Sunday, October 15, 2017
TT Multi Scale Layout
I am working the design for the new layout as I am moving. My current layout is an HOn3 that was to built in three sections. The radius was to be 16 1/2' for the loop part, which would have been too tight for my locomotive (MDC 2-8-0). I enjoy narrow gauge but TTn42 is so close in gauge (1.5mm) that it wasn't worth it to me when a reasonable amount of stuff is available in HOn3. But I love TT scale and well, even HO is too big to do what I want. So..., what to do? Eureka! I have decided to model a multi scale layout! One half will be TT and the other half of the 4x8 will be HOn3. The HOn3 will be higher in elevation. The TT side will have a staging yard under the HOn3 half and the HOn3 tracks will be in the back of the TT section. They are a mm and a half smaller and will offer a bit of forced perspective. I just won't operate them at the same time. I am building the continuos loop first and not just the yard like my previous layout. Just looking at the preliminary design I can see you fit a lot in in 1/120 scale. I was so used to the constant compromise in HO. Every time I got an idea I would have to adjust. TT is great, as I can "fit" stuff in and it is a good feeling. I have one other thing going for the layout as I built the track layout in HO in the 80's/90's and I know what will work. That layout was an eleven foot shelf layout. I just have to bend it slightly at each end then use curved turnouts on one end and add an oil refinery (partially on the backdrop) and it's good to go. I want to get a quick start on the layout, so I am going to use commercial track (Tillig. It looks great!), then relay it later with code 55 hand laid track and Fast Tracks kits. N Scale cork roadbed works well in HOn3 so I think I'll use it for the TT. Of course, because of the design I'll have to scratch build the structures, but I have to do that in TT Scale anyway and the HO buildings were heavily kit bashed from DPM kits. Although Walthers has a nice N Scale Printers building that can be "raised" with a concrete foundation and scale doors. Although it seems to be easier to "cut-down" HO buildings.
Friday, September 15, 2017
Sept 15, 2017
Well it's been a while since I posted. The reason, I must admit is as an unsuccessful foray into N scale. I gave up as it's just too small to any kitbashing for me. And since I don't have the room for HO, TT it is. I decided to build a smaller layout then I had previsously envisioned. Actually I am going to start with sectional code 80 track to get a quick start. I was setback by the cost of fastrak switches and the time involved, which I don't have...! That plus the TT layout I was going to build was a switching/shelf layout. I have had an epiphany since then when I came to realize that everyone of the successful layouts I have had was a continous run layout. I have to get the trains running or I lose interest too fast. So I will be building with a quick start option and upgrading to handlaid code 55 track later.
I kept my TT stuff, borrowing the trucks I had built for a bulkhead flat (HP kit with rebuilt styrene sides.) I used the trucks (precision scale 4'9" vulcan with roundhouse Hon3 re-gauged wheels) for an HP chemical tankcar kit. I plan to build at least one train before I break ground on the new layout. (Which will be 6 months or so as I am planning another 500 mile move) I will use the legs from my current Hon3 layout with a new board for the new layout. But mostly I just want to have fun and I find TT scale to a lot of fun...
Well it's been a while since I posted. The reason, I must admit is as an unsuccessful foray into N scale. I gave up as it's just too small to any kitbashing for me. And since I don't have the room for HO, TT it is. I decided to build a smaller layout then I had previsously envisioned. Actually I am going to start with sectional code 80 track to get a quick start. I was setback by the cost of fastrak switches and the time involved, which I don't have...! That plus the TT layout I was going to build was a switching/shelf layout. I have had an epiphany since then when I came to realize that everyone of the successful layouts I have had was a continous run layout. I have to get the trains running or I lose interest too fast. So I will be building with a quick start option and upgrading to handlaid code 55 track later.
I kept my TT stuff, borrowing the trucks I had built for a bulkhead flat (HP kit with rebuilt styrene sides.) I used the trucks (precision scale 4'9" vulcan with roundhouse Hon3 re-gauged wheels) for an HP chemical tankcar kit. I plan to build at least one train before I break ground on the new layout. (Which will be 6 months or so as I am planning another 500 mile move) I will use the legs from my current Hon3 layout with a new board for the new layout. But mostly I just want to have fun and I find TT scale to a lot of fun...
