Lone Star Diecast OOO Trains.

[Mike Trice]

I had a crossing with two broken joining tabs so cut off 11mm from the two good roads:


As before after tidying up they were glued back to back with the metal glue:


I can now have a run around loop:

 

[Mike Trice]

Well, I threatened to do it and I have.

Original Lone Star track on left, 3D printed on right:


Printing was done on an FDM printer and I am surprised it has come out so well.

The short 22mm length:


Havn't worked out how to do the ballast texture but not too obvious. STL attached.

 

[40057]

Well, I threatened to do it and I have.

Original Lone Star track on left, 3D printed on right:
View attachment 219311

Printing was done on an FDM printer and I am surprised it has come out so well.

The short 22mm length:
View attachment 219312

Havn't worked out how to do the ballast texture but not too obvious. STL attached.

Clearly, a pretty accurate copy.

I suppose the obvious question is ‘Is it really necessary?’ Or to put that another way ‘Is original Lone Star track hard to find in good condition?’

Are you thinking of making parts for the track system Lone Star didn’t produce, but you wish they had? A slightly larger radius to make correctly spaced double track? (Or did Lone Star do that?)

 

[Mike Trice]

Track is readily available, but limited. My biggest bugbear is it is not possible to create a passing loop as illustrated in post #41 using available pieces hence my attempt to create a 22mm straight section. Problem solved.

I am not intending to go any further with this at present.

 

[Mike Trice]

I am not intending to go any further with this at present.

Well that did not last long! The suggestion of making a larger radius curve festered in my brain, partially fed by my questioning how easy or otherwise it would be to do a curved track in Blender.

Here is the problem using the limited pieces of track available from Lone Star:


Not only would I need a larger outer radius (R2) I would need a slightly shorter straight of 80mm. But before firing up blender I would need to determine not only the radius of the standard curve, but the track spacing which would derive the larger radius.

I started by forming a full circle of standard curves but ever time I measured it I got different measurements, the track connectors had too much slop in them. In the end I printed a large template that would allow me to accurately place the circle for measurement:


The radius was as near as damn it 170mm. Track centre to track center of the crossover was 46mm giving me a required larger radius of 216mm.

The resulting new items compared to standard track:


Now I can put together the following:


As before stls attached for anyone stupid enough to want to print any for themselves.

If I say no more now, will anyone believe me?

 

[40057]

Well that did not last long! The suggestion of making a larger radius curve festered in my brain, partially fed by my questioning how easy or otherwise it would be to do a curved track in Blender.

Here is the problem using the limited pieces of track available from Lone Star:
View attachment 219589

Not only would I need a larger outer radius (R2) I would need a slightly shorter straight of 80mm. But before firing up blender I would need to determine not only the radius of the standard curve, but the track spacing which would derive the larger radius.

I started by forming a full circle of standard curves but ever time I measured it I got different measurements, the track connectors had too much slop in them. In the end I printed a large template that would allow me to accurately place the circle for measurement:
View attachment 219588

The radius was as near as damn it 170mm. Track centre to track center of the crossover was 46mm giving me a required larger radius of 216mm.

The resulting new items compared to standard track:
View attachment 219590

Now I can put together the following:
View attachment 219591

As before stls attached for anyone stupid enough to want to print any for themselves.

If I say no more now, will anyone believe me?

Sorry!

 

[Mike Trice]

Apology accepted ;-).

 

[Mike Trice]

My attempt at documenting the Lone Star Diecast track geometry:

 

[40057]

My attempt at documenting the Lone Star Diecast track geometry:
View attachment 219737

Since the curved track of the points looks to be identical to a standard curve, a run round should be possible using standard parts. Thus:



As a child, I found this was the only way of making a loop with my Hornby 0 gauge tinplate track. I still use the configuration on my Rivermead Central layout constructed with Bassett-Lowke track.