" Nscale Supper Club"

[TrainsRMe1]

 Okay Nscalers,

    I hope this goes well, This is the first post of the Nscale supper club,  feel free to come in and look around, meet new friends and see some old one's too! We're open 24/7 Ask questions about Nscale Modelrailroading, also post some pic's of your layouts.  So let's get this goin'

[stevechurch2222]

Glad to see this post running,I have modeled in N Scale in the past,in the late 1980's before there was Code 55 track from Atlas and Peco,and better running rolling stock and engines.I have modeled in HO Scale since then,and I am looking at getting back into N Scale for the amount of space one has,that they can have a nice layout and long trains in N Scale with less space.I model the Milwaukee Road from Ottumwa,Iowa to Savanna,Illinois from 1981-1985.I love the SD40-2's and MP15AC's that the Milwaukee Road ran,but unfortunately tney are not made in N Scale,so I have to use the Atlas MP15DC and bash the shell into an MP15AC,and there are not many early version SD40-2's available out there and the only SD40-2 being produced at this time is the Kato mid production model with ditch lights and the 88" nose and corrugated grills.I am trying to get that changed,and there is interest in seeing an early version SD40-2 shell to fit on the mid production power chassis,but you have to get rid of the ditch lightd and the fuel tank has to be shortened like it does on the early version SD40-2,It seems as though non of the manufacturers are interested in making the early version SD40-2 or the MP15AC  in N Scale,the interest is in the SD70 Ace's and other modern power,N Scale has come a long way the past few years and more and more products are beingg introduced all the timw,but N Scale still gets slided when it comes to HO Scale,and probably always will.my layout would be 12'x12' u shaped with 21.25" radius on the mainline with a 5 track double ended yard and another 6-8 track double ended yard with 4 spurs for switching and maybe more.Model in HO Scale that are available include SD40-2 in all versions and snoots,SD40T-2 all versions,MP15DC,MP15AC,F units,GP 7,GP9,GP20,GP30,GP35,GP38,GP40,GP38-2.GP40-2,SD45T-2,some of these are available in N Scale like the SD40T-2,all the GP's SD40,SD50,SD60,SD7,SD9,most of the F units,FT's,BL2,the only SD40-2 available like I mentioned before,is the mid production version,no early version SD40-2.or MP15AC but an MP15DC,I don't know how every one else feels,but how many of you N Scalers would purchase the MP15AC and SD40-2 early version in N Scale if offered in all the variations and dynamic and non dynamic brake amd fuel tank options of the SD40-2 and the different air filter box options of the MP15AC?I for one think they would sell well in N Scale.Well that's all I have to say for now,and I hope there are a lot of responses to this thread,I think it wi;; be fun the hear from all you N Scalers,and I like the name of this thread.AS long as we are all having fun running our layout that's what is important.Great thread Trains R Me.

[R. T. POTEET]

Steve Church Milwaukee Road Iowa Division;

Yesterday I resurrected "The "N" Crowd Part II" and vented my spleen over the spartan N-Scale offerings coming out of the National Train Show in Anaheim; after looking closer, however, I discovered that the whole hobby appears to be just a little laid back at this particular moment and HO-Scale looks to be just a little short in the coming year also.

Your post does strike an elbow, however; it is indeed hard living inside the body of a minority scale. I too get frustrated at the lack of models I would most assuredly like to see; a C&O Allegheny sits right at the top of my list and it has been there for ten years now. It is closely followed by B&O's EM-1 and/or Iron Range's M3/M4; Big Emma; a Chessie's T-1 - or almost anybody's Texas for that matter; an "Alligator"; an FA/FB2; I could carry this on ad infinitum ad nauseum . . . . . . . . . . alas, that "Transition-era" is lost in a vapor cloud somewhere. And where oh where is that SW1000/SW1500?

As a freelancer - my Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway is a Class 1 streak-of-rust linking coastal Virginia with the midwest - I don't really have to worry about whether a particular diesel has the proper type of grillwork or if its headlights are in the proper location; I can rationalize an offered model into my motive power fleet and I am prepared to do some bashing to give a uniform appearance to my fleet. There may not be as many detail parts available as I would like but I can get by with what is being offered. You want offerings pre-painted in Milwaukee Road livery; I want offerings not painted in Milwaukee Road livery . . . . . . . . . . nor Union Pacific livery . . . . . . . . . . nor BNSF livery . . . . . . . . . . etc. etc. etc; I wish the only livery offered by the manufacturers was for the Undec and Western RR! For me to get my fleet into the appropriate Seaboard and Western Virginia livery I must first paint all my units into the livery of the Undec and Western! NOTE: some people call that stripping!

