Construction of points

[pandsrowe]

Hi all, on the planned extension to my line I intend to build my own points as I have seem to have accumulated a lot of Peco turnout parts over the years. However two things puzzle me and I wonder if the experiences of other forum members may be able to help.
The distance between the tops of the chair fixings and the wheel flanges on the majority of my rolling stock is around 1.5mm. Typically this means that the head of any fixing pin could be no more than 1mm high. As these pins would have to be non ferrous I have looked at brass pins as used by model boat builders as a possible source, but I wondering what other more experienced builders use.
The second puzzle is the sleepering, as supplied by Peco these are 'hollow' for want of a better term. This is fine if using the sleeper at full length but when cut to shorter lengths one end would be open. Am I being too fussy and not worry about it, or should I not use these and simply cut some sleepers to suit from real wood?

[robc_wa]

Phil

There has been another tread on here recently about DIY points and one of the recommendations, which I have also used in the past , is to forget peco sleepers and use  copper coated sleepers (from MArkway and possibly other sources.)  If you were going to solder to your non-ferrous pins this might be  a viable alternative.

There is, I think, an article in the 16mm assoc intro pack magazine, and also a website at

http://www.cobbybrook.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/turnouts.htm


Pictures of some of my rough attempts in varying states of finish

points by Rob Corner, on Flickr[/img]