I just learned something. I admit I think of them more as 1 or 2 car rail service to the far reaches of nowhere. Even Kato stresses that usage. Now, if only they'd make a dummy RDC-1....
Have you thought of British stuff? Their idea of N is 1:144, but since the prototypes are generally smaller than our trains, they don't look too far out of scale. I have a Dapol Voyager and it doesn't look off-sized at all. My Farish DMU is a little bit jumbo-looking, though. If you're freelancing, you can do what you want.
A follow-up.... Just heard back from IHP -- they *will* be rereleasing the Budd M-1's later this year, in kit form. (See them at http://ihphobby.tripod.com/npages/nbuddm1.html. Their painting looks awfully ragged, but they'll be releasing them as unpainted, so I hope it's the paint job and not the casting....) Now I really need to know if anyone's seen (or better, worked with) any of their the actual products. And then I have to figure what to do with all the f40ph's I've been accumulating. Why oh why doesn't someone make a comet or horizon in N scale? (I know -- a lot of us are asking the question and no one has an answer....
When I was modeling HO I was in touch with someone who had done a IHP PCC car kit. He said the casting was very rough with lots of flash. It took a lot of work, but in the end he created a model he was happy with. IHP can be very slow getting new items to market. Many of the traction items appear just before the bi-annual East Penn Traction meet every two years. Another thought is Miniatures by Eric. He doesn't have any N scale passenger cars, but he has done buses and streetcars (not the highest demand items) and has a line of castings. If you need 50 cars perhaps you could ask Eric. Miniatures by Eric Detail Parts
"A follow-up.... Just heard back from IHP -- they *will* be rereleasing the Budd M-1's later this year, in kit form." Island Models already has models of the M1 available in N... http://islandmodelworks.com/M1.html As well as the M2s... http://islandmodelworks.com/M2.html
Thanks. But someone noted they were less than thrilled with Island Model's castings. I'm wondering if (hoping that is probably more accurate, but most accurate would be "praying desparately") IHP's are better.
Flash I can deal with. Bubbles would be a bigger problem (filling and filing takes longer than just filing) and I'm concerned about the irregular edges. And thanks for the lead to Eric, I'll ask him out.
Hello, I'm new here and would like to throw in my 2 cents: I haven't purchased any Comets from Island Models, I have, however, purchased a few M1's in N scale and have no problems with the castings, some flash has to be removed, but it wasn't that bad, I knew not to expect it to compare to an off the shelf Atlas model. Nicholas
Nope. Too short, definitely. As I said before it works out to 70' versus 85'. However, all slab-sided JR/JNR coaches are 2800mm wide, which is only 9'2". With the scale difference they appear 9'9"... which is actually too *narrow*, since most US prototypes are 10'2" and Amfleets are 10'5". Height wise Japanese coaches are also lower than their US counterparts. I'd never do this myself (since I suck at kitbashing), but I have to figure it would be possible to splice two Japanese-prototype cars into something approximating an 85-footer...
Kit-bashing is *not* an option, unless someone figures out a way to get 3-4 extensions out of each car you "lose" -- those things aren't cheap (and kit bashing a whole fleet isn't a quick proposition). I guess that, if I went that way, I'd do with low, short and narrow. But having looked at them, it looks like they'd take more work and still look bit "off" running behind an F40ph. Nah, at this point, (my minds changes minute to minute) is that, if I have to go with an intercity coach, I can always go with ConCor's smooth sided coaches for commuter service. Although I'm toying with asking ConCor for a special run of RDC-1's and forgetting about the F40's.....)
Someone noted that Con-cor might be convinced to do a special production run if enough cars were ordered. I've heard back from them.... They can.... Problem is "enough cars" is 1000 and that a few more (about 900) than I'd be able to use in my wildest dreams (and I thought 100 was pretty wild....) Why, oh why, did I decide to model the East coast?
You'd have plenty of spares.:tb-wink: I think where ever, or what ever and whatever era you model you'll find common prototypes you need that manufacturers don't seem able to produce.