Pros and Cons: Switching from HO to N Scale, and Vice-Versa

kf4jqd said:
My biggest complaint. Why is the N scale stuff almost the same same price as HO stuff?:rolleyes:

Andy:wave:
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That's been my biggest complaint also. I would love to go to N Scale due to the space and more prototypical train lengths, but I just can't bring myself to pay $100 for a loco, when I can pay the same for one in HO and I can detail the HO one to a much higher degree than I could in N.
 
cnw1961 said:
Mountain Man, it all comes down to what you like most. As I said before, I like scratch building in HO and I am satisfied if I can build a good looking model, even if it is only a short section of a branch. The operational aspect of the layout is not important to me. If you think you need all those industries, mines etc. for your layout to work properly and to build a complete shortline is the most important aspect of the hobby, you can only go for n-scale.
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Which I do believe is what I originally said...? However, the argument appeared to be that I could do the same thing in HO with a 20x20 layout, which I don't believe is true.

As for modelling, another way to look at it is that N-scale has a greater degree of difficulty for the hobbyist and thus is a higher level of skill. No problem modelling or detailing O-gauge. Same for HO, but only the more skilfull can do it as well in N.

Just my humble $.02 worth.
 
I used to model N back in the Uk before i moved to Canada. there's no doubt that you can get more into a given space and I have HO frustrations currently where I'd like a bigger layout. however i do get more reward from detailing at HO size and the N loco wheels for me never looked right.

Just my thoughts based on modelling in both - as per most of this thread there are pros and cons to each
 
Which I do believe is what I originally said...? However, the argument appeared to be that I could do the same thing in HO with a 20x20 layout, which I don't believe is true.
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Mountain Man, I think you got me wrong on this. I didn’t say that I could squeeze everything you want to have into a 20x20 HO layout. I meant, that I could build a nice layout for my needs if I had this space available.

As for modelling, another way to look at it is that N-scale has a greater degree of difficulty for the hobbyist and thus is a higher level of skillo. No problem modelling or detailing O-gauge. Same for HO, but only the more skilfull can do it as well in N
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I disagree on this. I don’t think it is a matter of skills. You can never achive the same level of detail in N as you can in HO or even O. A lot of parts are simply too small in N even if you use magnifiers and pliers, what I often do modelling HO. A lot of parts for n-scale have to be out of scale, or they would be too delicate and fragile to handle. But that’s just my opinion on this. When I look at your posts, it seems you already made up your mind and N is the right scale for you. :wave:
 
I think that the main reason for me for staying with HO is that I started out collecting HO scale trucks when I was in my teens. I was given a load of OO scale train models and track by my late grandfather at about that time, and it got me into train modelling - going into HO as soon as I could find out about obtaining HO train models in British outline. So for me it was more like converting from OO to HO instead of N to HO. I think it's all the road vehicles available in HO that does it for me!
 
cnw1961 said:
Mountain Man, I think you got me wrong on this. I didn’t say that I could squeeze everything you want to have into a 20x20 HO layout. I meant, that I could build a nice layout for my needs if I had this space available.



I disagree on this. I don’t think it is a matter of skills. You can never achive the same level of detail in N as you can in HO or even O. A lot of parts are simply too small in N even if you use magnifiers and pliers, what I often do modelling HO. A lot of parts for n-scale have to be out of scale, or they would be too delicate and fragile to handle. But that’s just my opinion on this. When I look at your posts, it seems you already made up your mind and N is the right scale for you. :wave:
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Not at all. I think my posts make it clear that I would prefer to model in HO, but have accepted that I cannot and maintain the core concept of my dream layout, which is something of a sad commentary on MMR as a whole.

You shouldn't have to give up a dream just to make it fit, and it's a pretty strange hobby if it won't fit into 400 square feet of space.
 
Mountain Man,

If you haven't already done so, you should post your "layout challenge" in the Track Planning forum. It sure would make for an interesting discussion...! ;) :D

Andrew
 
Not at all. I think my posts make it clear that I would prefer to model in HO, but have accepted that I cannot and maintain the core concept of my dream layout, which is something of a sad commentary on MMR as a whole.
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OK, MountainMan, so it was me who got you wrong :D . I think Andrew made a very good suggestion to post your "layout challenge" in the Track Planning forum. That would be interesting indeed.
 
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