Number 2 on the go already, well done that man. Snipping off the sleepers later seems like the easier option to me as well. Poking yourself with a hot iron hurts nearly as much as catching a hot iron as it drops by the hot part.

I tend to use one of the jigs as a starting point (pun not really intended!) for all of the points that I build. The one that you need is 1-218 the turnout jig. You can't use one of the others as these don't cater for the wider sleepers used on points.

Your other option, the cheaper one would be to pin a piece of wood then butt the rail up against this to give a good straight line. If I hadn't bought the point jig this is what I would do.

If you do want the Jig you might have to wait until Steve S takes shop 1 back (I don't know how packed up things are at the moment).

I never bought a jig...and have considered it a few times...but I just align a piece of thick card adjacent to the sleepers to give the straight edge.

Mind you, I have built so few turnouts for my layouts I still refer to the 2FS beginners guide everytime I construct one...an invaluable read.

Thin bits of strip wood can be used for straight or curved gauges ( a few panel pins half nailed in). The only jigs I generally use are the crossing jigs. I used to make my own from a scrap of wood and panel pins.

Don