idlemarvel
Neither idle nor a marvel
This is a review of the Bertram Heyn R2 point kit. This makes an LGB R2 standard (780mm radius) 22.5 degree point, in this case a right hand point. The straight portion of the point in 330mm long. Note this point has a "live frog" so you need a switch to provide the correct polarity power to the frog, unless you only use battery powered locos.
Here's what you get:
Some of the pieces in the kit are very small (M2 nuts) so be careful when assembling, you don't get any spares!
I also bought 7.5 degree R2 track piece to make the point up to 30 degree to match an R2 curve piece. This is ready assembled.
To return to the kit, stick the pads into the recesses in the sleepers. These are to give support to the "tongue" (moving) rails. Plug the rail chairs into the holes in the sleepers. Note that a number of the chairs have to be trimmed to make room for the moving rails and the check rails, read the instructions carefully. You do get a spare chair, or at least I had one left over!
Now you can slide the non-moving rails into place.
Now fit the frog. This is quite tricky to slide into place with all the rail chairs.
Now you definitely need one of these tools. Not sure what they are called, external nut driver? This is for M2 nuts and bolts. You can buy one (not the one shown below) from the Bertram Heyn site, they're €10 I think?
You need to drive a bolt with washer into the bottom of the moving rails. Note that there are 3 different lengths of bolts so make sure you use the correct ones. Before you do this make sure the tops of the moving rails are level with the frog rails. In my case I had to file the best part of 1mm off the moving rails to make them level. Note that the large screw holding the frog in place has a tag for you to solder a wire to power the frog.
You also need bolts, washers and nuts to attach the moving rails to the tie-bar. I managed to shear one of the bolts as the nut is being tightened against a piece of rail at an angle. Fortunately the bolt is holding firm without the nut. Other bolts are used to fit the guard rails into place.
To attach another piece of track to the straight part of the point needs a bit of adjustment to the sleepers. I found I had to use the rail connectors provided, as there is not enough room for screw clamps on the end of the straight section.
Note that normally you would need to have rail isolators on both the inside rails by the live frog, but in my case the point will lead off to a siding which will not have its own power source.
You can use standard LGB point motors (and I assume PIKO point motors) for this point but you have to file about 2mm off the top of the "legs" of the point motor so they will fit under the sleepers.
Now to wire it up. I used an LGB 12070 supplementary switch to switch the power to the frog. As I use DCC I also fitted an LGB point decoder 55024.
The point works well and being "live frog" there are no power problems at any speed. The moving rails move freely and fit nicely against the fixed rails. The guard rails hold the wheels in place on the turn without pinching or lifting the wheels.
The sleepers are much lower than LGB or PIKO track equivalents. I guess this is because the rail chairs are individually moulded items and not part of the track moulding. Actually I think they look better but this is subjective of course.
I suppose it took me about 4-5 hours all it all to assemble the point and wire it up for running.
My criticisms would be:
- because the sleepers are lower you have to modify your point motor to fit
- the moving rails needed a substantial amount of filing to fit level with the frog
- no spare nuts and bolts - bit cheapskate when you are paying €85 for the kit, it would cost a few cents at most to include an extra bolt of each size and a few spare nuts
- instructions only in German - you can extract the text from a PDF and google translate it but that leaves a lot of room for interpretation - "wheel handlebars" anybody?
- not able to use rail clamps at the frog end of the point
That being said, these are all relatively minor issues. The key thing is the end result is a very solid and so far reliable point. You only need average modelling skills and tools to build the kit. Being live frog makes for more effort when installing the point but it's worth it for smooth running. If you need an LGB R2 geometry point I can certainly recommend these. You can buy them assembled but they're twice the price (€170) which makes you gulp a bit, but time is money.
Here's what you get:
Some of the pieces in the kit are very small (M2 nuts) so be careful when assembling, you don't get any spares!
I also bought 7.5 degree R2 track piece to make the point up to 30 degree to match an R2 curve piece. This is ready assembled.
To return to the kit, stick the pads into the recesses in the sleepers. These are to give support to the "tongue" (moving) rails. Plug the rail chairs into the holes in the sleepers. Note that a number of the chairs have to be trimmed to make room for the moving rails and the check rails, read the instructions carefully. You do get a spare chair, or at least I had one left over!
Now you can slide the non-moving rails into place.
Now fit the frog. This is quite tricky to slide into place with all the rail chairs.
Now you definitely need one of these tools. Not sure what they are called, external nut driver? This is for M2 nuts and bolts. You can buy one (not the one shown below) from the Bertram Heyn site, they're €10 I think?
You need to drive a bolt with washer into the bottom of the moving rails. Note that there are 3 different lengths of bolts so make sure you use the correct ones. Before you do this make sure the tops of the moving rails are level with the frog rails. In my case I had to file the best part of 1mm off the moving rails to make them level. Note that the large screw holding the frog in place has a tag for you to solder a wire to power the frog.
You also need bolts, washers and nuts to attach the moving rails to the tie-bar. I managed to shear one of the bolts as the nut is being tightened against a piece of rail at an angle. Fortunately the bolt is holding firm without the nut. Other bolts are used to fit the guard rails into place.
To attach another piece of track to the straight part of the point needs a bit of adjustment to the sleepers. I found I had to use the rail connectors provided, as there is not enough room for screw clamps on the end of the straight section.
Note that normally you would need to have rail isolators on both the inside rails by the live frog, but in my case the point will lead off to a siding which will not have its own power source.
You can use standard LGB point motors (and I assume PIKO point motors) for this point but you have to file about 2mm off the top of the "legs" of the point motor so they will fit under the sleepers.
Now to wire it up. I used an LGB 12070 supplementary switch to switch the power to the frog. As I use DCC I also fitted an LGB point decoder 55024.
The point works well and being "live frog" there are no power problems at any speed. The moving rails move freely and fit nicely against the fixed rails. The guard rails hold the wheels in place on the turn without pinching or lifting the wheels.
The sleepers are much lower than LGB or PIKO track equivalents. I guess this is because the rail chairs are individually moulded items and not part of the track moulding. Actually I think they look better but this is subjective of course.
I suppose it took me about 4-5 hours all it all to assemble the point and wire it up for running.
My criticisms would be:
- because the sleepers are lower you have to modify your point motor to fit
- the moving rails needed a substantial amount of filing to fit level with the frog
- no spare nuts and bolts - bit cheapskate when you are paying €85 for the kit, it would cost a few cents at most to include an extra bolt of each size and a few spare nuts
- instructions only in German - you can extract the text from a PDF and google translate it but that leaves a lot of room for interpretation - "wheel handlebars" anybody?
- not able to use rail clamps at the frog end of the point
That being said, these are all relatively minor issues. The key thing is the end result is a very solid and so far reliable point. You only need average modelling skills and tools to build the kit. Being live frog makes for more effort when installing the point but it's worth it for smooth running. If you need an LGB R2 geometry point I can certainly recommend these. You can buy them assembled but they're twice the price (€170) which makes you gulp a bit, but time is money.
