Awesome.. thanks for the track listing... Best news is I found a place I can get the Foam from... I have already picked up a sheet thats 120cm x 60cm x 50mm thick... 4 more of these and I shall start doing the layout with Scenery.
THIS is an excellent suggestion...definitely go with the super-elevated ("cant track" it is often called by Kato) on your curves....you will not be disappointed. I would also make one suggestion based on my experience...beware the temptation of the simple oval...while its easy to set up, it is not as interesting after a while to watch trains on it. Not sure how 'permanent' you plan to make your layout, but if you can, consider using some Atlas flex track (with some cork or foam roadbed material) on one of the long legs of your oval to give a slight curve or bend to the track (the Atlas and Unitrack are both Code 80, and you can use either of the companies rail joiners to connect them...flex track can be a bit unwieldy for a beginner, so perhaps this may not be the direction for you). Anyway, only a slight bend/curve in a long 'straight' section can create a much more interesting set up to watch trains go by. I'm sort of stuck with keeping a lot of my long straight tangents, but have tried, where possible, to do a few things like this to try and break it up a bit (more info on this on my blog site if your interested) and I really like the result. Good luck!
I have 1 Question with the V11 track... It says the corners are super elevated... will this cause de-railment issues as some of my freight will most likely tip if they go on any sort of angle... Not only that the V11 is 11 inch inner radius which is smaller then my Bullet train can handle safely..
This page has much of the available Unitrack listed. http://www.katousa.com/PDF/N-Unitrack.pdf Hope it helps. Can someone post a link to free track planning software. I recommend it, as it will alow you to play with various layouts and then buy the track you need. I use rr track 4.02, but it isn't cheap
Pic of the New sized layout.. You can already see that the 6 car Shink is as long as the back straight... and I don't think this bad boy will run too smooth on a twisty layout..
I have the V11 set and the superelevated curves have never given me any issues with my rolling stock no matter how top heavy it is. As for the bullet train, I have a Shinkansen 400 and it just glides through those curves. I would be running it now except I have switched over to DCC and cannot find any instructions on how to convert it. And as for the inner loop being too tight for you, that's why I suggested using the outer loop for your bullet and the inner loop to branch off of for your freight and industries. Plus it will give you more room to use when creating all those interesting switching sections to pick up and drop off cars at various buildings. :tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin:
I have the V11 set and I love it. My grandson runs my trains at full throttle without a problem. The only problem I had was when I bought some hoppers from eBay that were missing a spacer on the trucks and the problem showed up on the double crossover, not the super elevated track. :thumbs_up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKiP2krj11w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
I downloaded a program called Any rail.. this has Kato N-scale unitrack part numbers on it to assist me in getting the track design I would like to run.... I am thinking instead of the V11 set, Running two different DC Sets... The Outer Run will be a High speed loop for the Bullets and then an inner up and over figure 8 for freight runs.. (so I can incoporate my two favourite features... Tunnels and Bridges...)
No the inner loop will be American Diesels...F7's,Dash 8 and a GP 38. This is going to be Fantasy layout.. catering to my passions rather then any sort of Era. Here is the Planned Layout.. Outer Loop using the Larger 348mm 45Degree Corners (13 3/4inch) For the ICE 2 and the Shink Inner Kidney bean shape.. For Freight... Since I am not going DCC I can just buy the Outer Loop set from Kato and Few Straight Pieces and the Outer loop will be done. The Inner loop only really requires a Few more 12 3/4 45 Degree corners and it should be possible.. This means I can do freight and Passenger in the one simple and EASY on the hip pocket layout..
Just did a Quick Calculation of the cost of the Additional track.. V6 Outer Loop Set, Bridges, Additional Corners and Straights.. Delivered to my Door for $155 AUD... That places it in the.. Buy later category.. I will get all the foam and grass I need first then purchase the additional track..
Foam has been cut and laid out onto the Board.. The intention is to carve a shallow river into the foam and build up any Regions that need it ontop of this foam.. as I said before it will be a basic layout... Next step.... More Grass matting and then the extra track..
I joined this board since I am just starting on my N scale layout. I am using an IKEA Lack coffee table, about 4'6" by 2'7". Here is my layout design: I am modeling 1997, both Germany and the USA with Kato Unitrack. I will have a hill running down the middle, and tunnels through the hill that will have the USA on one side and Germany on the other. I'll do the USA part first, which will be the bottom of the above image. Question is, do I place a station at the bottom center, or run three truss bridges and build a road going under the tracks up into a small town? I am leaning toward bridges the more I look at it. I'll be building up the table with blu-cor foam and cutting the terrain out of that. Opinions welcome!
