I’m considering building my first small N scale layout. The Kato Super Chief car sets and F7 units are what has caught my attention. Does anyone have have a feeling for what minimum radius curves will be necessary for these little gems to run and look decently? I’m considering using Kato’s Unitrak and have been playing with laying out the curves on XtrkCAD. 15" Radius with 28-1/4" pseudo-easement sections work best for what I’d like to do scenery wise, but I do not know if they are going to be broad enough to run the Super Chiefs on. 19" curves with the 28-1/4" pseudo-easement sections will fit…barely…but put a crimp in the scenic possibilities. As always, any insight will be greatly appreciated.
The F7s will be happy in either case, the cars will like the curves as broad as you can make them. They’ll work at 15", look better at 19", maybe your best choice is something in between, an as broad as possible whenever you have a choice.
Unfortunately, Kato has not seen fit to offer any radii between 15 and 19, with the strange exception of a double track curved viaduct with 16 5/16" radius.
Flextrack, and you can make even better easements.
I would definetly go with the flex track to get a bigger curve. I own the set, and the train looks a whole lot better on a wider turn. Also, if you are planning on putting in superdetails like diaphragms later on, you definetly want a wider curve, because the diaphragms won’t be able to move on a narrow curve.
The layout I’m pondering would be a simple/small dining room table top set up…somewhere in the 72-80" by 42-48" range…built on 2" foam for light weight. The layout will have to be frequently stored on edge when the boss wants the table. The reasons for going with the Unitrack is the locking connections minimizing connection problems from the foam flexing during moveing…and not having to deal with ballast mess…applying, falling off when the layout is being moved/stored, or being tempting to the cats. If I was looking to build a larger more perminant layout, I’d definately be going with flex…and probably code 55.
Super details are not likely…the theme here is “Simplicity is better than nothing”.