Deck Thickness

[Peaky 556]

Can I ask of peoples plans for getting the rail top height at 66mm over the connecting bolt centres?  It seems that if Cliff Barker track is used then the top deck needs to be around 9mm thick.  The trouble is that GRS track is 2 mm deeper and so the top deck would need to be around 7mm.
Cheers
Tim 

[IanT]

Hi Tim,

You are correct - the pre-cut modules were designed for a 9mm 'top-deck' and to use Society or Cliff Barker track (at 15mm depth). If you are using GRS track (which should be perfectly doable) I would suggest you use a 6mm ply top and perhaps lift your track work slightly with some 1mm cardboard 'underlay'. Once you have laid ballast on top of this it will not be visible.

There will be a 'step' (in the board tops) where you join with other peoples modules (that are using 9mm & Society or CB track) but this is unavoidable I'm afraid, unless you build in some "height-transition" trackwork, using CB or G3S track for a short distance to bring your track thickness down to 15mm at your module external boundaries (e.g you would use a 9mm top and most of your track would just be a bit higher, except at where you plan to meet other modules) . However, this would entail extra work, when the only problem is slight a slight step down on the 'scenic-top'. This could be disguised in a number of ways if it was of concern using traditional scenic modelling techniques - used to hide board joins in the smaller scales (e.g. walls, bridges, tunnels, hedges etc).

Hope this helps.

Regards,

IanT