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BBC News: Railway modeller making 1:76 houses


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In all fairness, I think they look quite good with attention to detail - TV aerial plus co-ax, different staining below the lead flashing etc.

 

Better than my efforts, anyway!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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Yes, saw it and was going to drop a note here, beaten to it!

 

They're nicely observed models of houses, and would look terrific as a cameo feature on a layout.

 

Wish I could make something that good!

 

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To be honest, I'm not sure that railway modellers would really be the best market for models like these.

 

In case anyone's wondering why I'm saying this - with some railway modellers already drooling over these models - I'm not sure that many railway modellers would have large enough budgets available to make something like this commercially viable.

 

How many buildings do you need on even a sparsely populated layout of any size? Probably quite a few.

 

You probably wouldn't want different buildings on a layout to be to vastly different standards - which means you'd need quite a few buildings, all to the same high standards.

 

Now how many hours' work do you think would be involved in building all these buildings? Rather a lot - and none of us would want to work for "slave wages" - so getting enough buildings built like these, to fill even a moderate sized layout, might well turn out to be beyond the means of quite a few of us.

 

This is why I suspect that a better target market here might actually be people or companies wanting a high quality model, to remind them of their former premises.

 

However, please don't take these comments as established fact - probably better to think more in terms of an (un) educated guess ... .

 

 

Huw.

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35 minutes ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

This is why I suspect that a better target market here might actually be people or companies wanting a high quality model, to remind them of their former premises.

 

Huw.

That was exactly my feeling.

Each house, at commercial rates is going to be at least several hundred £s, probably into the thousands and out of reach of all but a very well heeled railway modeller.

 

But models for commercial organisations, where that sort of money is less of a problem would IMHO be a better bet.

A model made from plans for a proposed development would show what it would be like in reality. Ideal for possible investors to see what their cash is going into or even neighbours to give a more realistic look than the usual "idealised" sketch.

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43 minutes ago, Huw Griffiths said:

To be honest, I'm not sure that railway modellers would really be the best market for models like these.

 

In case anyone's wondering why I'm saying this - with some railway modellers already drooling over these models - I'm not sure that many railway modellers would have large enough budgets available to make something like this commercially viable.

 

How many buildings do you need on even a sparsely populated layout of any size? Probably quite a few.

 

You probably wouldn't want different buildings on a layout to be to vastly different standards - which means you'd need quite a few buildings, all to the same high standards.

 

Now how many hours' work do you think would be involved in building all these buildings? Rather a lot - and none of us would want to work for "slave wages" - so getting enough buildings built like these, to fill even a moderate sized layout, might well turn out to be beyond the means of quite a few of us.

 

This is why I suspect that a better target market here might actually be people or companies wanting a high quality model, to remind them of their former premises.

 

However, please don't take these comments as established fact - probably better to think more in terms of an (un) educated guess ... .

 

 

Huw.

 

Fully agree, up to 50 hours is quoted in the article, and at at least£20/hr if he's being sensible about it I can't see many modellers beating a path to his door.

 

Mike.

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1 hour ago, melmerby said:

But models for commercial organisations, where that sort of money is less of a problem would IMHO be a better bet.

A model made from plans for a proposed development would show what it would be like in reality. Ideal for possible investors to see what their cash is going into or even neighbours to give a more realistic look than the usual "idealised" sketch.

That's what professional architectural model makers do all the time - although I suspect that these days, CGI walkthroughs/arounds are probably more in favour.  Mainly for larger commercial projects though, an individual house build might be a different story - but it would have to be an expensive speculative build to make it worthwhile.

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Some excellent modelling there from @freebs
 

As it happens I’ll be on the BBC news tomorrow under the headline “even during lockdown railway modeller takes a very long time to do sweet FA” :jester:
 

Edited by chuffinghell
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On 13/07/2020 at 17:14, Alister_G said:

This chap is a member on here, under the name @freebs

 

Al.

 

I did wonder if he was a railway modeller too. Picking 1/76 scale to build in is pretty specific...

 

steve

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29 minutes ago, steve1 said:

By the way, what's with the little blue box?

 

It's a direct link to a profile, thus:

@steve1

 

Just put an @ in front of the user name and select from the drop-down list that then appears.

