 Hi, I'm Charlie Comstock, Superintendent of Trackwork on the HO Scale Bear Creek and South Jackson Railroad. You're witnessing a historic event, the first train to pass through the junction at the top of the helix. This junction has three turnouts, a Walther's number 8Y, a FastTracks number 8, and a ScratchBuild number 6. I'd like to show you how I scratch build turnouts using only homemade jigs. I used Microengineering Code 83 rail and PC ties from Cloverhouse for this turnout. Other materials used include solder and non-acid flux. I use a simple jig to place the ties and rails. It's just a paper template taped to a 1x6 piece of pine. I photocopied my paper templates from my copy of Paul Mallory's Trackwork Handbook for model railroads, but any accurate turnout diagram will work. PC ties come in different thicknesses. For HO Scale, I like the Cloverhouse's 62,000 thick ties. These also work in a FastTracks turnout jig. I start by prepping the PC ties using some 400 grit sandpaper to smooth rough edges. Rough edges are especially bad near the points as they can prevent the points from moving smoothly. Watch out for slivers of PC foil on the edges of the ties. They can cause hard to find shorts or become a fire hazard. I use flush cutting nippers to cut ties to length for each PC tie location on the template. I use a couple of Microengineering Small Spikes to hold each PC tie in place. The spikes slip over the ends of the PC ties, like this. With the ties secured in place, it's time to start adding the rails. First, I cut the two stock rails to length. Before continuing, be sure to file the ends of the rails smooth. Burrs will be a problem. They can cause derailments and will make it much more difficult to slip on rail joiners. Mark the inside surfaces of the stock rails where the points will nestle up to them. The rail base will need to be ground away here to give clearance. I use a black felt tip marker. When I'm building a standard straight leg turnout, I use a simple jig to hold the frog and closure rails at the correct angle. For a number 6 frog, I draw a straight line on a piece of 1 by 4 pine. Then I mark the frog point location and measure 6 inches along the line, then over 1 inch, and draw another line forming a 1 and 6 angle. 4 strip wood guides are spiked and glued to the pine to hold the frog and closure rails in place. I cut two pieces of rail to form the V of the frog. Then I hold some rail over the turnout template and cut pieces for the closure rails. I cut the closure rails longer than needed. I'll trim them later. Here's my universal turnout rail shaping tool. It works for almost any size rail in any scale. Remember the black marks on the stock rails? Let's use the 1 inch belt sander to grind the rail base off the stock rails where the points will mate with them. Once the rail base is ground down, use some more 400 grit sandpaper to remove roughness from the bottom of the stock rails. The frog rails need to be beveled to make a nice frog point. I'll use the 1 inch belt sander to do the beveling. Since there are no moving parts in the frog, these rails don't need sanding with the 400 grit paper. Let's place the frog rails in the frog jig. The frog rails go inside the strip wood guides. I use a couple of spikes to hold the rails in place. I use pliers to bend wing rails into the frog end of the closure rails. The closure rails go on the outside of the strip wood guides. Again, I use a couple of spikes to hold them in place. Slide the closure rails left or right to adjust the flangeway width between the frog and wing rails. Don't bend the closure rails to do this. That will wreck the rail alignment. Hold the frog jig up to a light. Use the light's reflection to sight long the tops of the rails and check their alignment. If you see one continuous path without any dipsy doodles, you've got it right. I prefer to solder my frogs. This will hold all the rails right where you put them. It can take a lot of solder to fill a frog. I press down on the rails to keep them level as I finish soldering. A few passes with a file flattens the bottom of the frog so it will sit flat on the ties. I use a 2-inch long piece of a hacksaw blade to mill the solder out of the frog's flangeways. Then I wire brush the frog to clean it up. I use the flangeway end of the enamerate gauge to check the width of the frog's flangeways. The flangeway nub should fit precisely. Time to install the rails. I use a piece of wire to put a tiny dab of flux on the PC ties where the straight stock rail will be located. Placing the first rail is a little tricky. Line it up over the template and tack solder it to a PC tie. I need to hold a metal straight edge to the stock rail to ensure it's actually straight. Without using the straight edge the rail will probably curve, especially where the rail base was ground away next to where the points will be installed. With the straight edge in place, solder the stock rail to all the PC ties. Now it's time to finish and install the frog enclosure rail assembly. I hold the assembly in place using the frog point to locate it. Then I cut the ends of the closure rails to length. Preparing the points is a multi-step process. Make a slight bend in the last 3 1⁄8 of an inch of the point. It should only bend as far as the overhang of the rail head over the rail's web. File away the overhanging rail head. The rail head's inner edge should be straight and the bend removed. I use the 5-inch disc sander to grind the side of the points flat so they can mate with the stock rails. Be sure to clean up the points with 400 grit sandpaper after grinding them. Burrs or roughness will interfere with the smooth operation of the points. Place the frog closure and point assembly on the PC ties, paying attention to locating the end of the switch points and the frog point correctly. I use several track gauges to hold the frog assembly in gauge with the straight stock rail. These gauges are rolly holders from Railway Engineering. Once the frog assembly is in place, solder it to the PC ties. Remember, the points do NOT get soldered to the head block ties next to the throwbar. Put a little bend, actually more like a gentle kink, in the curved stock rail where it meets the straight point. Using the rolly holders, I locate the curved stock rail and solder it in place. When soldering the points to a PC tie throwbar, I put a small piece of paper between the point and the stock rail, threading it under the stock rail. This helps prevent soldering the points to the stock rail. I applied a tiny dab of soldering flux to the point and throwbar. This will make the soldering operation nearly instantaneous. I use silver bearing solder to attach points to throwbars. It's much stronger than electronic solder. I grab a small amount of solder with the tip of my soldering iron and touch it to the throwbar and point, presto, instant joint. Be sure the gauge between the inside of each point and the opposing stock rail is correct. Also make sure there is at least a flangeway width of gap between an open point and its stock rail. Guard rails are relatively easy to make and install. Cut them out, bend the ends, and solder them in place. Gauge at the frog is extremely important. I use the flangeway end of my NMRA gauge to check it. If there's a problem, heat up the solder joint involved and nudge the rails into proper position. Go over the turnout with a wire brush to clean it up and use a jeweler's file to remove any excess solder from the rails. I use a truck with intermountain semi-scale wheels to test the turnout. Looks like it's working pretty well. I use a small triangular cross-section jeweler's file to make insulating gaps in the PC ties foil. I make DCC friendly turnouts. In these, the point and closure rails are electrically connected to the adjacent stock rails. The points are not used to route power to the closure rails or frog. In a DCC friendly turnout, the frog needs to be isolated electrically. Frogs can be either unpowered or dead, or they can be powered through switch machine contacts or with a frog juicer from Tam Valley Depot. Because this turnout is in and under the bench work location, I didn't use a full set of ties to support it. I spiked it in place after drilling tiny pilot holes for the spikes, then used a moto tool with cut-off disc to cut gaps surrounding the frog. It's a good idea to fill these gaps by gluing a small piece of styrene in them. This will keep rail expansion from closing them and causing short circuits. I hope this video has been useful as you work at scratch building your own turnouts. Goodbye now!