Austinio said:
I have a HUGE area in the middle that I am going to have to fill with SOMETHING.
I hate to say it but it probably wasn't a good idea to build your layout like that. You'll find it hard to reach the center. Many people jigsaw out the center of their board so that they can stand in the middle. In my opinion the classic beginner mistake is to have an oval, for the very reason you stated. A huge area in the center that you're going to have to fill... plus later on when you possibly get more serious about the hobby, the unrealistic oval will begin to disappoint you.
Now is a good stage to think about whether you really want an oval, since you've only nailed down the track and haven't ballasted or put any scenery down.
Austinio said:
1. Does regular N scale track work well for HO narrow gauge, and if so, does both HOn3 and HOn30 run on N scale or does only HOn30?
Yes, n scale track is ideal. In HO it represents 2 foot 6 inch gauge, a very common narrow gauge. No, HOn3 requires slightly wider than n scale track gauge. HOn30 represents 30 inch gauge, while HOn3 represents 3 foot gauge.
Austinio said:
2. Is it easy to convert an N scale loco to narrow gauge HO? What sort of tools would you reccomend?
Yes, I've been doing it since I was 14 years old and it's one of the easiest projects provided you know what to do and make a point of not being sloppy about your work. All you need is a craft knife, some sharp scissors, polystyrene cement, and styrene sheet of various thicknesses (I'd recommend 0.5mm or thinner for stuff you plan to bend like for locomotive roofs or diesel hood tops). A good drill like a dremel is very handy for starting holes for windows, which you can then square out using the craft knife. You may also want styrene strip depending on your project.
All you do is remove the bodyshell of the N scale loco, and then build yourself a new shell to fit around the chassis. Sometimes this can be quite a challenge, and often until you take the bodyshell off you don't know what kind of difficulty level you're dealing with. You can sometimes come across one that may need physical modification before you can build the kind of loco you want onto it.
Austinio said:
3. What are some good companies that make narrow gauge freight cars and passenger cars?
Well since I don't model any American narrow gauge prototypes I don't really know, but one site that has constantly impressed me with it's product range has been a little shop called "train and trooper" - you'll find it on the web if you enter those exact words into google.
Parkside Dundas, a UK kit manufacturer make a kit of a hudson skip car (the tipping V shaped cars) which is in the slightly larger british 4mm to the foot scale, but is so small that the difference is negligable. Nigel Lawton, whose products are available over the internet, makes a range of 4mm to the foot WG Allen skip cars, which look very similar but were more popular in the US than the Hudson skips (so I'm told). Nigel's kits are home made, and so for an extra 2 bucks he'll throw in the "skip seconds", which are the castings that came out warped, or with air bubbles, or other defects, which you can use to create your own pile of rusted out skips as found on many narrow gauge railroads - sometimes you get lots of these, sometimes you get none, it depends on how well the casting goes.
Austinio said:
4. Is there any good out-of-the-box plastic narrow gauge available or is it all brass and stuff?
There's actually a lot of good out of the box rtr models out there. For locomotives, the Roco range has a really nice 0-6-0 outside framed steamer that's beautifully detailed, runs like a sewing machine, and with a few small modifications and detail parts can easily be Americanised. It's available in both tender and non tender versions. Don't confuse that with their cheaper one, although that is a nice runner and looks pretty good since they re-did it with improved valve gear - however the ugly body shell isn't worth messing with in my opinion, it's too far gone to save.
If you're willing to put your money where your mouth is with the narrow gauge, try Bemo. Very expensive, but the running qualities are second to none, as is the detail. I wouldn't recommend it as you'd probably be too scared to modify/americanise it at that kind of cost, but there is a cheaper, really nice outside framed diesel engine in their range (outside framed chassis are very hard to come by in rtr narrow gauge so it's good to know where you can get a chassis if you need one) - I've seen many of these used as chassis for various prototypes, all of which ran great.
The only brass HOn30 that I know of is Brick Price's models and imported Joe Works models which are now mostly collectors items, the rest of the brass stuff is generally HOn3.
Austinio said:
Add any other info you know about it.
The Bachmann spectrum Plymouth 0-6-0 switcher is a really good starting point for building a "critter". All you need to do is cut off the existing cab, and replace it with a larger HOn30 cab. Instant HOn30 diesel. If you're feeling confident, you can scratchbuild a new hood too, add an exhaust pipe, air intake, and headlamp... maybe even a radiator filler cap.
Have fun. :thumb:
