Awesome! I'm really keen to see how this progresses. I'm a HO/OO guy from way back but have sold/lost everything but two locos, a passenger rolling stock set and a freight set. No track. I did dabble with Lego trains but the scale is huge andn my wife wanted the lounge back. Am currently pondering whether to reinvest in a full blown HO/OO layout or switch to something more convenient and N could be it. Although I do think that HO/OO is more suitable for sharing with my 9 year old son.
Keep up the good work.
Stu
· 1 year ago
Madness! Seriously Ben, build some kind of simple sprung armature for your ni-chrome, even a bit of U shaped MDF because you can get a lot more leverage that way which makes cutting easier. 3mm MDF also makes for excellent stencils for hot wire cutting as well.
Also if you're looking to cover and level that polystyrene a bit I recommend Selley's Pollyfilla as it adheres very nicely to polystyrene and is easily textured/cleaned up with a wet brush. This is what I used to cover and texture my North African 15mm WWII gaming table with.
Stu
· 1 year ago
I should also add you might like to try lightly sanding the polystyrene back to smooth out the gradient, do it outdoors with a fine grit paper and a facemask imho. This is where extruded high density polystyrene -really- shines because you can sand it freely, with closed cell expanded polystyrene incautious sanding will break off individual balls giving you a pitted surface. This is just is a minor annoyance that can be rectified with Pollyfilla mind you - it's just bloody messy!
beng
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the tips man. I'm reasonably happy with the finish because a) natural ground isn't flat and b) I'll be laying roadbed where the track will run, which will provide a much more even surface.
But yeah I think I will use some sanding and polyfilla where I required. Still waiting on trackage. Damn I wish there was a decent nscale supplier in New Zealand.
Stu
· 1 year ago
Wonder if there's any way to gauge N gauge demand in NZ (pun intended)? As I've mentioned I've often considered trying to set up as a reseller in NZ for some of the 15mm lines I war game with, but haven't really got a spare couple of thou to sink into setting up a company/web-site/stock/advertising. Have you researched N scale suppliers widely in NZ? Surely somebody is doing it here?
beng
· 1 year ago
Most of the local hobby shops carry some N scale stuff, but it doesn't seem consistent nor at all competitive with online pricing. Including GST, Freight and a decent markup I could probably still sell at half the price by importing myself.
I've intentionally gone in to purchase items to support the local shops, but can never find what I need.
I think that's the main issue with reselling locally: you have to get tons of stock initially just to make sure you can support one or two decent orders at the same time, otherwise people will just go offshore themselves.
All Comments
Keep up the good work.
Also if you're looking to cover and level that polystyrene a bit I recommend Selley's Pollyfilla as it adheres very nicely to polystyrene and is easily textured/cleaned up with a wet brush. This is what I used to cover and texture my North African 15mm WWII gaming table with.
But yeah I think I will use some sanding and polyfilla where I required. Still waiting on trackage. Damn I wish there was a decent nscale supplier in New Zealand.
I've intentionally gone in to purchase items to support the local shops, but can never find what I need.
I think that's the main issue with reselling locally: you have to get tons of stock initially just to make sure you can support one or two decent orders at the same time, otherwise people will just go offshore themselves.