Mixing Scales for TT:120

[JohnR]

Kernow has just announced some N Gauge buildings for a China clay dry. These are obviously to 2mm:foot.

 

Would it be possible to use these in 2.5m:foot, ie TT:120. After all, there has been plenty of mixing of HO and OO items.

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/n/250/New-Exclusive-China-Clay-Dries-and-Clay-Dries-Chimney-in-N-Gauge-available-now-from-Kernow-Model-Rail-Centre

[TT-Pete]

I don't see why not, particularly if they are set back from the track and slightly raised, how many people would know the "correct" proportions of a china clay dry (even if there is such a thing) these days anyway?

Edited January 27, 2023 by TT-Pete

[Ravenser]

If you are going to put wagons up against them , there might be an issue.

 

It is also likely that they have been compressed for N 

 

But they might do at the back of the layout . It's really quite difficult to say without examining them closely

 

There is however one issue - together they cost £90 , for a moderate sized N gauge industrial structure

[jmh67]

7 hours ago, Ravenser said:

If you are going to put wagons up against them , there might be an issue.

 

I guess that's the point - it has to look acceptable.

 

There is more of a relative difference between 2.5 mm scale and 2 mm scale, than there is between 4 mm scale and 3.5 mm scale, the ratios being 1.25 and 1.14, respectively. Of course, there is much variation in 1:1 as well, so you might just get away with mixing scales if the mismatch is not made obvious by some features.

 

Most noticeable might be differences in door sizes. If you turn the door(s) away from the viewers, the clay sheds may even look all right.  Otherwise you may want to fit larger doors (a six foot man would be a little over 15 mm tall in TT, a typical house door about 17 mm).

 

Martin

 

 

[Les1952]

With Metcalfe kits all being a bit overscale it should be possible to use some of them in 1:120 scale layouts, again closer to the back than the front.

 

Les

 

[rekoboy]

As I commented a while ago in one of my German Railways section posts, Peco's N gauge accessories are sometimes clearly over-scale and thus perfectly suited to TT 1:120. As you can see from the photos which include true-to-scale TT 1:120 vehicles and people (and yes, a Trabant is so small in reality) the Peco cable drums and pallets, especially the pallets, are perfect for TT 1:120. I wind micro-cable round the open cable drums and they look a lot better for it, especially when treated with some paint, too.

[Ben B]

20 hours ago, rekoboy said:

As I commented a while ago in one of my German Railways section posts, