|
|
Post by vintagemodeltrainguy on Sept 15, 2024 16:15:16 GMT
I've been told that O Scale is 1:48 Scale. I'm working out my plans for buildings, for my small layout and wanting to be as true to scale as possible. Of course as you know, I recently acquired a Post War Marx m10005 Tin Litho Train Set. There are a few original Marx Buildings, that I've considered, but I've been really thinking about building my own wooden Buildings.
The Marx Freight Depot that I've seen on EBay is 29" Long, 11" Wide and 8" Tall. I started building a Freight Depot, of my own, using the same measurements. I hear that 1:48 is 1/4" = 1 Foot and 48 times smaller than the real building. Is that correct ? -Tim
|
|
|
|
Post by Country Joe on Sept 15, 2024 16:59:29 GMT
You are correct, O is 1:48 scale, 1/4”=1 scale foot.
Your Marx train is O gauge but not O scale. Marx, Lionel, pre-war American Flyer O and other trains of the time were toys and not built to scale. If you plan on running pre- and post-war era trains using buildings and accessories that are slightly under sized will look better. Plasticville, Marx and K-Line made semi-scale buildings that look good with trains from that era.
If you are planning on running modern scale sized trains then full scale sized buildings and accessories will look best.
|
|
|
|
Post by af3020 on Sept 15, 2024 17:03:44 GMT
What Country Joe said. In addition, you might want to consider some of the American Flyer Buildings - If you go over to the tinplate and toy trains forum on this website there are several posts about the various stations and freight houses Flyer offered over the years.
|
|
|
|
Post by steveoncattailcreek on Sept 15, 2024 20:00:27 GMT
What the others all said. My home layouts are primarily postwar Marx, with a smattering of other makes. Most of the structures are a tad undersized when using the 1:48 O scale standard, but look right at home with my "toy trains". OTOH, I've been doing some scratch built structures for the RFC train garden, where more of the rolling stock is full O scale, and they are a bit large when compared with other structures on my layout. For example, my model of the modest-sized old train station:  OTOH2, if you are trying to home-build a version of a specific early tin-plate item, I suspect the loose scaling is already built in, so doing a 1:1 copy of it should be relatively safe, appearance-wise. Good luck with your project! |
|
|
|
Post by desrailway on Sept 15, 2024 21:50:10 GMT
O Scale = 1/48. What does O Guage/O27/Semi-Scale =  ? |
|
|
|
Post by steveoncattailcreek on Sept 16, 2024 0:47:20 GMT
O Scale = 1/48. What does O Guage/O27/Semi-Scale = ? AFAIK, technically the term "gauge" refers to the spacing of the rails, while "scale" refers to the size ratio between prototype and model (and yes, O scale is most typically 1:48). So, at least in theory, any O gauge rolling stock should be compatible with any O gauge track, though variations in rail height and other quirks makes this less reliable in practice. As I detailed in the prior post, "O-27" is one variety of O gauge track. OTOH (and again, AFAIK), "semi-scale" refers more to the degree of the model's fidelity to the prototype. On one end is the "scale" rolling stock, which aspires to be, in size and detail, as close as humanly possible to the prototype. On the other end are the so-called "toy trains" (an epithet both fondly and derogatorily used!), which refers to model trains that tend to evoke particular rolling stock, rather than precisely modelling any given prototype. Somewhere in the middle is the so-called "semi-scale", which aspires to a bit closer prototype fidelity without 'counting rivets'. IME most postwar O scale rolling stock would likely be classified as at best semi-scale, and is typically a bit smaller than true scale measurements would call for. Aren't you glad you asked?
|
|
|
|
Post by Country Joe on Sept 16, 2024 14:55:03 GMT
O Scale = 1/48. What does O Guage/O27/Semi-Scale = ?
In North America O scale means 1/48 scale sized trains that run on 2 rail track. Everything is as close to 1/48 scale as possible including the rail, wheels and couplers. In Europe O scale is 1/45 scale but runs on the same track so the models are slightly larger than here.
O gauge has 3 meanings. First, it’s the gauge of the track. The running rails are 1.25” apart. Second, it refers to anything that runs on 3 rail track regardless of scale. It doesn’t matter if it’s full scale sized, close to scale sized, nowhere close to scale sized or pure fantasy, if it runs on 3 rail 1.25” gauge track it’s O gauge. Third, O gauge was used by Lionel to distinguish between their O and O27 lines.
Less expensive trains that run on 3 rail O gauge track with smaller rails and ties are O27. 8 O27 curves form a circle with a diameter of 27”, thus the name. Traditional O gauge features larger rails and ties and 8 curves make a circle with a 31” diameter.
Semi-scale means trains that run on 3 rail O gauge track but are not scale sized. The trains are selectively compressed so they look good together but are smaller than scale.
I hope this and Steve’s post answered your question. If not, ask about whatever is unclear and we’ll do our best to help.
|
|
|
|
Post by firewood on Sept 17, 2024 3:23:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by quietman on Sept 17, 2024 12:30:16 GMT
I'll throw in a couple more comments here. Everything above applies. 2 rail O scale equipment is 1/48. But so is some of the O gauge. O gauge can run from 1/48 to 1/50, or even 1/54 with some O27 and larger scaled down locomotives..
As for buildings, 1/48 can look fine with O gauge, but may look a bit oversized with O27. True 1/48 people will be oversized enough to be noticed on O27 but varies with the O Gauge. This depends on how much compression was used. Here's an example of compression. The Lionel VisionMaster Challenger is 32" long and needs O72 curves. The Lionel LionMaster Challenger is a compressed version that can run on O31 curves and is 27.5 inches long or 1/54 scale. In this case, the smaller Challenger looks good with 1/48 buildings because it's still a fairly big locomotive.
As for American Flyer buildings, those are S scale which is 1/64. Where that comes in handy is with creating perspective on larger layouts. Placing them in the background makes them seem further away. This tactic is employed on some very large HO layouts where N scale is used to create the effect.
For people going INSIDE O gauge equipment (passengers, engineers, etc), I think the 1/50 on ebay fit best, but in some interiors they are a tight fit.
If you are going to model your own buildings, are going to stick with O gauge, and want objects as close to proportional as possible, 1/50 to 1/52 is a good compromise. But to be honest, only the "rivet counters" will think of a 1/48 building being too big. The difference is small enough, the average person won't notice.
As an example, when your talking about a 80" external door in a building, the difference between the 1/48 and 1/50th door is 7 HUNDRETHS of an inch
|
|
|
|
Post by healey36 on Sept 17, 2024 13:16:50 GMT
Another excellent site for how-to's on creating tinplate-like buildings from paper and cardboard: Tribute to Tinplate
|
|
?
