Any suggestions on what is the best to fill countersunk screw holes in my track? much obliged, mj

That depends on how perminate your layout is...

If you arent going to change it....then a good vinal patch works and wont shrink...

I was thinking about using black vinal caulk for seams and screw holes...

But I'm just going to use black screws or black brad nails and set them flush...

Cuz I'm lazy....but mostly becuase I dont plan on painting my layout to hide the patching... :p

That depends on how perminate your layout is :p
My track is permanent.(barring major surgery on it) I was thinking of filling the screw holes and gaps and painting them black. I'm not going to paint the whole track. I'm kind of picky so i want it to look good and work well. mj

Laquer based automotive spot putty,easy to sand,and easy to get paint to stick to,just don't get to carried away with it,it will melt your track.

mj,

Did you fill your screw holes, and if so, what did product(s) did you try, and what did you end up using?

I broke through a few of those leaving a major pothole. If you want an easy solution that isn't that noticable:

Electrical Tape. ;)

citylights 17, my one track is countersunk, screwed down with number 4 screws, I think. What I did was take some black, pvc electrical tape (0.007" thick), a standard one hole punch you can pick up anywhere (my kids, in my case!), and start punching out holes to cover the screw heads. The screws are slightly below track level before I started adding the little pvc manhole covers, as I call them. :thumbsup: If the tape wanted to stick to the hole punch, I just picked them off with a pair of hemostats.

If you used the colored electrical tape for car lane markers, you can even make a few of your screw head covers a different color, if you so desire :p .

Steve

I simply painted the countersunk brass screw heads black and they disappeared. Don't notice them at all now. Works great, less filling.

In my case, I am painting the track. I am reusing track that already has countersunk holes, and I don't plan on using screws again to attach it.

I've tried some modeling clay, and it seems to work ok, but it isn't really easy to get the clay flush. A razor blade works most of the time, but often the clay pulls up, and have to redo it. I may have to resort to filling it with something that hardens, and sanding, but not sure what to use still.

Here is a pic of a curve with the center hole filled in with clay. One problem I see with this if you don't paint the track, is that when wiping down the track you could mess up the clay.

The other piece in the pic has 2 holes filled and then painted over. (I scratched it some when cleaning the rails).

You know...I was thinking about this...

Something cheap...soft...easy to work...easy to clean....that sets up hard in a few days...

Black Playdough? :confused:

I didn"t fill my screw holes yet. I wasn't sure my track was finished. It wasn't. I added 2.5' to the length. Now to tighten up and fill. I'm going to try vinyl spackle. Light, sandable, easy to apply flush. Just over fill a little so you have something to sand. Dries in a couple of hours. I may try dyeing it black with latex paint before applying it. mj

I went with the spackle also. I didn't try the overfilling method.

I wasn't able to get a good fill on the first pass without the putty knife pulling some spackle up and out, so I settled for a majority fill. I then went back a second time with spackle to fill the hole flush.

It does sand easily, but I would be worried about marring the track finish if I wasn't painting the track.

i used autobody spot puddy on my track to fill all the holes,gaps,and between the tracks and it worked great but i painted my track a machinry grey and put the putty on the cork next to the track so it was level with the track and the cars have killer traction with the paint on the trackbut i had a hard time removing the paint off the rails but the putty dries in 20 minutes so you can sand it, you can look at my new pics of my track on my gallery if you would like. thanks gary

Slight thread hi-jack, but does anyone leave their track "floating" on the table as opposed to screw or nail mounting it?

I wouldn't permanantly mount the track until I get the "right" track setup for me, and I remember long ago that not having it mounted down invites potential for a non-level surface, and joints along the track where my cars would catch. But just wondering if anyone out there experiences any issues if they're not anchored down.

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming...

It will depend on your cars and circuit layout. You might be able to get away with that with "lower powered cars" I run fast magnet cars and they will rip the joints apart. See how it works for you. Maybe you will only have to secure a few sections if any. mj

Anything suggested here to fill the hole will have a different shrink rate than the plastic track with temperature variance and will end up coming loose. Try silicone.

I'm telling you, a simple piece of black electrical tape cut in a circle. Done.

I think little circles of black electrical tape is a great solution for unpainted track. :thumbsup:

I've used laquer based automotive spot putty on several tracks Scott,with no shrinkage/contraction problems.My Tyco track is close to 10 yrs old now,and you can't see where i filled the screw holes,and my track before that was 15 yrs old,with no shrinkage problems :thumbsup:

...does anyone leave their track "floating" on the table as opposed to screw or nail mounting it?

Standard procedure for the model railroad guys used to be (and may still be) to nail the track down lightly (dont hammer nail heads all the way down to the ties) and lay the ballast (the tiny "rocks" that fill the space between and around the ties) in a thin matrix of rubbery flexible adhesive (acrylic or polyvinyl); let set, then pull up the nails. Result - track floats in a flexible pad of glue plus ballast - nails don't crush and distort ties, track noise is isolated from the table because nails don't carry the sound to the plywood.

My guess is slotcar guys could do the same with a splut of silicone-seal under each track section, then lay it down and run a thin nail thru the holes only until it grabs into the table - most of the nail will be standing up in the air. This keeps the section from shifting while you add new sections. After the silicone sets, just grab up the nails with pliers. Wanna change the track? Slide a putty knife under the track to cut the silicone blob.

Never tried it, but plan to on the course I'm starting today (Hooray!)
-- D