 Joined: 26/05/2021(UTC) Posts: 198 Location: Australia, East Maitland, NSW
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To me it seems that closing gaps in C track designs using SCARM can be a bit of a chore. I do realise that there's a quite lot of give possible when assembling an actual track but quickly getting some ends to meet during design is helpful.
There's a very handy Excel style spreadsheet quoted elsewhere in this topic that gives the lengths of straight tracks that can be assembled with standard track pieces. However, using the SCARM measuring tool to find to get a precise size of the gap is a bit imprecise - well, for me at least. My work around is to select the K track library and then use the K flex piece to fill the gap - if the design looks like a winner then the correct length can be read off flex piece to the nearest millimetre and the Excel spreadsheet checked for the best mix of standard C track lengths.
I would have liked to create a flex piece in the C track library itself. Some old posts in other forums said the SCARM libraries are simple text files readable with Notepad but now they seem to be in another format?
Is there a better way? What is the story with the SCARM libraries?
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 1 user liked this useful post by revmox
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 Joined: 10/02/2021(UTC) Posts: 3,881 Location: Michigan, Troy
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It definmatley is! Especially if using any K track on a bridge that doean't have C track under channels to lower the track bed to look good. The C to K transiton tracks are not the same length as any C track. Also ramps and grades present a dillema at times. More so on curves.
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1 user liked this useful post by marklinist5999
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 Joined: 20/08/2020(UTC) Posts: 64
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Good idea to find the exact length of the gap! Thanks. I have found it delicate with SCARM even when zooming the image as much as possible. As to the commercial tracks suitable, I use calc.exe, that is explained and may be downloaded here: https://cabin-layout.mix...k-length-calculator.html
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1 user liked this useful post by PacoM
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Joined: 26/05/2021(UTC) Posts: 198 Location: Australia, East Maitland, NSW
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Thanks for that - looks handy
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Joined: 05/12/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,801 Location: Crozet, Virginia
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That does look handy - thanks for the link! |
Regards,
Jim
I have almost all Märklin and mostly HO, although I do have a small number of Z gauge trains!
So many trains and so little time. |
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Joined: 26/05/2021(UTC) Posts: 198 Location: Australia, East Maitland, NSW
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It has been pointed out to me that a much more reliable result can be obtained by inserting the K flex track in the gap, highlighting it then right clicking on it and selecting "Length of Selected Section" which will give a pop up with very high accuracy. Just reading the length off the normal SCARM screen can be misleading. Here's a simple example ... we live and learn. 
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2 users liked this useful post by revmox
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Joined: 10/02/2021(UTC) Posts: 3,881 Location: Michigan, Troy
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That works too! I used K track sections, and olny had to trim one.
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