Starting with a humble semi-circle

It doesn't look like much, but this semi-circular piece of test track was a #$%#! to make. One end of this little layout will have lunar landing pads for the Tintin rocket and fellow travellers. At this end I wanted to have a loop of track around the pads and a stop for loading and unloading cargo. I decided to build a test loop using the track bending methods I used on the community garden layout and associated test pieces. They worked with Peco code 100 HO/OO flex-track and I wanted to try them with Atlas HO code 100 flex as I have a stack of odds and ends lying around I figured I'd use up on this project.The flex-track rails were carefully pried from their plastic tie strip.The rails were then curved to produce an 8" radius semi-circle.It turns out the strips of Atlas flex-track are quite different than Peco's. On a piece of Atlas flex one rail has embossings on the bottom that make it impossible to slide out from the tie strip, so it has to be carefully pried out. Some broken…