I have heard that one Canadian penny is enough to accurately weigh down most n scale freight cars. Is this true or should i be adding more or less weight?
It depends on how much the car weighs already. I have seen sugestions for the proper weight (usually based on the length of the car). I have to defer to others for the information.
There is an NMRA guide for each scale. I believe the standard for N scale is 0.5 ounce plus 0.1 for each actual inch. I’m doing this from memory so please verify these figures. A while ago MR had an article on weighting. In the article, different methods ( lead shot, sheet lead, etc) were discussed with the cost of each material included. As the sheet lead or moldable lead can get expensive, one idea expressed was to use a penny (US or Can). I don’t recall the issue or the weight of the penny, but the point was that it may be cheaper to weight cars with pennies than with the lead products. Hope this was helpful.
http://www.nmra.org/standards/rp-20_1.html is the NMRA page with recommended weights. Nscale is 1/2 ounce + .15 ounce/inch. I find pennies work great in S scale and should work fine in N. I would use these anywhere volume is not a problem. I avoid lead because of the lead poisoning issue. My suggestion is to get a scale and weigh your cars, then add weight until you are at the proper weight.
Enjoy
Paul
Use a postal scale, available at most office supply stores for $30-$40. Make sure it is digital and measures to the nearest 1/10th an ounce. What to weight cars with depends on the type of car, but I like to use fishing weights. The come in a variety of weights, are easy to flatten, cut or mold to space, and are cheap. Some brands of cars come with plenty of weight, but most come underweight according to NMRA standards which will cause derailment problems in curves. Hope your weighty goes well.
Ron