Killashandra - Irish Nn3

[Chris333]

That sure is "Irish".   

[avel]

Very Nice! More pictures please.

[VonRyan]

Here's the other two photos I took:

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For more photos you'll have to ask @160pennsy

[pjm20]

Looking real good!

[Chris333]

So what products did you use? Silflor?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's so green!

[VonRyan]

So what products did you use? Silflor?

Yup. Silfor 2mm. It's a blend of two parts Summer grass with one part Spring grass. Makes a good lush green color.
I'm thoroughly pleased with it.

[Chris333]

You can dry brush the top of the grass to get small changes in the color.

[VonRyan]

You can dry brush the top of the grass to get small changes in the color.

Going from a couple reference photos, I got a pretty good match to the vibrant green of pasture grass. I think I went a little heavy with bushes along the river, but I'll make up for it by adding in some rocks/stones with the bushes.

Once I get it home, it's dirt road and riverbed time.

Oh, and run a train through the completed greenery. Gotta do that too.

[160pennsy]

For more photos you'll have to ask @160pennsy

So I asked Cody to bring his Irish Nn3 layout to Danville, VA Old 97 Rail Days 2015 so we could try to run some of my Nn3 engines & rolling stock and possibly take a few photos. An offer was extended to Cody allowing use of my home built static grass machine (The Grassinator) along with some other scenery supplies to see if he was willing to get started on the next phase of this Nn3 project. Started off slow with some basic track cleaning, hooked up my Rokuhan RC-02 throttle and then tried out a few engines.








The under construction C&S 2-6-0 (OOP Gold Rush kit) was my only engine that could handle the tight radius curves on Killashandra. We also found a track gauge issue on the curve between the stone arch bridge and the plate girder bridge that caused the last car (in any of my Nn3 trains over 2 cars in length), to hop & then derail . Cody will have to decide if he wants to ultimately resolve this or just leave it alone since his short wheel base Irish rolling stock does not exhibit the same hop & derail problem.










After running some trains, snapping some photos & staring at Cody's layout sides with the glaring pink foam the unanimous decision was that it had to go...quickly!. Some dark brown craft paint and wide brush were borrowed from other NRMRC club members and Cody made rapid progress on that step.





With his new found confidence and some On-The-Job-Training on how to lay down ground foam and add a layer of static grass, Cody then dived head first into this major task! He used a custom blend of Woodland Scenics fine green foam as a base layer and then another customer blend of Silfor 2mm static grass flock (2 shades of green). The results speak for themselves. Cody, you have been Grassinated!!

[Chris333]

The track was laid using the side of a MTL z scale coupler height gauge to set the rails. It is probably made for much larger rail than c55 (or did I use c40?). So there is a lot of slop in the gauge. Still all my equipment ran on it or I would have fixed it. Searails Power Max, Toma Model Works 0-4-0t, Fox Valley z scale wheels all run on it.

BTW before I built this I ordered every Nn3 track gauge I could find and they were all pretty pathetic. So I stuck with old faithful.

[160pennsy]

Part two of Cody's scenery progress...Here's a shot of the folding table Cody & I had setup @ Danville, VA so that other Eastern N Lines members or the viewing public could stop by and check in on the Nn3 happenings while they were running trains watching trains or just milling around the large layout,







Now back to Cody, his Irish Nn3 layout set in the 1940's and the particular vibrant green grass and scenery that he was trying so hard to recreate. If he's reading any of this update perhaps he can add some replies with prototype photos so that we can provide some of that unique brand of Railwire constructive critique and help him achieve his goals. I've had a great weekend sharing our Nn3 modeling with the rest of the N-TRAK clubs & public, helping him out with the scenery, static grass application and also gently prodding to get him further along. I think he's a happy camper in the last few photos!

[Chris333]

Paul, on you table. RLW 2428 was the track gauge that I chose not to use.  I wish I could buy a bunch of N c55 and Nn3 c40 roller gauges!

[peteski]

The scenery on Cody's layout certainly looks luscious and green!

[160pennsy]

Paul, on you table. RLW 2428 was the track gauge that I chose not to use.  I wish I could buy a bunch of N c55 and Nn3 c40 roller gauges!

Chris,

In my earlier post I mentioned the track gauge issue and showed a photo of the general location on the curve. I was not trying to point out any errors in your excellent hand laying technique since I've not even attempted hand laying Nn3 myself..sorry if my post came off that way. We just kept having a derail issue every time I ran thru that section and wanted to debug why it was happening. As the photos show, my North American Narrow gauge MT rolling stock does not really look correct running on the tight radius curves and so I think its really a wash. Cody's Irish rolling stock and engine runs fine and so long as he's happy then the track will probably stay as is.