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
TT scale HP Covered Hopper
Well almost finished with my first TT scale car. It's an HP covered hopper kit. It was put together when I bought it. Im using the HP trucks for now. I added an etched brass N scale roof walk and brake wheel (they are a bit oversized.) I glued a styrene strip for a nameplate on the side, added Kadee N scale couplers and there you go. It is a bit light. I would've added more weight, but the kit was all ready built up and it would have destroyed the model had I opened it up to put weight inside. So for now I will let it be. paint is next then decals. I'm gonna see if I can find an N scale covered hopper set for the numbers,etc,... Pictures to follow...I have also been working on using pre-printed TT scale doors to use in converted HO buildings.. I use HO scale plans reduced 72%, then colorized, glued to clear or solid styrene and built into the HO door frames. Let you know how that works out...
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
HOn3 for TT?
HOW MUCH HOn3 IS USEFUL?
December 9th 2015 I was surprised at much is actually useful; especially if model the WW 2 era and before.The best I've found are the Micro Trains C&S cars. Unfortunetly they are currently out of production. These cars and any of the D&RGW boxcars (Precision Scale, Blackstone and Rail Line) make good wooden boxcars if you build your own underframes. I prefer styrene channel stock, but brass would work as well. Precision Scale and Blackstone tank cars are excellent, even for modern era. ( I saw welded 40 ft tank cars with friction bearings in chemical service even in the late 1970's. They would bring out lead compound for gasoline to the refineries in LA in Dupont tank cars on the Santa Fe. They had leaded gas then!)It would be hard to model passenger cars though. I'm thinking about using wooden sides kits and flipping them inside out and using the smooth side, using two kits to get one 80 ft car. of course I model modern in TT so this is problematic as to era. But these could be used for MOW cars. What I'm most impressed with is the wheels. After buying some TT cars (HP, Kemtron, Gold Coast and Zeuke) is the Hon3 wheels are a really good match. MDC is the best as are Micro Trains/ Kadee. I put them in the Hon3 Bettendorf trucks and they look good. Precision Scale, Blackstone and Rio Grande Models are a bit too wide. I use them for my Hon3 models.Example: A Rio Grande Models Vulcan truck with Micro Trains wheels (axle spacers added) look good and the RGM wheels will be used for Micro Trains or MDC archbar trucks. Synergy! MDC wheels look good on Zeuke tank cars. You just have to spread the wheels to 12mm, file down the axle ends. Some of the HP wheels I have have larger flanges then some of the others. I wonder if the larger ones are older? Anyway the smaller ones look OK and the Kemtron wheels seem to in scale. But I mix things up depending on the look I want and the type of cars it is. So far I am very happy in TT scale. Who would've thought going back to the future would work for me. After all the hi-tech stuff recently I find it rewarding to actually model stuff...
December 9th 2015 I was surprised at much is actually useful; especially if model the WW 2 era and before.The best I've found are the Micro Trains C&S cars. Unfortunetly they are currently out of production. These cars and any of the D&RGW boxcars (Precision Scale, Blackstone and Rail Line) make good wooden boxcars if you build your own underframes. I prefer styrene channel stock, but brass would work as well. Precision Scale and Blackstone tank cars are excellent, even for modern era. ( I saw welded 40 ft tank cars with friction bearings in chemical service even in the late 1970's. They would bring out lead compound for gasoline to the refineries in LA in Dupont tank cars on the Santa Fe. They had leaded gas then!)It would be hard to model passenger cars though. I'm thinking about using wooden sides kits and flipping them inside out and using the smooth side, using two kits to get one 80 ft car. of course I model modern in TT so this is problematic as to era. But these could be used for MOW cars. What I'm most impressed with is the wheels. After buying some TT cars (HP, Kemtron, Gold Coast and Zeuke) is the Hon3 wheels are a really good match. MDC is the best as are Micro Trains/ Kadee. I put them in the Hon3 Bettendorf trucks and they look good. Precision Scale, Blackstone and Rio Grande Models are a bit too wide. I use them for my Hon3 models.Example: A Rio Grande Models Vulcan truck with Micro Trains wheels (axle spacers added) look good and the RGM wheels will be used for Micro Trains or MDC archbar trucks. Synergy! MDC wheels look good on Zeuke tank cars. You just have to spread the wheels to 12mm, file down the axle ends. Some of the HP wheels I have have larger flanges then some of the others. I wonder if the larger ones are older? Anyway the smaller ones look OK and the Kemtron wheels seem to in scale. But I mix things up depending on the look I want and the type of cars it is. So far I am very happy in TT scale. Who would've thought going back to the future would work for me. After all the hi-tech stuff recently I find it rewarding to actually model stuff...
