LOVE this thread:)
Dave or anyone else, can you point me to any resources for the track plan in the above pic? What are your dimensions? Very interested in giving it a go as a side project, nice variety there.
And any tips on altering the New River Mining Kit?
Thanks, any help appreciated
Lee
I run only Kato and Atlas locomotives and have a max grade of 1/5%. [edit: thats 1.5%, not 0.2%. Sorry] My experience is that an N scale locomotive with 4 axles can pull 12 cars up the grade without serious wheel slippage, a 6 axle locomotive can pull 14 cars. Beyond that I have to MU them or they will spin.
Ron
Lee,
Your every question will be answered at my website (the URL is in my signature block below). Enjoy!
What has happened here. Have all the Nscalers except me died and gone to Nscale heaven.[angel][angel][angel]
I surely hope not 'cause it is gonna get real lonely down here without all you gals 'n guys.
Blue Flamer.
Nawwww, we’ve just been workin’ on the layouts!
I started a thread about this, but it flopped:
The N Scale Middle Division has seen a few changes… I’ve gotten around to updating my web page with two recent projects.
The first is the “how-to” I promised showing how I animate my position-light signals. You’ve seen one video; there’s another on the page showing the other signals. Plus, a step-by-step (sort of) installation…
http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/dvollmer/Projects/signals.html
Also, this weekend I added a removable 3-track staging yard in anticipation of expanded operations. Here’s how I did it (took just a few hours):
http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/dvollmer/Projects/staging.html
I also tweaked some of the description of the layout at my main page.
http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/dvollmer/
Enjoy!!!
OK…I’m gonna ask what will probably be one of those “Duh questions”…but here goes…
With single end staging like that, aren’t you pretty much limited to one direction opperation? And wouldn’t that tend to get old quick?
Well, it does mean some trains will have to back out of the yard. Others will have to run left-hand until they get to the crossover at M Interlocking. All part of the challenge, I guess.
Sure, double-ended staging would be ideal. In fact, I plan to have double-ended run-through visible staging on my post-Air Force retirement layout. But for now, truth is, I don’t have the room for anything more than what I’ve built. Even then, based on small housing at my next assignment (Kirtland AFB), I’ll probably have to move to the garage with this.
My philosophy is some staging is better than none at all. Plus, if nothing else, at shows it will allow me to change out trains quickly without losing spectator interest.
does any one know what decoder will fit in an Kato SD70M?
Hey Dave have you been to Whiteman AFB yet?
No… I do a lot of work with the Army. My assignments thus far:
Maxwell AFB, AL (Officer Training School)
Keesler AFB, MS (Weather Officer Course/WSR-88D Radar School)
Fort Polk, LA (Army-support)
Deployment to Camp Comanche, Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Army-support)
Yongsan AIN, Seoul, Korea (Army-support)
Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (Master’s degree)
Patrick AFB, FL (Air Force Technical Applications Center)
Deployment to Baghdad, Iraq (Army-support)
Current: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (USAF PhD student)
Plug n’ play decoder for Kato SD70M
Well guys I’ve had a 100% Failure rate with all of my Atlas Diesels. I’ve got several Atlas in HO and they run like champs…But so far every N scale Diesel has had a failure of some kind. The first 2 sucked up sawdust(My fault) and my 3rd ran great when I first got it. But Recently its performace started to go down hill. I went to put a decoder in it a couple of days ago and discovered that one of the trucks had a broken gear in it. One direction the truck is fine. but the other direction it binds. the motor has enough power to overcome it but its creates so much drag that the loco can’t pull much. I’ve got some Atlas Rollingstock and its great. The detail is great on the engines too. But So far I havn’t had a single unit that hasn’t had a probem.
I got my very first N scale loco in the mail today. A Kato SD70M in the dark future scheme. I’ve always wanted to super detail some of my HO scale locos (wipers, grab irons, mu hoses ect.), but now that I see how small N scale really is, it looks like super detailing will be a lot harder than it looks.
Has anyone tried to super detail anything in N scale? If so, how did it go? I’d love to see some pics!
I understand the space issues…in fact that is why I asked. My attempts at coming up with a layout for my little diningroom table space, with curves broad enough for passenger cars, and some staging for both directions, have been very frustrating. I thought maybe I was missing some “trick”.
I personally do not super-detail any of my stuff, but have seen many fine examples of people adding plows, wipers, hoses. AC and correct horns to many diesels. There also are quite a few examples of scratch built and bashed steam and diesels out there. I would probably be working on this if I could get my layout presentable! Your imagination is the limit.
My current excuse is that I’m waiting on some rail nippers to cut the flex for my 18" and 20" flex track curves.
Bob
Hey CSXfan i was thinking of superdetailing my Kato Union Pacific “Building America” SD70M
I just don’t know how hard it would be to install those tiny grab irons. I’ll need to somehow file off the molded grabs, drill a few dozen holes with an incredibly small drill bit, pain the details, and then re-decal and paint the shell. Painting also involves matching the existing pain on the shell. I don’t know if I want to risk messing up a brand new loco. If you do decide to detail your SD70, please let me know how it goes.
Does anyone know of some sites that show super detailed N scale locos or rolling stock?
CSX Fan,
Your best bet for N scale superdetailing info are these three sources:
N Scale Railroading Magazine
N Scale Magazine
Csxfan what ever you do do not file the grab irons that are already there…its immpossible to get the correct paint color. if any thing use a no. 11 or chizel tip ex-acto blade. i srcewed up on a CSX gp38-2 trying to super detail it. i filed the molded on grab irons off along with the paint i tried to get as close as possible colors. any ways you must have a steady hand along with some form of vise. try BLMA for detail parts
Dave Vollmer,
I don’t know if you’ve seen this before, but I stumbled onto it and thought you might be interested in it.