May/June N-SCALE MAGAZINE

[Pamela Clapp]

The May/June 2019 issue of N-Scale Magazine will ship from the printers Friday, March 26th. Featured will be many new articles covering: A Tale of Love Found & Love Lost by Dennis Murphy • Build Santa Fe's First Alco Passenger Locomotive Part II by Loren Perry • From the 1800s to the 1900s by Woody Gamble • GP Line Part 1 by Glenn Poole • DCC Workshop - Wiring for DCC by Timothy J. Horton • The Short & Nn3arrow - San Luis Obispo Part II by Thomas Knapp.

If you are interested in learning about DCC, seeing new layouts, both large and small, Nn3, product reviews, painting/weathering and more, please go to www.nscalemagazine.com and click on Subscribe now. We would be pleased to include you. You can also call 360-658-2485 to subscribe. N-Scale Magazine is also available as a digital subscription.

[Glenn Poole]

I hope you all enjoy the pictures of my model layout in this May-June issue of N-Scale.  The GP LINE Part 1, begins on page 35

[John]

I hope you all enjoy the pictures of my model layout in this May-June issue of N-Scale.  The GP LINE Part 1, begins on page 35

Looking forward to it .. as this will also be my last mag

[peteski]

I finally had a chance to read this issue. Wow!

 @Loren Perry 's red warbonnet ATSF DL-109 set is absolutely gorgeous.  Maybe me want to model ATSF!  He put in a lot of effort into the model.  I was also surprised that he had to cobble up and modify Microscale decals to make them fit the model.  I would have expected Microscale to design better-fitting decals.



Then there is @Glenn Poole 's GP Line layout.  That is some serious amount of modeling: 3-levels,, and "ceiling height" scenery - very impressive.  The fully finished room is also really welcoming. Well done!  Amazing that one man accomplished all that.
He can run realistically-long trains: I spotted a passenger 18-car passenger train.



Glenn, I noticed several landmark skyscrapers in your large city:  World Trade Center, Hancock Tower, Sears Tower, and the Pan Am building to name some.  I have never seen kits of any of those.  Did you scracthbuild these yourself?  Have them custom made?

[nickelplate759]

Regarding fitting the Microscale decals - it may or may not be a problem with the decals.  I've discovered a few times that an N scale model has it's proportions subtly altered and that in turn makes the decals not fit.  A couple of examples:
1. Arnold GG1 (doors are too far apart, and I suspect the entire cab area is a little too long), so the spacing on the word PENNSYLVANIA doesn't work without cutting apart every letter.
2. Con-Cor Superliner lounge - the lounge windows are incorrectly placed on the sides (too high if I recall correctly) so the decals for the first generation paint scheme (with the curved stripes) don't fit right.


I'm sure there are LOTS more.

[peteski]

Regarding fitting the Microscale decals - it may or may not be a problem with the decals.  I've discovered a few times that an N scale model has it's proportions subtly altered and that in turn makes the decals not fit.  A couple of examples:
1. Arnold GG1 (doors are too far apart, and I suspect the entire cab area is a little too long), so the spacing on the word PENNSYLVANIA doesn't work without cutting apart every letter.
2. Con-Cor Superliner lounge - the lounge windows are incorrectly placed on the sides (too high if I recall correctly) so the decals for the first generation paint scheme (with the curved stripes) don't fit right.


I'm sure there are LOTS more.

Makes sense, but then it would be nice of the decal companies considered that, and designed decals which fit model shells (not exactly scaled  representation 1:1 car).  At least for decals which fit existing models. After all, that is the "canvas" modelers will use, because nobody (or a vast majority of modelers) ain't got time to scratchbuild exact-scaled models to fit the decals).
 I know, it is not as simple as what I mentioned, since sometimes the same body style is available (with slight variations in shape accuracy) from multiple companies in plastic and brass, but it would still be better to make it fit some specific shell rather than a non-existent exact-scaled model.