 

David

Edited by Kylestrome
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Take ten random people from the street and ask them to explain what 1:76 scale is, and I'd wager you'd get at least eight confused/wrong understandings.

 

Say 1"=6' and you'd probably get eight understandings, and two youngsters who haven't yet learned to think in outdated units as well as current ones.

 

Social distancing: Stay two metres apart, and don't get an inch closer!

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2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Social distancing: Stay two metres apart, and don't get an inch closer!

 

I'd say we'd all need one of these to ensure we keep our social distance

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15m-Digital-Ultra-Sound-Distance-Meter-Measure-Measuring-Tape-Range-with-Laser/311633947803?epid=26011375173&hash=item488ed4ac9b:g:l~0AAOSwhABdd117

 

Would the Accuracy: ±0.5%. be adequate?  :jester:

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3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Take ten random people from the street and ask them to explain what 1:76 scale is, and I'd wager you'd get at least eight confused/wrong understandings.

 

Say 1"=6' and you'd probably get eight understandings, and two youngsters who haven't yet learned to think in outdated units as well as current ones.

 

Social distancing: Stay two metres apart, and don't get an inch closer!

 

Out dated?

 

Still taught at school and rulers/measures all still have Imperial measurements on them.

 

Also probably coming back into common use again now we are getting out of the EU.

 

00 is 5/32th of an inch

H0 is 1/8th of an inch

 

These gauges/scales were chosen for a reason in that they are easy to use. Don't forget the Americans use H0 and they don't tend to use Metric.

 

 

 

Jason

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43 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Out dated?

 

Still taught at school and rulers/measures all still have Imperial measurements on them.

 

Also probably coming back into common use again now we are getting out of the EU.

 

00 is 5/32th of an inch

H0 is 1/8th of an inch

 

These gauges/scales were chosen for a reason in that they are easy to use. Don't forget the Americans use H0 and they don't tend to use Metric.

 

 

 

Jason

 

 

Err 1/8" to the foot is actually 1:96 - quite close to 3mm scale

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They do look rather well executed, and price wise one possibly could make a modest crust out of doing them.

In a couple of local gift / novelty type shops I have seen framed low relief models of local pub frontages on sale for about £75 ( like a more interesting take on decoupage!) and also a few small dioramas presented in perspex display cases for north of £100.

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1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Out dated?

 

Still taught at school and rulers/measures all still have Imperial measurements on them.

 

Also probably coming back into common use again now we are getting out of the EU.

 

00 is 5/32th of an inch

H0 is 1/8th of an inch

 

These gauges/scales were chosen for a reason in that they are easy to use. Don't forget the Americans use H0 and they don't tend to use Metric.

 

 

 

Jason

 

Yes, outdated. The metre is defined as the path length travelled by light in a given time. It's an SI base unit used everywhere in science, in the US military and at NASA and defined by the General Conference on Weights and Measures.

The imperial ruler these days is an additional conversion from the Metric measurement not from a prototype

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3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Still taught at school

 

To the very limited extent necessary to avoid children being confused when they encounter them, yes.

 

"understand and use approximate equivalences between metric units and common imperial units such as inches, pounds and pints." (National Curriculum)

 

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

These gauges/scales were chosen for a reason in that they are easy to use.

 

No they weren't. They are the result of dividing 0 gauge (itself derived from a metric, not imperial, start-point) in two to make a toy train set to fit on a dining table, followed by back-fitting of scale to the gauge differently by different toy designers. Ease of use was nowhere in it.

 

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

probably coming back into common use again now we are getting out of the EU.

 

Personally, I wouldn't waste money betting on it, given how easy the metric system is to use in comparison with the imperial.

 

Or, am I taking your posting too seriously, and falling victim to a wind-up? In which case all tribute to your subtle humour.

 

Kevin

 

 

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Of course, along with pounds, shillings and pence, and groats probably.

But I would rather not have to manage on 3/- a day for lunch these days (remember Luncheon Vouchers?)

And we shall be going back to steam and railfares at 1d a mile, naturally.

Unless you are a certain politician who has never left the 18th century. (sorry Mod if that is political).

On the models, I don't understand why people want to buy models rather than create them, especially buildings, but there is evidently a thriving market for those produced by the major manufacturers. 

Jonathan

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