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Flex Track Maxed out at 90 degrees & inventory track sections?

Posted: 11 May 2019, 21:23
by chrispix
First: Love the software. I was looking for something free, but tried the trial version, and fell in love an purchased. I have not modeled anything since The early 1990s when I was a kid, now as an adult, I am looking at going full bore on a 11'x4' n scale (UK) DCC layout, and have found this software invaluable for planning when so much expense is on the line.

Question: 2 Parts -
1 ) Can you represent a curve of a flex track at > 90 degrees?
2 ) From an inventory perspective, is there a way to track partial track segments from a 36" flex track? (i.e. 3x 10" sections of track only reduces inventory by one 36" flex track section?)

Background: I am modeling in N Scale (UK 1:148) and trying to plan out some track. I am using some 12" curves, but the flex track curve tool (Peco Streamline) will lay a 36" piece of track, but won't let me enter a curve > 90 degrees. So my curve only uses 19.47" of my 36" long track.. Is there any way to allow it to do > 90 degrees?

75 Degrees @ 12r = 15.94" length
90 Degrees @ 12r = 19.47" length
Theoretically I should be able to do a 165 degree curve with 1 piece of 36" flex track on 12" radius. But it is requiring me to put 2 sections down to get that 165 degree turn. This now means it is utilizing parts that I still have in inventory. (so my inventory is artificially low / parts list is artificially high). I know there is some variance on actually being able to make a perfect curve, etc.. But even so, I should be able to put 3x10" straight sections, and only use 1 piece of 36" flex track.

Re: Flex Track Maxed out at 90 degrees & inventory track sections?

Posted: 14 May 2019, 15:23
by RailModeller Support
Hi Chris,
chrispix wrote: 11 May 2019, 21:23 First: Love the software. I was looking for something free, but tried the trial version, and fell in love an purchased. I have not modeled anything since The early 1990s when I was a kid, now as an adult, I am looking at going full bore on a 11'x4' n scale (UK) DCC layout, and have found this software invaluable for planning when so much expense is on the line.
Thanks for the feedback! That's great to hear.
chrispix wrote: 11 May 2019, 21:23 Question: 2 Parts -
1 ) Can you represent a curve of a flex track at > 90 degrees?
2 ) From an inventory perspective, is there a way to track partial track segments from a 36" flex track? (i.e. 3x 10" sections of track only reduces inventory by one 36" flex track section?)
The arc angle for all kinds of curved tracks is currently limited to 90 degrees.

At this point each piece of flex track is listed individually in the Part List, though there are plans (and an open feature request: FlexTrack calculator for cut of rest bits, https://railmodeller.uservoice.com/foru ... -rest-bits) to calculate the minimal number of flex tracks actually required.

However, this would also require to create a 'cut list' to indicate how flex tracks should be sliced up and denote the individual flex track pieces in the layout.. so it's more involved than one would initially guess. Still, it's on the to-do list!

Hope this helps,
Jan