I think you will understand that with 70% of the active modelers HO-Scale is likely to attract 70% of the manufacturers and those who offer in multiple scales are likely to allocate 70% of their resources to HO-Scale. We N-Scalers have, in some ways, been ahead of the game. HO-Scalers drooled over Atlas' FM Trainmaster when all that was being offered was that absurdly wider-than-scale hooded beast from Uncle Irv. Face it! If you are going to be a minority scale modeler you are going to have to learn to live with being low-man-on-the-totempole as far as manufacturers go. 

[stevechurch2222]

I look at some of the rolling stock and motive power that have been kitbashed in N Scale and am truely amazed at how great a job the N Scale modelers do at bashing something that isn'y available.They make the item look like the real thing,this is one thing that N Scale has going for it.I look forwward to the day I can kitbash my MP15AC's out of the Atlas MP15DC and hopecan find enough early version SD40-2's ro so in Milwaukee Road,and get the fuel tanks shortened even if I have to have someone else do it do to my lack of mechanical skills.I'm hoping there will be a conversion kit offered for the MP15AC that will fit the Atlas MP15DC power chassis and an SD40-2 early version shell with the optional dnymic and non dynamic brakes to fit on the Kato mod production SD40-2 power chassis.All that would have to be done then, would be to shorten the fuel tank and remove the ditch lights.If I do have to kitbash the MP15AC and look around for the early version SD40-2 I will because they are still out there,just may take awhile to find them,I am only needing 4 SD40-2 early version units and 3 or 4 MP15AC's.I still think N Scale will have great products coming out in the future abd the N Scale future is bright.

[fluff]

n scale is here to stay. yeah yeah im 47 with the eyesight deal. an $8.00 pair of wallymart reading glasses lets me do a coupler change or something of that nature when necessary. i dont want to start the ho vrs. n scale thing here, but i have attempted to change to ho a couple of times. i just like the size of n, my personal preference. long trains and big curves are an added bonus on my 12x12 around the walls plan. 50 cars are the norm, i did 71 cars once. availability is still a challenge and may always be. i have a texas and pacific caboose and have never seen a t & p engine! i cant believe how the locos and everything else have improved since the postage stamp trains era. atlas, like others have said, is making some nice track and great engines now along with their cars.  rock on n scale!!!!

[Packers#1]

Hey, how's it going folks. I'm the guy who started "The "N" Crowd, Part II". I'm pretty sure it was Dave Vollmer who started the original one.

Really, Atlas has all the locos I need (but for an NW2, which is Kato). And being a freelancer, you don't need specific paint schemes (but you paint your own equipment). bTW, for those who want to see my train watching and modeling efforts, check out www.packers1.tk It's my photobucket albulm.

[TrainsRMe1]

  I know how you feel about finding some things in Nscale, I have been looking for a moderen era signal bridge for the longest time I'm sure as time goes by they will have more stuff in Nscale!!!! Thanks for the great start to the "Nscale Supper Club" I'm just trying to add to the wonderful world of Nscalers by having this forum, this is BY NO MEANS in compition with "The NCrowd 2" feel free to visit there as well as "The Nscale Supper Club, food and drinks are half price after 10:00 PDT I figure that what you can't find there, you'll find here!!! Take care and have a good night.  

[mrstrainsrme1]

Hi Supper Club,

I am married to a model railroader! I operate a train in real life and I always tell folks that my husband only married me for that reason!But he doesn't realize I married him because of him being a wonderful and creative n-scaler I enjoy reading the discussions. Talk to you soon!

Mrstrainsrme1

[Packers#1]

mrstrainsrme1:

What RR do you work for?

[wm3798]

Personally, I prefer to post topics to threads that address particular issues relating to N scale.  I don't find much of use in these more social potpourri threads.  Sorry.  If you really want to discuss issues surrounding N scale model railroading, there quite a few forums that do it much better than this one.

