Ballast methods for R104 switches

[lego9vtrainfan]

While I am eagerly awaiting my order of BrickTracks R104 switches, I wanted to see if anyone who has received theirs (or worked with other R104 switches) has tried ballasting them. I am certainly planning on ballasting mine to match the track I have already ballasted using the l-gauge.org / PennLUG methods, so perhaps we can collect different ideas in a thread — I’ll share mine once I receive my switches and have time to experiment!

[Jedi Bert]

I received my R104 switches and ballasted them. I follow the same standard as you mention, but try to use less parts. 

[lego9vtrainfan]

Thanks for your reply.  My switches arrived   Here’s where I’m at with ballasting efforts so far:

DC86CD52-B95C-4618-8134-9DB1CA371FEC by Lego9vtrainfan, on Flickr

7D797E37-7072-454D-BC65-CBDC7301EF80 by Lego9vtrainfan, on Flickr

Obviously some parts are not in their final colours (I was missing some of part 6179 in dark bluish gray, for example).

To explain, my intent here was to create ballast that (1) is freestanding / fully attached to the switch since I build a lot of my layouts temporarily on the floor and don’t have baseplates, MILS modules, etc. underneath the track, and (2) provides as complete of coverage under the switch as possible.

There aren’t a lot of attachment points on the bottom of the switch, particularly around the mechanism itself. There are also a lot of curves, etc. that conflict with studs (meaning parts with partially tiled surfaces had to be used), so this created some challenges and likely room for further refinements! It would actually be way easier to do it with a baseplate underneath, since then you could build up to the switch from below without needing to fasten everything to the switch.  I may try that next, or perhaps others already have done some experiments.

Ideas or improvements welcome!
 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by lego9vtrainfan

[lego9vtrainfan]

Second version... upped my wedge plate game for what I think is a cleaner setup on the bottom that makes a few more studs available on the top.  Comments, improvements, or alternative approaches welcome!

Ballasting BrickTracks R104 switches - second version by Lego9vtrainfan, on Flickr

Ballasting BrickTracks R104 switches - second version by Lego9vtrainfan, on Flickr