Monday, November 23, 2015
What's Out There
November 23, 2015
I was a little hesitant to model in TT at first, but hey the hobby has changed. Where I live there is one model train hobby shop for 500,000 people. I have to go online for my HOn3 stuff anyway so what difference does it make what scale I'm in? That one shop is Primerly N scale anyway. If I was a completely new modeler, N scale might be interesting. But frankly, and this major: I don't particularly care for N scale. I don't know why, I mean I used to be in it when I was 14 or so, I guess my perspective changed. I thought TT would be the same, But it seems right. HO seems huge now! My first attempt in TTn42/TT was enjoyable, such as it was - I liked having to improvise! I felt I was actually building something, When I was in HO I did a lot of that as well as I do now in HOn3. Sure there was a lot of Ready to Run stuff, but hey; I kitbash, repaint, and alter just about everything I model, so why not be in TT?
To get started I purchased some TT stuff on Ebay. They were unfinshed kits. I am using Micro Trains N scale couplers and various N scale detail parts. I find a lot of stuff in that scale is oversized. I found an etched brass roofwalk/brakewheel set for a Con-Cor covered hopper that was the same size as the HP/Kemtron TT stuff! I also plan to use some HOn3 wheelsets/trucks for some of the cars; A lot of Hon3 stuff is usable.C&S 4'6" Bettendorf trucks in HOn3 scale out at 6' wheelbase in TT and the wheels are aprox 36" diameter. I can use those with spacers on the axles (I cut the plastic axles and insert the ends into a proper width sleeve) But I prefer the old MDC/Roundhouse HOn3 wheels as they have seperate axles. You just don't press them together as tight and then glue them into place. It is fun! I am very pleased with TT scale. Next: HOn3 conversions...
I was a little hesitant to model in TT at first, but hey the hobby has changed. Where I live there is one model train hobby shop for 500,000 people. I have to go online for my HOn3 stuff anyway so what difference does it make what scale I'm in? That one shop is Primerly N scale anyway. If I was a completely new modeler, N scale might be interesting. But frankly, and this major: I don't particularly care for N scale. I don't know why, I mean I used to be in it when I was 14 or so, I guess my perspective changed. I thought TT would be the same, But it seems right. HO seems huge now! My first attempt in TTn42/TT was enjoyable, such as it was - I liked having to improvise! I felt I was actually building something, When I was in HO I did a lot of that as well as I do now in HOn3. Sure there was a lot of Ready to Run stuff, but hey; I kitbash, repaint, and alter just about everything I model, so why not be in TT?
To get started I purchased some TT stuff on Ebay. They were unfinshed kits. I am using Micro Trains N scale couplers and various N scale detail parts. I find a lot of stuff in that scale is oversized. I found an etched brass roofwalk/brakewheel set for a Con-Cor covered hopper that was the same size as the HP/Kemtron TT stuff! I also plan to use some HOn3 wheelsets/trucks for some of the cars; A lot of Hon3 stuff is usable.C&S 4'6" Bettendorf trucks in HOn3 scale out at 6' wheelbase in TT and the wheels are aprox 36" diameter. I can use those with spacers on the axles (I cut the plastic axles and insert the ends into a proper width sleeve) But I prefer the old MDC/Roundhouse HOn3 wheels as they have seperate axles. You just don't press them together as tight and then glue them into place. It is fun! I am very pleased with TT scale. Next: HOn3 conversions...