May I suggest you visit Scale Rails Online, or The Railwire.

Lee

[stevechurch2222]

back to the subject of N Scale MP15AC's and early version SD40-2's,how many if you would be interested in a MP15AC conversion kit that would fit the Atlas MP15DC?,and how many of you would be interested in a SD40-2 early version shell that would fit the Kato mid production SD40-2 power chassis and would have a dynamic and non dynamic brake hatch to model the railroads that owned the SD40-2's?Contact me off line and I will go more into detail about it.N Scale has made tremendous strides and the products coming out are better and better all the time,The toughest part in N Scale for decaling is decaling the numberboards on the switchers since the numbers are so small.Has anyone had any luck decaling numberboards on the switchers?feel free to share how you did it.

[Packers#1]

I'd be interested, but I doubt I'd purchase any. Nice to see this thread is getting started off nicely. Pizza is a buck 25

[TrainsRMe1]

Hey stevechurch2222,

   Is that the high nose model???? can you post a pic?

   Packers#1, how ya doin'  Mrs trainsrme1,  or (the better half, the co-owner of the Nscale Supper Club) works for Tri-met,that's our transit company here. She operates the Portland Street Car downtown, and I drive the buses Does anybody know where I can find a moderen era signal bridge?? Take care nscalers I'll be back soon

[stevechurch2222]

No,it would be the low hooded nose,there are no photos,If you want to know more,contact me,offline.I would lover to see these two items available in N Scale.

[TrainsRMe1]

Good Morning All,

       Wow, after working graveyard on our mrxr I thought I would come to the supper club and get some breakfast, Only too see just a few of the supper clubbers here,  Anyway, I just laid the turnouts for our new classifaction yard, that will be shared by Union Pacific and BNSF( no fighting kids play nice). All of the tunouts are manual incase I just want to do some switching, or set up trains for the next run. I will post pic's soon, take care and have a great morning, I will be in later today sometime to see howya doin'

                             Trainsrme1 , Union Pacific Oregon Coast subdivision 

[TrainsRMe1]

Hey, Where is everbody???

[stevechurch2222]

I'm still here waiting for a MP15AC in plastic in N Scale or the conversion kits to make an MP15AC out of the power chassis of the Altas MP15DC,and an early version shell that will fit the Kato mid production SD40-2 power chassis,since it looks like no one is interested in making the early version SD40-2 and the variants,probably due to tooling costs and other project commitments.Glad to see you are making progress on your layout.

[Packers#1]

i'm bidding on an atlas GP35 on ebay, that's my major news.

[R. T. POTEET]

 Okay Nscalers,

    I hope this goes well, This is the first post of the Nscale supper club,  feel free to come in and look around, meet new friends and see some old one's too! We're open 24/7 Ask questions about Nscale Modelrailroading, also post some pic's of your layouts.  So let's get this goin'

Sorry there [e-mail] but it really doesn't look like this dedicated post is going to get good traction; the original The 'N' Crowd got off to a rousing "bang" but eventually slowed down and I remember one time I had to go all the way back to page #37 to resurrect it! You are to be commended for trying to give some unique dedication to N-Scale but this forum differs from others because it assumes a more general tone than N-Scale dedicated forums.

With that in mind I would like to call the readership's attention to two features in the September 2008 issue of Model Railroader magazine. The first of these features is David Popp's article about expanding his highly photogenic Naugatuck Valley Railroad. I found his means of extending his benchwork highly inspirational; of equal note is his utilization of sheet cork as a surface agent. As I read this one word kept screaming at me: yard. I long past lost track of the number of querries on this forum pertaining to ballasting yard trackage. By laying down sheet cork and cutting/scooping out a trench for flex track the tie-tops can be brought down to near cork-top level and ballast applied giving that flat appearance so characteristic of yards. Thanks David Popp; I've struggled with achieving that for many years. You may just have supplied the forum readership with the means of doing it effectively.

