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A question of Scale General discussion
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Frequent poster 703 posts smadanek Frequent poster 703 posts
smadanek

I ran across this absolutely delightful essay on modeling scale by Eloise Davies which is worth sharing.....

A bit of background:

Eloise Davies is CEO of the UK company Oxford Diecast who make die cast vehicles in many scales including HO  and model railway cars, engines and buildings in 4 mm scale (OO) for the UK market.  Her father is Taff Davies is who founded Oxford Miniatures is now the CEO of Hornby Hobbies and is responsible for rescuing that brand to profitability from a tailspin after ownership/management by people who who seemed to know nothing about trains or models. She is by training an architect. And one of the few cases where nepotism has worked. 

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/blogs/news-1/a-question-of-scale
Ken Adams
Walnut Creek, California
Getting too old to  remember all this stuff.... Now Officially a COG (and I've forgotten what that means too...)
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Benny MRH Author 7,125 posts
Benny

...

That was an enjoyable reading.

I especially found the last bullet to be most humorous.  If anyone finds the 1:1 scale box they worked from, I'd love to see that picture...

Quote:
  • Taff adds, having spent so long in Hong Kong at the toy fairs I still meet companies who sell products as 1:43 scale which are not 1:43 scale. When I point it out they normally look puzzled as they explain it is because it fits in what they describe as a 1:43 scale box….

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Benny's Index or Somewhere Chasing Rabbits
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kjd Frequent poster 575 posts
kjd

This is my job

At work I build miniatures.  The most recent project is 1:5.12  or 19.5% of full size.  That is a handy scale to work with. Or not.

We needed a model of a railroad bridge.  The real bridge is about 1,768 ft  long and around 250ft high.  Our building is 620 feet long but the ceilings are only 32 feet high so the bridge would not fit into the building.  Let's build a scale model of the scale model, then it will fit.  We should mock it up first.  A 1:16 scale mock up of a 1:5.12 bridge is very close to HO scale.  Close enough HO trains fit on the track.

In the end, the model of the model was 1:6 and it turns out 1:6 scale model of a 1:5.12 model is very close to G (1:32) scale.  With selective compression, the bridge turned out to be about 6 ft tall and 22 ft long.

The mental gymnastics of scale is fun.

 
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barr_ceo Super User 3,273 posts
barr_ceo

Some years ago (around 2000)

Some years ago (around 2000) I was in a Toys R Us in FL with my family. As we walked down the aisle, a colorfully labeled "N Scale Train Set" caught my eye. I didn't expect too much, being a "toy" set, but took a closer look, It was powered with a single AA battery. The locomotive was a heavily chromed Santa Fe warbonnet F3 or at least that's what was intended, I think.

However, the closer I looked the more "off" it seamed....   both the locomotive, and the freight cars and caboose... and then it dawned on me.

The height  and width of the items were approximately right for N scale...  but EVERYTHING was almost twice as long as it should have been. That little 40 foot or so caboose was about 8 inches long!

So  much for N "scale",

Read my Journal / Blog...

!BARR_LO.GIFFreelanced N scale Class Digitrax & JMRI

 NRail  T-Trak Standards  T-Trak Wiki   T-Trak Wiki Pages
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VSOTTO Regular poster 151 posts
VSOTTO

RE: This is my job:

KJD, that is one impressive sounding bridge at 22 feet long!  Do you have any photos that you can share? 
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kjd Frequent poster 575 posts
kjd

vsotto

Not yet, probably not for a few years.  It took another two guys and me about 2 months to build it.
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Douglas Meyer Prolific poster 2,044 posts
Douglas Meyer

Scale is always interesting.

Scale is always interesting.  Trying to find a scale that fits a page but is large enough to show what needs to be shown can be a challenge.  And getting something to be scalped correctly.  You would think engineers and architects and such would get this right but they often don’t,  I can’t count the number of times I have gotten drawings that were messed up.  Wrong scale called out.  Or just not to a scale that could be measured.  Or a metric drawing drawn as a base unit of a meter but actually using centimeters or the guy that wanted to change the scale from 1/4” to 3/16th inch per foot so scaled the whole building to 75%.  Then wondered why his door was only 27” wide and his full sized cooler drawing didn’t fit…

The list goes on and on.  But if so called professionals that work with scall drawings ever day can’t get this right then…. Good luck.

-Doug M
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