New Product - British Finescale B7 Turnout Kits in P4

[Jeremy Good]

There have been some comments elsewhere about the potential availability of P4 turnout kits from British Finescale. In response to some comments on RMWeb I have just posted the following:

"It is not a secret that the Scalefour Society have been working with Wayne to develop P4 versions of the turnout kits.

The Society's AGM is this coming weekend and details of the initial range and its availability will be confirmed. I will update this Forum with the information once that announcement has been made.

Only a few days to wait...."

I know that some of you have seen samples on the Society stand through the development process but I felt very strongly that this development should be announced at the AGM. As such, I will confirm details on Saturday at the AGM and will post details on here as soon as I am able to after the meeting.

Jeremy

[Jeremy Good]

Following my earlier announcement about an announcement, I can now repeat the announcement that I made at the AGM.

Over the last 12 months or so the Committee have been liaising with Wayne Kinney at British Finescale about the possibility of the production of turnout kits to P4 standards. I am pleased to be able to confirm that the first fruits of this discussion will be available to purchase in early July.

The initial release will be a B7 turnout kit and this will be available to purchase via the Stores or direct from British Finescale. The price will be £23 per kit.

The kits follow the now established format of the British Finescale range. They incorporate a 3D printed sleeper base incorporating printed chairs and locators for the nose of the turnout, the wing rails and switch rails. The rails forming the nose of the crossing are machined and slide into the base to set the location and the switch rails are similarly machined. The kits utilise nickel silver bullhead rail which has to be cut to suit before sliding into the chairs. A printed tie-bar and operating pins are also included. The kits require little soldering except for electrical connectivity and gaps are provided in the printed base to facilitate this.

We hope that the kits will prove popular amongst our members and will also give the opportunity for newcomers to P4 standards to try it out before committing to our finer standards. They have been inspected by a number of Members over recent weeks to generally positive comments and I will be putting together a build article for the News providing more information in the next month or so. We have also discussed the possibility of providing some alternative configurations of turnout and crossing and these will be largely dependent on whether or not the initial offerings sell well.

We expect the Stores to have these in stock soon and they will also be added to Wayne's website in coming days. Please be a little patient as we will need to build up stocks and, because Wayne supplies a wide range of products, there is a limit to how much production capacity the Stores can monopolise.

We hope that this development proves useful and perhaps inspires a few more P4 layouts to be built.

Jeremy

[Jol Wilkinson]

Jeremy,

any further details on timber thickness?

Presumably these will be thicker than the usual ply sleepers supplied by the Society and hence not a match for track built with those.


Jol

[Jeremy Good]

Jol,

They are 1.6mm bases so should match Exactoscale FastTrack bases and thick plastic sleepering.

That should mean they also work with the thicker ply sleepers the Stores supply but not the traditional thin ones.

Jeremy

[Jol Wilkinson]

Thanks Jeremy.

Can I suggest that the compatible items are identified when the Turnout kits are added to the stores listing, to avoid confusion for purchasers.

Jol

[iak]

Having built one of the EM kits, this is a smashing development

[kelly]

A great addition to the stores and one I hope is popular enough for further point sizes to follow.

[Suffolk Dave]

A very positive development I would suggest. It reduces one of the technical obstacles to making the move into 18.83 gauge and should hopefully encourage some curious OO modellers to dip their toe in the P4 pool.

Whenever the society stand appears at exhibitions we should offer a discounted kit for all new members - "Hey c'mon in, the water's lovely!"

[ClikC]

A very positive development I would suggest. It reduces one of the technical obstacles to making the move into 18.83 gauge and should hopefully encourage some curious OO modellers to dip their toe in the P4 pool.

Whenever the society stand appears at exhibitions we should offer a discounted kit for all new members - "Hey c'mon in, the water's lovely!"

I echo these thoughts, and I wonder if some sort of P4 Track building starter kit might be an idea? A Point kit, a few Exactoscale fast track bases and some rails, enough to make a very small test plank.

Or, perhaps even a society challenge/ competition? Build a micro layout with at least one of these point kits?

Regards

Matt

[steamraiser]

Some pictures would be appreciated.

Gordon

[Jeremy Good]

Gordon,

I’ll do a step by step build when the production versions arrive but here is a before and after of the test builds.

IMG_3544.jpeg

IMG_3581.jpeg

[ChrisMitchell]

Or, perhaps even a society challenge/ competition? Build a micro layout with at least one of these point kits?

Regards

Matt

A competition sounds like a good idea. I think the EMGS did something similar with their points produced for them by Peco

Regards, Chris

[steamraiser]

Thank you JG.

[Enigma]

Having vast (!) stocks of 'thin sleepered' track and timbers the thick sleepers could be a problem for me perhaps. This is a (very) slight disappointment for me especially as I was really hoping that Wayne's involvement with the society would happen and that I could make use of his products in the longer term. However, given my proclavity for small layouts then a B7 might be a bit outside my remit in the short term so I'll probably have to keep on soldering and sticking for a while yet.