Of second note is Tony Koester's Trains of Thought column this month dealing with the subject of freelancing. I am not a particularly strong fan of Tony Koester but I will admit that he does hit a nerve every now and then and he did it with this months feature. Being a freelancer can, in many ways, be more difficult than being a hard-prototype modeler; Tony did not infer as some have that freelancers are basically lazy; what he did say is that freelancers can take liberties with prototype practices denied to those of the hard-prototype persuasion. If you are going to model Smithville, Illinois fidelity requires you to place all your local industries on one side of the track and place them in a particular order; as a freelancer I can adopt the flavor of Smithville while putting all the industries on the wrong side of the tracks and rearranging them into a completely different pattern of sequence.

Two things have always struck me: I don't see it so much here as on other N-Scale dedicated forums but firstly is gripes asking "when is such-and-such going to bring out their GP-something-or-other in the paint scheme of the XYZ railroad with their traditional high - or low - positioned headlights?" or something in that vein. As an N-Scaler freelancer I tend to buy my motive power decorated in the livery of the famous Undec Railroad and I can always rationalize things like headlight placement and the like. I have a set of standards for my locomotives and, although certain scratchbuilding parts are a little spare in N-Scale, I am usually able to find something to allow conformity with those standards.

Anyway, if you don't get MR its worth taking a gander at these two articles.

[caldreamer]

I am a freelancer.  My Golden State Railraod runs in northern California and southern Oregon.  One of my kitbashes was to take a Kato RS2 and put an Atlas GP9 superstructue on it.  It has an Alco nose and cab and an  EMD rear end.  This idea came from the Diesel Spotters Guide picture of a Frisco RS2 that was repowered with an EMD prime mover.  Easy kitbash and interesting looking engine.

[R. T. POTEET]

I've seen HO-Scale models of these Ugly Duckling Repowerings but I don't think I've ever encountered one in N-Scale. I would really like to see a photograph of this model.

[super cheif n]

hi i'm a N modeler. I started as HO and stoped for a while then started N scale. I'm trying to complete my first module, but with school starting my time will be limited.

[caldreamer]

R. T. Poteet, are you asking about my repower RS2?  If so I will get a picture up next week.  Need to get a friend of mine to use his digital camera to get a picture that I can post.

[R. T. POTEET]

R. T. Poteet, are you asking about my repower RS2?  If so I will get a picture up next week.  Need to get a friend of mine to use his digital camera to get a picture that I can post.

I remember one time seeing these repowered units referred to as Ugly Ducklings because they became just that during the transformation; I have seen them done in HO-Scale but never in N-Scale and I am interested in what your finished model of one of these Ugly Ducklings looks like!

[caldreamer]

R.T. Poteet:

  I will post a picture as soon as I can.

[TrainsRMe1]

 Hi all,

 I'm trying to model a abandon tunnel that has collasped, I'm using real rock and dirt, I hope it comes out well. If any of you all have done this can you post a pic of yours??? I already have in place the tunnel portal, I need to add some insulation foam around and behind the portal, I have some old track in place, I took out pieces of rail and left the ties, I'm going to use browns, burnt sienna,greens,tans colors to similate the ground around the tunnel, As soon as I finish this prodject I will post pic's. On our layout it's a Union Pacific-BNSF shared branchline that run's to the Oregon Coast towns of Coos Bay, Tonka City and Brookings,     

[caldreamer]

Here is the picture of my RS2r.  An  RS2 that has been repowered with and EMD prime mover.  The inspiration for this is a picture of the Frisoc #553 in the Diesel Spotters Guide.  Railpictures archives has pictures of #551 & 553.

.  http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w333/gsrrman/RS2r.jpg

[R. T. POTEET]

Here is the picture of my RS2r.  An  RS2 that has been repowered with and EMD prime mover.  The inspiration for this is a picture of the Frisoc #553 in the Diesel Spotters Guide.  Railpictures archives has pictures of #551 & 553.

.  http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w333/gsrrman/RS2r.jpg

I can't link it and I'm too lazy to type it in but thanks anyway.

[Packers#1]

Here is the picture of my RS2r.  An  RS2 that has been repowered with and EMD prime mover.  The inspiration for this is a picture of the Frisoc #553 in the Diesel Spotters Guide.  Railpictures archives has pictures of #551 & 553.

.  http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w333/gsrrman/RS2r.jpg

Is that long hood off a GP9? Looks good.

[caldreamer]

Thanks for the compliment.  Yes, the long hood is from an Atlas GP9 cut just behind the cab.  It is a perfect fit on the RS2 drive.