Nn3 Rio Grande Southern 2-6-0 build

[160pennsy]

With the Ready-To-Run prices on Nn3 steam locomotives being so steep (many in the $800-$900 range), I decided to start that slippery slide down the Nn3 kit building slope! Recently purchased the Republic Locomotive Works #2112 Rio Grande Southern 2-6-0 kit, a used z scale Marklin 8895 and a TRK 202 pilot kit. Still waiting on some Rokuhan track & controller to setup a test loop but I decided to post a build thread in case others might want to join in on the madness. The Marklin 8895 was released back in the early 2000's time frame and all z scale dealers list it as discontinued. With patience and good timing you can source them on the used market place via Google search and eBay. The photos below show some overview & detail on the Marklin mechanism and the RLW kit. Some additional resources that come highly recommended are the Nn3 Handbook, the Nn3 Yahoo Group and Tom Knapp's series of articles in N Scale Magazine. Hopefully I'll be able to navigate thru the rough spots and avoid mistakes but we'll see.

Not sure which Railwire member was offering those etched brass pipe hangers but if you're reading this, please reply or send me a PM since I'll be needing some

[peteski]

Looks to be an interesting project!

Max Magliaro was selling those hangers.  The only thing I wish he had done differently was to use slightly thinner stock.  IMO, They are a bit thicker than ideal.  Jason (superturbine) has Gold Medal Models make him a batch of hangers (along with some siderods) and they were made using thinner metal. But I don't think he has any for sale.

[Erik W]

Ooooh.  Nice!  I have always had a bit of an interest in Nn3.  I'll be following your progress closely.

The extent of my dabbling in Nn3 are this resin boxcar kit and caboose kit:






This makes an interesting flatcar load on my 1956 D&RGW layout.  The story is it's being donated to a park somewhere.

Erik

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I never saw photos of an RLW kit before. Those metal castings look fantastic. Does the resin tender have holes along the rivets or is that just the camera angle playing tricks on me?

I really wish someone would do some Maine 2' gauge stuff. I would live to do a small layout based on 1930's logging.

[glakedylan]

is it me, or is anyone else wondering where he found a "2603" penny...did it involve a tardis?
hmmm...

[wcfn100]

I consider my dad to be one of the Nn3 modeling pioneers as he started sometime before 1988.  His first Nn3 loop was part of a N-trak style module but by 1990 he had a dedicated Nn3 layout.



Back then, the locomotives were static models and you had to machine out the boilers to get the mechanisms to fit.  I can't even count how many awards he won with the various models he built.  Also all the tenders back then were metal so train length tended to be 4-5 cars.

One thing on the mechanisms, back in the day, sometimes you could find a mech like the one you have but with black spokes.  I don't know if Marklin does that anymore but it's really a time saver.

And one introspection - enjoy the fact you can build these because it won't last forever.  That award winning Nn3 modeler that my dad was for many years can't hardly hold a box car now without shaking.  He works on some On30, but even needs help with that at times.


Jason

[Rich_S]

is it me, or is anyone else wondering where he found a "2603" penny...did it involve a tardis?
hmmm...

It's just you    It's one of those Popsicle illusions, I mean optical illusions. There appears to be a speck of dirt in the first zero, causing it to look like a 6, it's actually a 2003 penny. 

[Rich_S]

Paul, Thanks for the thread and photos, very nice build. I do enjoy reading "The Short & Nn3arrow" but at this stage in life I no longer have the eyesight for Nn3 and I don't have the room for On3 

[Dave V]

[160pennsy]

The first steps in the kit instructions tell you to remove the Marklin bottom plate, drive wheels and gears, cross head guides, plastic cylinders and 2 wheel pilot truck. With no Rokuhan track and controller on hand, I will hold off on these steps until I get to test the mechanism. This z scale engine came with a 3 pole motor and one performance upgrade choice is installing a 5 pole armature & brushes from Marklin. The upgrade parts are available and the procedure is covered on this web link:

http://www.zscale.org/articles/fivepole.html

Looks to me as if a complete dis-assembly would be required for the 5 pole motor upgrade, so I might choose to do it now if the 3 pole mechanism testing shows any performance issues (jack rabbit starts, slow speed issues, etc...). In the following set of photos I was able to assemble the cab and attached it to the boiler. The whole assembly should fit down over the Marklin mechanism but some Dremel grinding, hand filling and scraping might be required to get the cab fitted over the motor.









Using an iPhone 4S as my camera and I'm still learning how to get better focus on the parts. Next major purchase will be a DSLR, tripod & maybe Helicon software.
Wanted to see if I could install a working headlamp so the boiler was drilled out from top & bottom. The same procedure was done on the separate headlamp casting. An Evan Designs pre-wired Pico LED was threaded thru both with a small dab of Walthers Goo holding everything in place temporarily. As luck would have it, my LED tester 9volt battery was dead so Ill have to head out to grab a new one...stay tuned

[nkalanaga]

This could be a long thread!  I'll be interested in just how far you take it. 

I've built Nn3 loco kits, but mostly the Gold Rush C&S 2-6-0, which used the larger Marklin 2-6-0 with tender.  My first Nn3 loco was one of those, in 1977, Americanized with a new tender, cab, and pilot.  The tender was wood, paper, and KD N scale archbar trucks narrowed to Nn3.  The old three-piece KD wheels could be regauged by making new axles from brass rod.  the cab was also paper, using various thicknesses of cardstock, in multiple layers.  The pilot was from a KD standard gauge pilot conversion kit, pinned to the pilot beam using the holes the buffers were stuck in.  1025 couplers, of course, as there were no Nn3 KDs.  It didn't look like anything that ever ran, but didn't really look BAD.  I still have that model, but it's been upgraded over the years, mostly new trucks, couplers, and a styrene tender body.  It still looks much the same, though, and has the original Marklin boiler.

That was the loco that convinced me that, if I planned to RUN Nn3, it would have to be diesels!  Besides, my main interest was the early BN, and I only got into narrow gauge because the local hobby shop owner told me that it couldn't be done.  Of course, he was an O scale modeler.  My loco was smaller than the drivers on one of his locos...

[delamaize]

I can't tell for sure from the pictures, but I think you may have built the cab backwards. you got the front of the cab on the back and vice versa.....

[Lemosteam]

Looks that way to me too! A little heat and the ca will break loose quick!

[newt749]

Looking forward to your progress. I've been wanting to do Nn3 for a very long time and am planning to put a small logging and mining line in my latest layout. I still have one of RLW's early Shays based on a Z-scale F7 waiting to be built.

Good Luck with this build!

[160pennsy]

Does the resin tender have holes along the rivets or is that just the camera angle playing tricks on me?

Daniel,

I have not started working on the tender assembly yet and the casting is straight out of the bag. Some cleanup will be required along with sanding the bottom flat. Tried to get a better angle so you can see the rivet detail in these additional photos. With the base resin color it's hard to see any imperfections so a thin coat of grey primer should really show if it needs work.