Details West kit screws:
– MRH
Spline techniques
Q.
Does anyone know of articles on making splined sub-road-
bed? If you have done it, how did you do it? I was thinking
about using Masonite. What did you use for spacer blocks?
How many splines? How do you make grade transitions?
How well has the roadbed held up? I will be modeling narrow
gauge in SN3. I am planning to use Homabed in HOn3 thick-
ness and width.
– Bob Helm
A.
Spline roadbed is a thrifty way to get a model railroad up and
going because it wastes little or no material. It’s also an easy
route to flowing [1] curves. The technique is periodically reborn
as people discover and try out new materials.
A quick Google search for “MRH spline” will get you going. Go to
Charlie Comstock has a free how-to on the Bear Creek & South
Jackson’s spline:
If you like to work from DVDs, Dave Husman suggests checking
out Model Trains Videos (one of MRH’s commercial partners)
at
and scroll down
Questions, Answers & Tips - 1
MRH-Jul 2014
