My wife is wanting to do a N scale small layout for christmas, and I really can’t believe how cheap N scale is. I have a HO layout, and I knew N was cheaper, but I really didn’t look at the prices. I went and bought 2 cars yesterday, and it came up to $30.00, and that was a price on Ebay for 6 in N scale!!! I like doing HO scale, even more the weathering. The wife said I can continue to weather ho but do a layout in N scale. The good thing is that I haven’t done much to my layout, so I really won’t miss the use of it. I have the layout on a 4x8 and I remeber somewhere on here how HUGE the N scale can be on a 4x8.
I have tried N scale years ago, and I just didn’t like how small it was. Thats when I was alot younger, you know the non-patience years. My questions are how do you go about keeping it to scale. Like the mountians, I don’t wanna make them huge. Also, lke the small bushes. I don’t wanna make them huge compared to the train either. I think thats my biggest fear.
I know they have Kadee’s on Ho but how about N. This is the questions that make me wonder if I would like N scale.
I just don’t wanna do a N scale, and have the layout in a GIANT world. I guess I could also move on to HO and N scale weathering.
I’m wondering if your wife has a hidden agenda in promoting the smaller scale? That is to say; is she already measuring the area in the rec room that you have designated for the HO layout, to see how big a couch and set of end tables can fit there? [:D]
Seriously, in my experience as far as the cost of N-scale goes, if you buy the really good stuff it’s not that much cheaper. A quality N-scale locomote easily retails for $80 to $100. And quality rolling stock is on a par with HO prices also.
OTOH, I was recently at a train show where there was quantity of new Z scale for sale. Some very pretty stuff there. And your wife would really love that, since she would then have room for that home entertainment center she has had her eyes on! [:-^] But OMG, what prices!
Being in N-scale, I can agree that it is on-par or more expensive than HO… especially if you get the quality stuff.
As far as keeping perspective for the scenery etc. My advice… which I found worked for me, is to go and buy some N-scale figures and maybe an Atlas scale vehicle. Using common references that we can really relate to in real life helps.
For example, when I was buying ballast I compared the granule size to a figure and said that it was the size of both hands… thus too large. Also, I’ve compared boulders to tire size on the vehicles as I can easily imagine those types of references in my head. I find it difficult to just look at something and go “that’s about right!”
Keeping things in scale can be a bit challenging, but it isn’t as bad as it sounds like you fear it may be. It is almost impossible to make mountains and hills that are too large, in any scale, unless there shouldn’t be a hill there at all. Even a two foot mountain is only 320 feet in N scale. For small things, well, you just sort of start thinking in N scale. A person is a bit under a half inch tall, unless they are in the NBA! The thing that I think can be tricky is that I think some things are better a bit out of scale, in order to make the texture clear to the eye. I think N scale ballast that is a little (not hugesly) too big gets the idea across better than ballast that is strictly in scale.
Robby,
I wouldn’t worry about keeping things to scale in N… In HO, it’s virtually impossible to have a scale mountain, and things have to be so compressed, it’s almost foolish. Frequently smaller HO layouts have industry buildings that aren’t much larger than the boxcars calling on them.
If scenery is your bag, then N scale is definitely the best choice for you. Even on a smallish 4x8 layout you can accomplish a reasonable feeling of distance and a working railroad.
The main part of my layout is about 3’ x 12’ with a 2’x4’ L. I have plenty of large industry, and plenty of scenery that I think offers a reasonable perspective.
And yes, while N scale rolling stock and locomotives are generally cheaper than HO, you’ll have room for a lot more of them, so your budget will come out about even. There are also a lot of forums out there that focus more thoroughly on N scale than this one. Take a few minutes and search out a few of them.
Back in the 1960s-1970s, Kadee made N scale couplers, and then a highly successful line of freight cars. Then they spun off their N scale division as Micro-Trains Line Co.
I made the move from HO scale to N scale and I am happy with it. N scale has come a long way in terms of detail and quality and is a valid alternative for those short of space for a layout.
That´s what´s happening when you wake up in the middle of the night, fire up your PC, look into the forum and post an answer - with your eyes “wide shut”.
Robby is no newbie any longer - he is a master of the art of weathering. Somehow I should have known… [B)]
Ulrich, don’t feel bad. Once an old thread is revived, a lot of us respond without realizing that it is a revived old thread.
As James Saunders queried, and as Stein noted in response, this old thread was revived by a newbie, and this almost always seems to be the case. A newbie revives an old thread.
How and why do people do this? I guess they use the Search function looking up something and then decide to reply instead of starting a new thread. Often, the original OP is long gone and could care less any longer.
I have long promoted the suggestion that the forum moderators should permit old threads to be viewed but not revived. There should be an automatic Lock feature on threads that have not been replied to for at least one year.
