R1 to R3?

beavercreek

beavercreek

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How big is the belly Roly? :rolf:

Well, if the joiners (fishplates) are removed, then the rail can be bent fairly easily BUT....to get the correct smooth radius it is probably best to use a rail bender rather than the tum. Also the outer rail will end up a little longer and will need cutting to match the inner one to marry to another bit of rail.
 
Well, I would think it would be a rather impractical idea. Rather than use an adult tum your would really need a baby's bum I would say, especially if you are considering doing it to a short length of curve, and I think the baby might object. It doesn't really matter if one rail is longer than the other, in fact as I've often said to have the joins staggered is in fact a good idea. Altogether an unusual idea, I think. Are you talking about a lot of curves?
 
Problem with railbenders, dependent on design, is that there is always a portion at the ends of the rail, an inch or so, that you are trying to (un)bend that will not be altered. Not a problem with 1.5 mtr lengths of flexi-track you are bending down to a 4ft radius but a bit of an issue if you are trying to straighten short sections of track, that was tightly radiused to start with, to produce a nice even continous wider radiused set.

Best bet pop them on Fleabay/GRC or try and do a deal with a trader for some alternative 2nd hand stock of LGB/Aristocraft/Accucraft/Piko/Train-line or even Tenmille (adapter required) code 332 stuff in the radius you wish to achieve.

Max.
 
In all honesty I personally wouldn't attempt it.

I have attempted this previously times and the transition of the curve achieved was pretty pants to be honest. All of the "R3" that I bent out from R1's have since been replace with the genuine article, as I was never happy with the look or the running characteristics.

Bending R1's into straights, now that's a completely different ball game that I've had great success with.
 
I've 're-radiused' R1 to R2, so altering to R3 or even straightening is possible?


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I used a B&W Workmate. I removed the rails from the sleeper web first.

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Then I clamped the first inch or so of the rail (I used the mark of where the sleeper had been as seen on the underside of the rail), and gently, bent out the curve to roughly the radii I required.

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I then clamped 2 inches and repeated the above until I reached the middle of the rail, before starting again at t'other end.
Refit the rails to the web and trim if you want the ends of the rails to be parallel, rarther than staggered.
 
Tony said:
Roly you best off selling your R1s and spending a few quid extra buying proper ones there are plenty about at not much more
Click to expand...

i agree
while in theory it can be done-the real issue will be
is it done well?, (no disrespect meant-)

and, will you suffer endless operation headaches with funky joints, inside rail edges that do not align well, uneven rail height, etc?
 
maxi-model said:
there is always a portion at the ends of the rail, an inch or so, that you are trying to (un)bend that will not be altered.
Click to expand...

Which is where my mini Jim-Crow comes into it's own, un-bending that last little bit (or bending if required).
 
55.5 said:
Hmmmmmmm!!!
I will give one a go with the Workmate technique and see how it goes.
Thanks for all the responses.
Click to expand...

Why not give two a go?

If it goes all pear-shaped you can re-straighten all the rails using the Workmate (or a bench vice), and make up one 12" and one 13" straight. (Of course if you do only one you could saw off 1" from the outside rail and still end up with a 12" straight, about 1% oversized from an LGB 10000.)
 
55.5 said:
Hmmmmmmm!!!
I will give one a go with the Workmate technique and see how it goes.
Thanks for all the responses.
Click to expand...
Let us know how you get on. I'm as tight as a ducks aperture and need some r3s and have bags of r1s.
 
I have widened R1 curves to "my" desired radii, that's not too difficult.
I had a lot of R1's and considered your question. However, I opted to sell them to guys on here and used the money received to buy R3's. More than happy with the result.
 
I have bought R1 because they were cheap and converted them to straights (very easy) and different curves (not difficult). I now have a rail bender that makes it super easy. ....but all my curves are now custom radius to fit a particular place rather than R1, R3, etc.
 
Well then, you've cracked it :clap::clap::clap:

I was gonna say that for any quantity, it can't be worth it because an R1 is not going to be a very long bit of rail, and then when you've evened up the lengths..........

But hey, that looks fine, and if the locos go round it, that's my boy :bigsmile::bigsmile::bigsmile:
 
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