Whatever, I'm really glad that we now have the opportunity of offering potential members a (relatively) easier way into starting in P4 and removing one of the major potential objections.

[Martin Wynne]

Having vast (!) stocks of 'thin sleepered' track and timbers the thick sleepers could be a problem for me perhaps.

The old ways may be an answer for thin-sleepered plain track. Here is a scan from a 1949 book:



Martin.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Having vast (!) stocks of 'thin sleepered' track and timbers the thick sleepers could be a problem for me perhaps. This is a (very) slight disappointment for me especially as I was really hoping that Wayne's involvement with the society would happen and that I could make use of his products in the longer term. However, given my proclavity for small layouts then a B7 might be a bit outside my remit in the short term so I'll probably have to keep on soldering and sticking for a while yet.

Whatever, I'm really glad that we now have the opportunity of offering potential members a (relatively) easier way into starting in P4 and removing one of the major potential objections.

It is possible to buy thin cork sheet, including 0.8mm and 1.0mm, so it might be possible to use both thick and thin sleeper track by varying the underlay thickness.

[Philip Hall]

I have successfully used thin cork sheet on top of 3mm sheet for ply and rivet pointwork to bring it up to the level of FastTrack.

Philip

[davebradwell]

In the olden days we used to use card, usually from product packaging. You might just have to live off Bran Flakes for a few weeks but at least you'll be regular!

DaveB

[Tony Wilkins]

Having vast (!) stocks of 'thin sleepered' track and timbers the thick sleepers could be a problem for me perhaps. This is a (very) slight disappointment for me especially as I was really hoping that Wayne's involvement with the society would happen and that I could make use of his products in the longer term. However, given my proclavity for small layouts then a B7 might be a bit outside my remit in the short term so I'll probably have to keep on soldering and sticking for a while yet.

Whatever, I'm really glad that we now have the opportunity of offering potential members a (relatively) easier way into starting in P4 and removing one of the major potential objections.

It is possible to buy thin cork sheet, including 0.8mm and 1.0mm, so it might be possible to use both thick and thin sleeper track by varying the underlay thickness.

I did precisely this on my layout Brimsdown to match differing track depths. It is also possible to glue a second layer of thin sleeper strip under the riveted track to bring it up to 1.6mm.
Regards
Tony.

[kelly]

A very positive development I would suggest. It reduces one of the technical obstacles to making the move into 18.83 gauge and should hopefully encourage some curious OO modellers to dip their toe in the P4 pool.

Whenever the society stand appears at exhibitions we should offer a discounted kit for all new members - "Hey c'mon in, the water's lovely!"

I echo these thoughts, and I wonder if some sort of P4 Track building starter kit might be an idea? A Point kit, a few Exactoscale fast track bases and some rails, enough to make a very small test plank.

Or, perhaps even a society challenge/ competition? Build a micro layout with at least one of these point kits?

Regards

Matt

Perhaps a companion to the wagon starter kits that were made? build your first point and your first wagon in P4 (the wagon kit has the straight exactoscale track in it already) iirc.

[Enigma]

In the olden days we used to use card, usually from product packaging. You might just have to live off Bran Flakes for a few weeks but at least you'll be regular!

DaveB

A regular what? Yes, packing is the way to go but as I said above, my general pointwork tends to be A5 or thereabouts. Fine for small industrials but not very good for Pacifics (not that the Western Region had many of those................... )

I am thinking about another layout once Braynerts Sidings has reached a 'final' level and this will hopefully allow me to use my stock of Western Region locos (nothing bigger than a Dean Goods though). I have some B6's 'in stock' from a previous aborted layout and also a good quantity of flexible plain track, all of which should provide a good start.

[bobwallison]

In the olden days we used to use card, usually from product packaging. You might just have to live off Bran Flakes for a few weeks but at least you'll be regular!

DaveB

The card used for Kellog's Corn Flakes packs is 0.7 to 0.8mm thick, so you have a more tasty option.
I make the transition in sleeper thickness part way along the track panel, not at a joint, which avoids the sudden step in rail height if there are slight variations from the nominal thickness of the packing.
Bob

[DaveHarris]

The kits look very nice. Any idea when they will become available to us mere mortals?

[Jeremy Good]

We are hoping that the first order will be with Jeremy in the Stores sometime this week.

There is a limit on how many we can order in one go from British Finescale but hopefully we’ll be able to keep up with demand.

No doubt Jeremy S will advise further once he is in possession of initial stocks.

Jeremy G

[Neil Smith]

Quick question if I may?

What is the scale length of the sleepers - and presuming they will be targeted at the Grouping and BR or later eras, is there any likelihood of 9' sleepering being offered at some point for those of us who are interested in the dim and distant past?

All the best

Neil