On cork under switches, would love to see that done right in detail the way you describe. The way(s) I've been doing it are a PIA and every one seems to come out a little different.
If you are referring to the blended-strips technique, it's easy to show,...but hard to put into words. (I just tried....I even started to confuse myself!) Unfortunately, I'm not currently laying cork, or I'd have my wife take some photos as I go, and, as the saying goes, the pictures would, indeed, be worth 'a thousand words'....as well as clarify the whole process.
So, in lieu of that, let me just offer a simple Band-Aid remedy for imperfections that might ease your dissatisfaction: Spray paint the cork in the switch region flat black before re-laying the switch. Yep, the switch assembly with its complexity of ties, rails, guardrails, frog, point pivot/throw-bar, etc. does a pretty good job of hiding cork gaps. But giving a quick coat of black paint to the cork surface will blend the black shadows of gaps right into everything else. Of course, if you plan to eventually ballast the track/switch, gapped cork is almost a moot point.
Blended strips, BTW, is much less expensive than the cork waste of cutting sheet cork to the profile of a switch. It's just a bit more fussy, as you may be alluding to.
Oh, another tip on filling in the area under switches with cork... If you lay a filler piece upside down so that its beveled edge mates to the beveled edge of the piece already down, it REALLY helps in eliminated gaps....BIG time.
So, again, FWIW...
KD
Thanks KD,
Was redoing a previous sloppy job last night and basically used that approach. The most important visual -- to me -- is how well the cork follows the outside edge track contours. After I got that right I cut a couple of additional pieces and pressed into the gaps under the track. Not perfect but once the switch is on top you would never know of course. The blended strips technique is more of a curiosity at this point. One of those things that they make look really easy in the "how to" books but not so much in practice.
S
