You may have noticed the original NScaleNotes has been unavailable for some time. This is because my old web host decided to pull the plug on the hosting package I was using and due to some serious miscommunication I didn’t have enough time to access the site and/or the existing backups before everything disappeared forever.
Still, I’m told everything happens for a reason and after a period of despondency I’ve decided it’s time to start NScaleNotes again with a slightly clearer idea of what I want to acheive.
When I first started my blog about locations that might make interesting prototypes for a model railway I didn’t actually have any space to build a layout. Having recently moved house I now have some space and this means that the new NScaleNotes can start to focus on my own layout building endeavors rather than just planning.
Not having space for a layout hadn’t stopped me from amassing a sizeable collection of US and European models but the truth is, even if I’d had the space, I know that I still wouldn’t have been able to settle on a location for a layout. At the time a modular layout seemed to be the answer; if I could build small, interchangeable modules I wouldn’t be forced to commit to a particular country or location as you do when building a permanent layout. However even after years of scouting the World for suitable prototypes via the Internet I still couldn’t settle on a location and if I’d built all the modules I’d envisioned I wouldn’t have enough space to store them anyway.
A potential answer to this problem appeared while re-reading Iain Rice’s book An Approach To Model Railway Design: Finescale In Small Spaces, perhaps I should try building a basic layout frame to a modular standard and then make the track, scenery and buildings modular or inter-changeable too? This way I could pick an industry or prototype that would be suitable for all of the regions I’m interested in and just alter the scenery and structures to suit that location. Storing these modular parts should be easier than storing completed modules.
I’ve already spent considerable time debating which of the different modular standards and construction techniques would be best suited to what I had in mind in posts on the old NScaleNotes so I’ll refresh that content and post it again in the hopes that’ll be useful for others too and it’ll be the foundation for this new modular module direction.
I still enjoy searching for new and interesting locations and almost all of my old posts about rail-served industries and model-ready locations could be useful, so I’ll be rewriting and uploading those, as well as adding more when I find them.
I’m also still scratchbuilding and experimenting with 3D printing. I’ve produced my own etches and decals and I’ve amassed a fairly big collection of 3D intermodal container models that are ready to print. It doesn’t feel quite right mixing this in with the rest of the content so I’ve also created a dedicated section for posts related to my models.
There we go, first new blog post complete and if that sounds interesting hopefully you stop by again and see how I’m progressing with both the site and the modules.