I have dabbling in nn3 for a while. Mostly using Bachmann freight cars modified with z trucks and couplers. For Passenger equipment I modified some Overton Passenger cars. They were ok for small roundy round with a Micro Trains 2-6-0. I picked up a couple Micro Trains "NN3" pieces of rolling stock to expand my fleet. The MT rolling stock just didn't look right based on scale so I broke down and bought a couple pieces of Micro Trains Z Scale rolling stock. To my dismay my suspicions were confirmed - MT NN3 is nothing more than Z scale rolling stock. What a bummer. I guess I'll need to "hack up" an N scale caboose and do my best to represent a realistic caboose and future rolling stock, or get out the check book and buy through Republic Locomotive Works.
Definitely a bummer. I never got around to trying Nn3. Just too small for me from the start. If you do some bashing work, I'm hoping to see a photo or two.
You haven't been in Nn3 very long make those comments. The first Micro-Trains Nn3 cars go back to 1988 and those molds go back even further to Nelson Grey. I have some of the pre-MTL pieces. The box car should be Nn3 and both cabooses as well. There was a gondola and flat car but I think something happened to the tooling on one or both of them. The newer tank car release is a Z scale car and so is the to-be-released reefer. Which cars were you comparing? I seem to remember maybe one of the Nn3 cars being used as a Z scale car, but that memory is very fuzzy. More stuff could have happened that I wasn't paying attention to as the Nn3 stuff is my dad's. But to be sure, Nn3 started with it's own rolling stock. I asked Joe about it and he said it's the only way anything 'Nn3' can even be released. Jason
Same question here. I have some very few Nn3 MTL models (boxcars and cabooses only). Sure they fit Z scale tracks, but I had also been thinking the scale was correct. Not so for the lettering, though. It's too large. And on the cabooses, the road name band above the windows is not printed on the board below the roof, but between that board and the windows.
I ordered a Microtrains NN3 caboose the other day. That should satisfy my curiousity on Microtrains true scale sizes. Next I'm ordering some rolling stock kits from RLW and see how they compare to the "mass produced" NN3. I've picked up 2 Z scale engines that need conversions from RLW. I'm sure they will scale out correctly.
Have no fear... narrow gauge vs z scale coincidence... Are your Bachmann cars modified in length, width and height per the prototypes narrow gauge cars? You just can't put Z trucks/couplers on N scale equipment and compare it to Nn3 scaled equipment. Don't forget, narrow gauge equipment was/is just that -narrow and smaller. Standard gauge boxcar vs. narrow gauge boxcar: http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr19/MountainMan01/1000x1000_zps3c06df19.jpg Having followed Nn3 for a few years and attempting to model it, it is my understanding that the early pioneers in Nn3 modeling (many still active and on the Nn3 Yahoo group) were very particular about creating accurate models. As mentioned, the original molds for these MTL Nn3 models pre-date MTL days and were meant to represent accurate prototypes. Narrow gauge is said to be about 75% of standard.... Z is about 73% of N scale, so a Z scale boxcar would be very close in dimensions to a narrow gauge, N scale boxcar... and probably interchangeable. The real fear is the prices some of the Nn3 models are selling for... More Nn3 discussion here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?65954-MicroTrains-Nn3-is-scale-OK Have you seen this: http://www.ve3ho.ca/Nn3/home-page.html Yahoo Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/nn3/info
I just received my Micro Trains nn3 Caboose. Judging by the proportions it looks really good and to scale. I'm waiting on my NN3 manual to arrive and looking forward to building a couple more NN3 streamers. SO far all I have that's true NN3 is a Micro Trains 2-6-0 and 5 or 6 cars. I will probably start up trying to modify or build some true nn3 scale equipment, after I get my FEF3, water cars, and excursion train paid for!
