Flex-tracks with a purpose

[marook]

Hi All,

You might know the situation: You've bought some of those boxes with track curves and flex-tracks.. or might even have a set where TLG bundled some.. now, what to do with those tracks?

Well, an IKEA Ribba shelf takes 32 pieces:

Flex-trax on Ribba shelf by Marook, on Flickr

Adding some small screws will stop the flexing and make a nice display:

Horizon Express parked on shelf by Marook, on Flickr

The shelf is 3.5 plate high, so an on-ramp of two normal tracks make a nice way to get trains on/off your running tracks.

UPDATE: A small bonus info: if you don't mount the shelf, the 3 screw-holes on the back fit a cross-axle, so using a 5 or 6M axle can make your train stay safely 'locked' on the shelf when moving it..

Edited July 14, 2015 by marook

[v6TransAM]

Nice idea, I thought about staining some wood and making my own, but that looks good

[lostdriveway]

That's awesome nice work!!

[IronFish]

Is the shelf long enough to hold a double Horizon Express? (or at least a train that long)

[Younge]

Very clever idea!!! (and I like your little mod of trans-red cheese slopes as lights on the back of the HE!).

[rahziel]

Hello m8, great idea, but that frontal edge of the shelf covers the bogie details and track, unless some height added, and btw, got the same question as above about the horizon express, 2sets do they fit in ? Not sure after watching your pic, but it doesnt seems like it will fit.

[dr_spock]

Neat idea. Is this what you use? 55 or 115 cm?

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30152596/

[zephyr1934]

Neat idea. Is this what you use? 55 or 115 cm?

55 cm would be just over two baseplates (32 studs) wide while the 115 cm would be about 4.5 baseplates wide. The Horizon express cars are about 30 studs long, so the wider shelf could hold about 4 HE cars, maybe 5 if you squeeze them in. Though there is nothing saying that you could not combine more than one shelf together.

In any event, great idea, can't wait to see it in action on your wall. I could see a neat display with two of the shelves spanned by a lego built bridge to show off a long train.

[lostdriveway]

55 cm would be just over two baseplates (32 studs) wide while the 115 cm would be about 4.5 baseplates wide. The Horizon express cars are about 30 studs long, so the wider shelf could hold about 4 HE cars, maybe 5 if you squeeze them in. Though there is nothing saying that you could not combine more than one shelf together.

In any event, great idea, can't wait to see it in action on your wall. I could see a neat display with two of the shelves spanned by a lego built bridge to show off a long train.

If you look closely enough to the examples on the Australian Ikea website http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/20219620/ especially the white ones you can actually see they have 2 smaller ones joined together so definitely possibly to combine and make longer.

[Hod Carrier]

That's a good idea.

Using "cassettes" to store trains prior to deployment is an established model railway practice, especially where space is tight, saving the space otherwise required for a staging or fiddle yard. Something like this could also be used for the same purpose as well as for displaying trains.

[marook]

Is the shelf long enough to hold a double Horizon Express? (or at least a train that long)

No. With 1/2 a track length more, it just holds 5 wagons. But I managed to extend it a bit to do just so.

Very clever idea!!! (and I like your little mod of trans-red cheese slopes as lights on the back of the HE!).

Thanks, lights are going in, and the back end needs red lights ;-)

Hello m8, great idea, but that frontal edge of the shelf covers the bogie details and track, unless some height added..

Sure, it cover 2-3 plates, so some of the wheels are covered, but all of the orange undercarrige are shown.

And thanks for all the feedback!

[IronFish]

No. With 1/2 a track length more, it just holds 5 wagons. But I managed to extend it a bit to do just so.

How did you extend it? Could you maybe share a picture? I'll have to mod my Horizon Express with Red lights too now, heh.

[marook]

How did you extend it? Could you maybe share a picture? I'll have to mod my Horizon Express with Red lights too now, heh.

Sure, I'll do so when I get home tomorrow :-)

[Legotom]

Good idea. Very good use for all the dreaded Flex track. Can't use the bloomin stuff in a layout, too bendy and makes the trains stop.

[marook]

How did you extend it? Could you maybe share a picture? I'll have to mod my Horizon Express with Red lights too now, heh.

The Flickr album has been updated.

The simple thing is: On the back of the track, make a 1x8 plate 'bridge' the extension and then use a 1x2 & 2x 1x4 Technic brick to secure the plate.

Shelf track extension by Marook, on Flickr

Shelf track extension by Marook, on Flickr

Edited July 18, 2015 by marook

[davidmull]

Still the big issue of dust but nice idea. I'd prefer closed in cases.

[marook]

Still the big issue of dust but nice idea. I'd prefer closed in cases.

Yeah, might be an issue, but then I just take it down and run it around the track a bit... ;-)