Favorite N scale activity

I'm fairly new to N scale to, so All I can Qualify for is Scenery and Operations.

 

As some of you may have gathered by now, I love to superdetail engines. I also like to do custom paintjobs on a few cars every now and then. What I really love is N scale Ntermodal though. With the help of companies such as AC Models and Deluxe Inovations, intermodal in N has exploded with possibilities. It's absolutley fantastic with all the containers, flat cars, well cars, spine cars, trailers and container chassis. I going to build the biggest N scale inermodal empire ever!!!!

 

Gary, we had the ladder going up a water tower for a city, to make one time for N scale. The set was to be photographed, so we had to try to get realism. The ladder had to be able to withstand a little moving around, and soldered wire kept getting bent out of shape. I finally came up with this solution that worked well and looked better:

I used a Shish-ka-bob skewer for about the right size and shape to get the ladder cage made. I wrapped a small sheet of release paper around the skewer with the release side out. It was glued then trimmed so only one layer with the seam toward the water tower.

I mounted the skewer in a block to hold it for working. I wiped a length of thread with Elmer's glue to make it stiff, and prevent paint from causing fuzz along the thread. Then I stretched 4 of these threads lengthwise along the skewer. Two were at the halfround position, with the other two equally spaced between these. Then I sprayed Scotch adhesive and wound another thread around the skewer to make the cross bars. This was sprayed with silver twice to get a good coat and make the thread stiffer. After it had dried I sprayed dulcote to prevent the silver from tarnishing.

To remove it from the skewer, I used a scalpel to slice the threads loose along the half round long threads, and lifted the assembly carefully off the skewer and glued it onto the ladder on the water tower. It was a very fine thread and photographed pretty much in scale with a workman figure place part way up the ladder.

If you happen to touch the cage, you can pull it back into shape with a straight pin in a pin vice.

The hand rail around the catwalk was made the same way. The thread was lots easier to work with than the tiny wire. Using the spray adhesive did not make a blob at the joints like solder did. The paint did the heavy bonding.

 

My favorite N scale activity has been either:

1. Modelling a MOW union strike, complete with a half built layout with the track layers holding out for a new contract, or

2. Modelling a severe recession with abandonned lines and stored equipment...

Seriously, one of these days I will get around to doing some more work, if the eight day week is ever implemented.

 

Geez, Wayne, you never cease to amaze me with your wealth of knowledge! I'll try that solution using thread, though I could use different glues.
The first brass kladded is missing a couple of the vertical bars but is looking good so far.

Many thanks!

Gary.

 

Gary, if you want to go to the trouble, after you get the first coat of glue on the thread cage, ladder or handrail, (if it is to be silver color), you could very lightly dust it with copper powder, then electroplate it with copper until you get a good color (about .0002" thick), then nickle plate it, or dip it in some old well used photographer's hypo and silver plate it. That seems to stiffen it, but then you can also break it too, so be carefull.

 

It seems to me that the construction stage is my favorite part. On my previous HO layouts when construction was about complete I would either lose interest or start a major reconstruction of the layout. It will probably be different this time because my five year old daughter and two year old son enjoy enjoy watching the trains run. In fact, my daughter has mastered the Digitrax DT100 throttle already. Sometimes I think my whole motivation with my current layout is watching my kids faces when the trains roll by.

 

For right now my favorite part is watching a 20 car freight pulled by two Southern SD-35's snake up a 1.3% grade on my new under construction layout.

 

1)Building the layout.
2)Operating the layout.
a) A 50 car coal, headed up by a set of double headed Mikados, hits the River grade(1.5%) west of New Albany. After letting the head end power take on water, we hook a 2-8-8-2 pusher on behind the caboose. The crew in the rear are not real happy about this. They are in for a rough ride! We are off. We have 9 1/2 scale miles of uphill climb ahead. We won't be flying, but if we are doing 15 mph by the time we hit Nelson's Store crossing, we will make the top and not stall. At the top of the grade, the pusher will be cut off on the fly. The coal train will not stop. DCC makes this kind of operation possible. Three crews, one for each engine, and we don't run all the engines together on the same throttle. Each engine has it's own throttle and runs independantly of the others, just as real steam power did. If you aren't on your toes, things can get interesting real quick!

Need I say more? To me this is what N-Scale is all about.

 

I would have to say operating long trains with a lot of power. And because I like to do this too much I can never seem to get my scenery and detailing done. I must like constructing the layout and laying track because I have reworked my main yard 4 times now. And working on electrical lighting is kind of cool also... I guess I just like the entire concept of this hobby... variety!

Bryan