Fastrack Curves?

I also found out the hard way that 4x8 plywood board is too small for Fastrack (048) size, did not know about the forum at that time, Later I visited a LHS (non closed) and he told me I would need a 9x5 board for 048.

Do and learn or ask the "Forum" first.

Brent

If you add a piece of wood trim around the edges of the plywood, the 48" curves will fit (although it will be tight).

He feels better since I offered to buy all his 048 curves, since I can use them.

Fastrack curves are designed to 'nest' within curves of a wider angle.  As the options are 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84, there's a consistent 12" diameter between each.

An individual on this forum was kind enough to help me figure out how to get a curve onto a 4x8 that took maximum advantage of the space.  See this thread:

https://ogrforum.com/t...urves-with-straights

So a 36,48,48,48,36 provides a curve that fills the 4x8 perfectly.  That may be exactly the solution he needs!

He is limited in the room and adding more since he needs room to get around layout with his wheelchair, and doesn't want the cars or engines to close to edge in case of accidents.

His son is helping him as I am with hookups. He's going with TMCC

O36 curves with a 4.5" and two 1.75" FasTrack straights at 90 degrees puts the edge of the roadbed right at the edge on 4' wide plywood. For more clearance put less straights at 90 degrees.

Great. Didn't think of that. I have lots of 036 Fastrack pieces. I'll go over later and show him this idea. Again, Thanks.

Personally I'm a big fan of mixing radii in curves. I find the look of perfectly symmetrical ovals a bit too toy like. You can fit a 2xO36/3xO48 curves on each end and still have a 50" main line in a 4x8 space. I've attached a SCARM file as well as a screen shot. Bonus to the O48 curved corners is they allow more room for scenery. 

When I initially built, I started with this for my outer loop curve (36-36-straights-36-36): 

I was very dissatisfied with the way trains looked when they hit that straight section at the apex of the curve... cars snapping straight, then hitting the curve again.  Normally small stuff like that doesn't bother me, but it was very noticeable.

Here's how it looks now with the other setup (36-48-48-48-36)--cars have a much more fluid appearance around the corner.

I'll throw in another vote for using mixed radii.  I have done this with tubular, and it definitely helps take away the rectangle look, and the trains look better as there is less swing with their overhang.

My question is when you mix curves such as 036 & 048,what does that make the curve,036 or 048? 

It depends how you look at it and why you ask.  If you alternate O-36 and O-48 pieces through a half circle, you get something very close to their average - so you could say the net result was "O-42."

From the standpoint of locos and what will run, its probably still O-36. Locos that will run on O-48 but nothing tighter will probably not run on the curve: they will go through the O-48 pieces but not the O-36. But anything that will run on O-36 should work fine. 

Lee  Willis, the example you gave in your answer was exactly what i wanted to know,if i redo my layout,it would be interesting to experiment & see what will go through these curves,my only problem right now is i only have 036 engines,however if i do rebuild the layout,i will have at least 1  072 loop,1  060 loop & 1  048 loop. The hardest part is figuring out what i want,which for me is no easy task,so i will take my time & learn from the misstakes i made in my first layout.I will be hopefully getting a couple of larger engines in the future,but first i must rebuild .

I think it looks better if you put the smaller radius at the apex of the half circle. The cars will ease into the curve and maintain the illusion of a wider radius circle.