[Glenn Poole]

I finally had a chance to read this issue. Wow!

 @Loren Perry 's red warbonnet ATSF DL-109 set is absolutely gorgeous.  Maybe me want to model ATSF!  He put in a lot of effort into the model.  I was also surprised that he had to cobble up and modify Microscale decals to make them fit the model.  I would have expected Microscale to design better-fitting decals.



Then there is @Glenn Poole 's GP Line layout.  That is some serious amount of modeling: 3-levels,, and "ceiling height" scenery - very impressive.  The fully finished room is also really welcoming. Well done!  Amazing that one man accomplished all that.
He can run realistically-long trains: I spotted a passenger 18-car passenger train.



Glenn, I noticed several landmark skyscrapers in your large city:  World Trade Center, Hancock Tower, Sears Tower, and the Pan Am building to name some.  I have never seen kits of any of those.  Did you scracthbuild these yourself?  Have them custom made?

I did scratchbuild the real tall buildings. These are some of my all time favorite buildings.  I wanted to do something that I could do in a hurry and that would stand out.  So, I built them out of poster board and then covered them with paper that I printed using and Excel spreadsheet by sizing each square and coloring it with the color I wanted.  Really quite easy.  I figured, in N-Scale, that a 3" window sill is about 1.2/64" or basically the thickness of a piece of paper, so a smooth side building was about as close to scale as the plastic kits one foot oversize window sills.  I have thought about doing a short tutorial  on how I built them but haven't got that done yet.

I do enjoy running long trains.  Most of the freight trains I run are around 40 cars.  In most of the scenes you can't see both the front and rear of the train as it passes thru so you get the sense that the train is even longer than that.
Thanks for your nice comments.

[Loren Perry]

I finally had a chance to read this issue. Wow!

 @Loren Perry 's red warbonnet ATSF DL-109 set is absolutely gorgeous.  Maybe me want to model ATSF!  He put in a lot of effort into the model.  I was also surprised that he had to cobble up and modify Microscale decals to make them fit the model.  I would have expected Microscale to design better-fitting decals.




I was not meaning to criticize Micro-Scale's decals on this project, but was pointing out the reality of having to modify what they offered in order to comply with the photographic evidence I was working with. Their decals served me very well here. I doubt it's realistic to expect Micro-Scale or any other company to offer every single variation of shape and color for markings worn by a fairly rare locomotive like Santa Fe's Engine 50. As the engine aged, its markings were modified from time to time. So I learned to adapt and managed to find almost everything I needed between the two decal sets I was using. I am grateful to Micro-Scale for making all the designs available for those of us who still like to custom build their engines and rolling stock.

[Bobster]

Greetings,

Were the Microscale decals originally made for the Life Like or the old Atlas Rivarossi (or was it Con-Cor) DL-109.  As similar as DL-109's look there are different window configurations.  I'm pretty impressed with the DL-110 B unit and would like to see a picture or two of it here. 

Bobster out.

[peteski]

I was not meaning to criticize Micro-Scale's decals on this project, but was pointing out the reality of having to modify what they offered in order to comply with the photographic evidence I was working with. Their decals served me very well here. I doubt it's realistic to expect Micro-Scale or any other company to offer every single variation of shape and color for markings worn by a fairly rare locomotive like Santa Fe's Engine 50. As the engine aged, its markings were modified from time to time. So I learned to adapt and managed to find almost everything I needed between the two decal sets I was using. I am grateful to Micro-Scale for making all the designs available for those of us who still like to custom build their engines and rolling stock.

I did not think that you were criticizing Microscale's decals, but simply showing the steps you took to achieve an accurate depiction of that locomotive.  It was interesting and enlightening to see the modifications you had to make. But it wold be nice if they designed the shapes of their decals to fit a particular N scale body shell. From your example, the the warbonnet color demarcation stripe of the cigar band shape.  It would be nice, but I also realize that it makes no sense from a business perspective.

For whatever you had to do, you ended up with a pair of gorgeous models!