Saturday, November 21, 2015
ADVENTURES IN 1/120 SCALE
November 21st 2015 - This blog is about my new model train layout in TT Scale (1/120th scale) or 1/10th scale, one inch = one foot. I've always held a soft spot for TT Scale even back to the 1970's but was unable to try it then. Now after 40 years in HO, HOn3, N and Sn3 1/2 I have come to a place where I'm ready to try again . Back then, (early 70's) I was modeling N scale and growing up in Southern California where I lived near Knott's Berry Farm with its Colorado Narrow Gauge RR trains. I was quite taken and wanted to do NG. This was hard as I was in my preteens and had a limited income. I tried modeling NG using N Scale track (9mm) and had a lot of fun. I looked into the actual scale and read that it was 1/100 scale and remembered TT trains from the 60's. That seemed doable and seeing an ad in Model Railroader from Gandy Dancer kits I wrote a letter of inquiry, but received no reply. I guess they were out of business (72 or 73?) Any way I went into N Scale 1920'S modeling and left it at that. In the late 70's I started railfaning the Santa Fe mainline in Fullerton CA and I went back into HO in 1980 having had my first train set (1967) in that scale. It was fun to buy what I saw at trackside. I was out of N Scale before it "took off" and stayed happily in HO for 25 years. I still liked Narrow Gauge and did some Sn 3 1/2 by the millenium and liked it well enough, but it took up too much room (You can model Sn3 in the space of HO but you should use "broad curves") 20 inch radius was too tight and I switched to HOn3. That worked better. Well, after a big move I had to downsize and I got rid of my HO and Sn3 1/2 stuff, keeping only my HOn3 trains. I joined an HO club with HOn3 and am building an HOn3 layout, but I still wanted to model mainline standard gauge trains. The hobby had certainly changed! It's very expensive and everything is pre-made for the most part. So looking at the cost of starting again in HO and running on the club or just building a module. I was daunted. And for some reason TT Scale had been on my mind for about a year or so. I thought of building a TT/TTn42 layout, using N Scale track for the narrow gauge, but that was a lot of work and my Hon3 stuff was so nice and the cost and time of starting two new gauges from square one was considerable. Then I thought I don't have to build them on the same layout. I mean, I could build a TT shelf scene and keep my HOn3 seperate. The narrow gauge was set in 1947 anyway and I wanted to model the late 70's in mainline , so it might just work. So That's how I got started in TT (again) for the first time... Next; Getting started or "What's Out There."
November 21st 2015 - This blog is about my new model train layout in TT Scale (1/120th scale) or 1/10th scale, one inch = one foot. I've always held a soft spot for TT Scale even back to the 1970's but was unable to try it then. Now after 40 years in HO, HOn3, N and Sn3 1/2 I have come to a place where I'm ready to try again . Back then, (early 70's) I was modeling N scale and growing up in Southern California where I lived near Knott's Berry Farm with its Colorado Narrow Gauge RR trains. I was quite taken and wanted to do NG. This was hard as I was in my preteens and had a limited income. I tried modeling NG using N Scale track (9mm) and had a lot of fun. I looked into the actual scale and read that it was 1/100 scale and remembered TT trains from the 60's. That seemed doable and seeing an ad in Model Railroader from Gandy Dancer kits I wrote a letter of inquiry, but received no reply. I guess they were out of business (72 or 73?) Any way I went into N Scale 1920'S modeling and left it at that. In the late 70's I started railfaning the Santa Fe mainline in Fullerton CA and I went back into HO in 1980 having had my first train set (1967) in that scale. It was fun to buy what I saw at trackside. I was out of N Scale before it "took off" and stayed happily in HO for 25 years. I still liked Narrow Gauge and did some Sn 3 1/2 by the millenium and liked it well enough, but it took up too much room (You can model Sn3 in the space of HO but you should use "broad curves") 20 inch radius was too tight and I switched to HOn3. That worked better. Well, after a big move I had to downsize and I got rid of my HO and Sn3 1/2 stuff, keeping only my HOn3 trains. I joined an HO club with HOn3 and am building an HOn3 layout, but I still wanted to model mainline standard gauge trains. The hobby had certainly changed! It's very expensive and everything is pre-made for the most part. So looking at the cost of starting again in HO and running on the club or just building a module. I was daunted. And for some reason TT Scale had been on my mind for about a year or so. I thought of building a TT/TTn42 layout, using N Scale track for the narrow gauge, but that was a lot of work and my Hon3 stuff was so nice and the cost and time of starting two new gauges from square one was considerable. Then I thought I don't have to build them on the same layout. I mean, I could build a TT shelf scene and keep my HOn3 seperate. The narrow gauge was set in 1947 anyway and I wanted to model the late 70's in mainline , so it might just work. So That's how I got started in TT (again) for the first time... Next; Getting started or "What's Out There."
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