Finescale N

The British 2mm Scale Association has been working with finescale 2mm modeling (1:152, just slightly larger than N) for 75 years. There is a long and established record of track and wheel standards that have been proven in operation on both home and portable layouts. I am a 2mm Association member.

The NMRA has several Standards which deal with finescale--

• S-1.1 Standards for Proto Models HTML and PDF versions.
• S-3.1 Trackwork, Proto & Fine Scales HTML and PDF versions.
• S-4.1 Wheels, Proto & Fine Scales HTML and PDF versions.
• There is an accompanying Technical Note in PDF form which explains the history and derivation of the standards.

A number of European modelers have been vigorously developing finescale N (called "fiNe").

Henk Oversloot's FS160 page has standards, photos, and construction articles.

Jens Emmermann's finescale n website likewise has track and wheel standards, track building information, and photographs of fiNe models.

Edward von Flottwell in Germany also has a great website, fiNescale.org

I would stronly encourage anyone contemplating finescale N to join the 2mm Scale Association. Members may buy many components, the most useful of which to American modelers will be the steam engine driving and carrying wheels and bearings and associated components for scratchbulding.

I have drawn up American passenger and freight wheelset components and bearings, and am in the process of getting quotes for their production here.

30 July 2005 - Here is my first try at CNC machining some wheels. They are 64" spoked driving wheels and 33" pilot wheel blanks for a CB&Q K-4 class 10-wheeler. I am turning the blanks on my Sherline CNC lathe, and cutting the spokes on my Sherline CNC mill. There is a lot of development work to do, both on holding fixtures (both drivers shifted off-center before fine-milling the spokes) and on cutter speeds and feeds to give a good finish. I also need to work out how to profile the faces of the pilot wheels, which were inside-bearing. The practice wheels are brass, but I have bought nickel silver barstock for the final wheels. The driving wheel blanks are NS.

15 August 2007 - Here is my next pass at the drivers, machined from brass using the Proxxon spindle on my Tormach milling machine. After turning the basic shape on my CNC Sherlne lathe, I held the blanks in a pocket in the Tormach vise in soft jaws, faced with a .062" endmill and milled the spokes out with a .020" endmill. Crankpin hole was plunged with the .020" endmill. Next I'm going to work on chamfering the spokes with a .020" ball-end mill. Note: Dime for size comparison only. :-)

18 August 2007 - Chamfering the spokes makes a world of difference! The spokes, though the same in the last picture, appear much more slender. This is one of the nickel silver blanks from the first picture above. NS is hard to photograph! It took almost 30 shots to get this one, and it's still a little out of focus and doesn't have enough contrast, even though I took it flashless with a diffuser over the room light.