7mm scale animals

[Jason Pape]

I’m new to 7mm scale so I’m wondering how big a regular heavy horse would be in 0. My animals are at least 5 times lifesize in my round style  the bodies of the animals are huge but the heads and hooves are small, I would love to use them on my layout but I’d have to 3d print them. I have a few photos of some of my animals: a Suffolk Punch Horse (my biggest horse), a fallow deer, a goat and a red Holstein cow. I’m sorry if they’re a bit unusual but all of my animals are round or oval like watermelons. I’d love to hear your advice and ideas.

[Dungrange]

If your model horses are caricatures of the real thing, does it really matter how accurate they scale?

 

A quick search on google suggests that a real horse is around seven or eight feet in length, so will be around 50 - 55 mm long in 7mm scale and they are around five feet to the withers (shoulder blades), so you want a model that's around 35 mm in height.

[Jason Pape]

Thank you Dungrange Do you like my animals? I have drawn my round animals since childhood but a lot of people have said my style is a bit American or Japanese and a bit like Thelwell or Emett too. Thank you for your help I’m only just starting in 7mm (09)  and my animals are quite large I’m wondering if I can use horse drawn vehicle kits or should I widen them? I also make wild animals too such as kangaroos and tigers even dragons and unicorns.

[Thunderforge]

You probably have enough room to put wheels and a motor inside one of the horses and have it pull a carriage!

They are very quirky animals, so yes it would be hard to scale them; overall height? head size? width?

I’d say they shouldn’t be taller than an engine, but then, it’s entirely up to you! :-)

I’d love to see the layout which went with such creatures!

[Dungrange]

On 01/09/2019 at 15:13, Jason Pape said:

Thank you Dungrange Do you like my animals? I have drawn my round animals since childhood but a lot of people have said my style is a bit American or Japanese and a bit like Thelwell or Emett too. Thank you for your help I’m only just starting in 7mm (09)  and my animals are quite large I’m wondering if I can use horse drawn vehicle kits or should I widen them? I also make wild animals too such as kangaroos and tigers even dragons and unicorns.

 

Well I'm not really an art lover - I prefer models that are as true to scale as possible.  Unfortunately, your models make me think of Christmas tree decorations, which I suppose is not necessarily a bad thing.  If that's the way you want to model animals, and include them on your railway then that is fine with me.  I guess the issue of scaling to fit a 7mm layout, is that you would have to define which dimension you are making the scale dimension and the rest would flow from there.  I'd be tempted to have your round body somewhere in the region of 2" (50 mm).  You could then argue that the body is about the right length and although it's back would be too high, your style means that the neck is too short and therefore the overall height to the top of its head would be reasonably close to the correct overall height as well.  I'm not sure how that fits with a horse drawn vehicle, but unless you use a model designed to be drawn by two horses and you just use one, I think you may end up with a rather strange contraption for the horse to pull.

[Jason Pape]

On 01/09/2019 at 18:58, Thunderforge said:

You probably have enough room to put wheels and a motor inside one of the horses and have it pull a carriage!

They are very quirky animals, so yes it would be hard to scale them; overall height? head size? width?

I’d say they shouldn’t be taller than an engine, but then, it’s entirely up to you! :-)

I’d love to see the layout which went with such creatures!

Thank you Thunderforge That would be a wonderful idea and bring a new meaning to the term shunting horse! Heavy horses are very large in my style around the size of a tennis ball or slightly larger I’d love to make a layout with my round animals there would be a deer park with fallow deer and farms with horses, cows, goats, pigs, sheep and birds too. There will also be horses and ponies on the roads and wild animals such as foxes too. My dogs, cats, foxes and badgers would look unusual as they stand upright and are completely round with round tails too! If I do start the layout it would be an 09 estate railway set in the Cotswolds which also serves two villages and a small town, at the moment it will be called the Foxwood, Haresfield and Deercombe. This is what one of my fallow deer stags would look like they’re oval like watermelons and a doe looks identical but without the antlers, I may make fawns too. I’m sorry about the late reply your ideas are wonderful!!

[friscopete]

I am sculpting a shire horse in 7 mm scale .Its pretty big .It will come in three parts .I am also doing a donkey ,all for Dart castings .

[Jason Pape]

On 08/09/2019 at 12:36, Dungrange said:

 

Well I'm not really an art lover - I prefer models that are as true to scale as possible.  Unfortunately, your models make me think of Christmas tree decorations, which I suppose is not necessarily a bad thing.  If that's the way you want to model animals, and include them on your railway then that is fine with me.  I guess the issue of scaling to fit a 7mm layout, is that you would have to define which dimension you are making the scale dimension and the rest would flow from there.  I'd be tempted to have your round body somewhere in the region of 2" (50 mm).  You could then argue that the body is about the right length and although it's back would be too high, your style means that the neck is too short and therefore the overall height to the top of its head would be reasonably close to the correct overall height as well.  I'm not sure how that fits with a horse drawn vehicle, but unless you use a model designed to be drawn by two horses and you just use one, I think you may end up with a rather strange contraption for the horse to pull.

Thank you Dungrange thank you for your ideas. I didn’t think of Christmas tree ornaments, maybe I’ll make some based on my animals too! I would probably make the horsedrawn vehicles wider on my layout so that they don’t look odd next to a round horse or my other animals, If I made a two horse vehicle such as a brewery dray scene at an inn I would widen the archways so that the horses and wider dray could pass through. I like scale animals too one day I’m hoping to make a 0 scale model of the Midland Railway and MSWJR in Cheltenham in 1891-1911, I’ve got all the books ready and I know how everything looked in the period I’m going to model but unfortunately I don’t have the space, building plans or funds available yet.  

[Jason Pape]

2 hours ago, friscopete said:

I am sculpting a shire horse in 7 mm scale .Its pretty big .It will come in three parts .I am also doing a donkey ,all for Dart castings .

I’d love to see your 7mm scale shire horse and donkey my animals are a lot bigger and rounder than real animals!

[friscopete]

I will post a shot when it  is presentable .

Edited September 27, 2019 by friscopete

[Jason Pape]

3 minutes ago, friscopete said:

I will post a shot when it  is presentable .

I can’t wait to see your photos.