So to start off I hope this goes to the right thread! I’m pretty new to the hobby and have spent a while doing the most research I can without directly having my questions answered, so I figured this was a place to get that done. I am planning to build an N scale layout in a pelican rifle case. There’s a few reasons for this. I’m active duty military so I don’t have space for a full layout, it really sucks but I’ve realized this but still want to be able to do something. I chose a pelican rifle case due to its quality and due to the fact that I move every 4 years and don’t wanna pack up a whole layout every time I move. Not every place I go will have space for one as well. The major problem I’ve run into is that by making a compact mini layout, I have narrow what type of engines I get to run on it (I think). And that’s fine with me, I’m not planning on running any 4-8-2s or anything like that. My main question is about the Kato compact curves and sets and if what I plan on getting will actually run on the layout I’m planning to build. I plan to use some British Pannier 0-6-0s on this layout and maybe a 2-6-4 (?) if it can handle the curves. I’ll be using the Kato CV1 20-890 pack and the Kato CV3 20-892 pack with the Kato CV2 20-891 turnouts. I know the CV3 has 7” curves and I think the CV1 is a little bigger than that if I’m not mistaken. I thank everyone for their help and opinions down below in advance. If you have any questions I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner and if you have suggestions- I would really appreciate them as well!
You might want to consider a switching (shunting in British English) layout due to the width. How large is the case?
42Lx22wx15d? You might want to check out a bass case, they are 47" long... You can also get away with a 9.75" radius
Yeah I was looking at this for inspiration but I’m not sure if that pannier is a new one or old one. Apparently they have different wheel measurements
First, Welcome aboard! Are you heavily invested in N scale? If not, have you considered Z? In a Pelican rifle case, Z will make a much better running layout, as the curves being tight aren't a big problem in a smaller scale. I took a Plano pistol case and made a Z scale layout (basically a loop) in it. The photo is in an unfinished state, as I masked off the lake (blue tape). The goofball holding it is me, many years ago. More gray now!
Have you looked into Tomix fine track? They have a lot of assorted tight radius tracks. Matter of fact they have more options than Kato unitrack. If you look towards Z scale Rokuhan tracks are the norm for case type layouts.
That looks pretty sweet I must say! Probably better than someone I will come up with. I do feel like Z offers more room but in order to do like DCC operations I see locos that are around $$250-$300 a piece. To make DCC worth my Wild I’d need to buy at least 3 or 4 and the prices are a bit high. Not to mention I’ve read all about reliability issues and all with the smaller scale. I admit it sounds better than it did 5 years ago, but still has problems from what I can see- and most Z scale is still noisy analog motors that haven’t changed from the 80s or what have you. Theres a few problems I have with Z. So I bought a starter Marklin Z scale layout, opened it up from a brand new box and tried to run it in. It worked for about all of 10 minutes or so before it stopped dead in its tracks. I think it’s the lube they use since I’ve read it jams up if not used for a while, but I don’t own any and in a remote area of the UP, there’s no train shops in most of the state without making it a road trip. The second thing I have a slight problem with is I can only find either German steam locos or Japanese steam locos. Nothing really close to the British theme I was shooting for- maybe it’s me just being picky idk. I have made a N scale track layout with some free program called anyrail I think. It’s pretty operational and I can for sure add more to it if I ever get board. I have made several samples and ideas but I think this one is what I’m going with (provided that the panniers can make the curves). I have one in storage so I hope I can get to it after I come back from getting underway. I really appreciate you taking to time to comment! I will for sure look at Z again before I invest too much in N scale. So far I only have two sets of Kato track, a used pannier, and two wagons of rolling stock. The picture is 15”x52”
I have looked into them a bit and I haven’t seen a radius curve that would work better compared to the stuff I already have from Kato. And I think the only problem with the tight radius is really just finding locos to run on them. Unless I do like an 009 layout, I haven’t found any 0-4-0s just some 0-6-0s and I hope they’ll work around it. I have what appears to be the same model in the first picture I posted so I have a feeling it can do the 6” radius curves. Kato makes them one inch smaller but I’m not sure how much the engine can handle. The case the guy used was 52”x13”- so it for sure wasn’t bigger than 6” radius curves maybe 6.5”? I don’t think so though since there’s still plenty of room from the sides of the case. With my case of 54”x15” I feel like I could have done flex track with a slightly bigger radius but I’m not sure if it’s worth it or how well flex track works for using it to make tight curves. But I could possibly do a 6.5 if I did and do a second loops around 5.5 depending on how the locos handles whats thrown at it.
I agree Tomix does make some tight radius curves especially their 30/60 deg 177,140(which is equivalent to Kato R150-45) and their super small 103. As @bremner stated the Graham Farish shunters, like their 001 class will roll fine on these small curves. Those steam switchers I am not too sure about. Depends on their wheelbase. I am not sure if you have been on this website. http://trains4africa.co.za/?p=3961
Yes! So I have been looking all over for them but I can’t seem to find the old 001s being brought up. Apparently they are in high demand. I’ve been literally studying the images and sizes of the new ones and I don’t see much difference. Depending on my results with the pannier, it will set the tone I think with what I can do with the layout. I’ve done some rough work on really taking it to town and I think this is what I’ve come up with as the final (assuming that the curves are fine) The radius is 6” and I know they can run on 7” but I can’t fit 7” radius in the case but just 2 inches I think. And I can only hope it works out! As you can see in the picture I have a hoods siding, a coal/factory siding (the one by itself), the blue box is a train shed for one loco, the maroon color is a passenger station, yellow boxes are houses/shops in a small city like place, the lime green is a tunnel under a hill that hides unused locos, I might need to work on the road layout some and I would like to add a bit more water to the layout. I have a bit of a hilly layout without effecting the engines too much so I’m thinking about glueing 1” thick foam board to the bottom of the case and work up from there. The depth is about 5” and the lid gives me another 1” so realistically I have 4” to work with and add to the original 1” base board as needed for the hill stuff. Please do tell me what you think! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
While I have little experience with Z scale, we have an active Z scale forum that's chock full of experienced modelers. They should be abe to help you fix your reliability problems.
On two of my three visits to London I went to Ian Allan Ltd publishing on Lower Marsh street near the Waterloo station. They are also a N and HO/OO hobby shop. They had two or more of these class 001's I purchased one of them for about 75 pounds last year.
A very nice! For now I’ll just have to stalk eBay and see how they are. I saw one but it was about 118 USD which is crazy because I can get a DCC Pannier or any 0-6-0 for 30 more dollars or so.
Here's an website from London. https://www.invictamodelrail.com/diesels-35-c.asp I didn't get a chance to visit this place due to the proximity from the city. Though you should be able to contact them (though now every country over here is in lockdown now it might be hard to reach them now) and ask if they ship to the USA. There are other shops in England too. All I did was go to google maps and type in hobby shops while having only England in the map section.
Here's some other sites with shunters for sale in UK. https://www.bourtonmodelrailway.co.uk/railways-graham-farish-locomotives.irc https://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk/locomotives-diesel-electric-n/ http://www.janestrains.co.uk/GrahamFarishDieselElectric.html https://modelrailwaysolutions.co.uk/shop/n-scale/diesel-electric-locos-n/british-outline-n-gauge
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