New Bright & Other Inexpensive G-Scale

[vsmith]

You can still be King of Cheap Jack, Dixie is whole different kingdom from Smogtopia.[:D]

[tangerine-jack]

OK Vic, if you are the King of Cheap, the I guess that makes me the King of Thrifty. Can't have two kings in the same kingdom!

[vsmith]

What he said[#ditto]

If your even thinking of using brass track then a $40 Mack is the best screaming deal in large scale today. and their Mini-car series of kits are under $10 each. New Blight and Scientific cars can be used and are a good source of inexpensive rolling stock.

New Blight and Scientific palstic track doesnt hold up well outdoors and has very little resistance to inadvertantly being stepped on. The secret to buying track is to plan out your layout so you know how much track you will need, then buy it slowly if $ is short, also but straights in the longest sections you can use, believe it or not, 5' sections are the most economical price per linear foot.

I am the self-professed King of Cheap in this group here. All my stuff has been scrounged together over the last couple years, With only 2 exceptions I havent paid more than $75 or any engine, and I have 20+, and I have several of the Scientific and Hartland Minicars also. I have found this scale to actually be cheaper than HO or N if you can belive that.

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Having gone through a ton of the toy/battery style locos, I would avoid New Bright stuff, especially the earlier stuff. The mechanisms just aren't made to last and the scale is not what anyone else is doing. I'm not saying it can't be done, but for most of us this hobby is not about total maintenance. The stuff made by Scientific Toys is a little more rugged mechanically, but still not made for the rigors of continual outdoor use.
I agree that it's better to try and do the right thing for as little as you can rather than invest in the toy stuff that will ALL have to be replaced.
Find a local Garden Railway Club if you can. People in this hobby are fantastic as a rule, and finding used track, locos and rolling stock is often easily and cheaply done. The Hartland Mack can be found for $30-40 and is a great starter loco.
Getting into this hobby on the right track will save you a LOT of money and grief. It's worth doing it right, that's from one that did it the hard way!
Chris

[tangerine-jack]

This topic comes up every so often. The New Bright stuff is generally crap, but it can be made to work OK and is a great start for a kit bash or other modification. I would highly recommend NOT using the NB track for any reason; this is one place where you really shouldn't skimp at all. Go to http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/ they have Aritso track at the cheapest prices I've seen. While you're in there, look at USA Trains and Heartland, they usually have high quality locos for a discount price.

You've done the right thing by getting into G scale. Ask a lot of questions, but the most important thing is to get something running and start learning for yourself.

Sadly, though, there is no cure for the G bug.

[ttrigg]

Krylon (I think) makes a line of paint called "Fusion". It is specifically designed for outdoor plastics. Plastic lawn chairs, webbing on netal folding chairs and such. You might look at using that type of paint. Will it imart UV Risrance? I don't know.

[bjohns67]

Ok. So I've got the bug bad. I want to begin my G-scale railroading empire. The problem, like many of you wanting to get started, is that it's expensive.

Then I ran across radio control G-scale sets from New Bright for about $40. This appealed to me. The quality is decent, and at least will get me into the hobby. Maybe a $1,000 engine will come later (I doubt it).

But how about track? I can't come up with $300 for the track I want, so I'm proposing another innexpensive solution. New Bright sells their sections of track for about $1 each. About 1/3 of the "good" stuff.

So here's my experiment. I will lay this track down and give it a shot for one full season and see how it does.

Here are my questions:

1. Anyone try this before?
2. Can I spray cheap plastic track with a UV spray to make it last in the sun better?
3. Any thoughts or suggestions?

If it works, it's a way to get into the hobby for under $100. Unheard of!

If it fails, hey. At least it's my money and not yours. :)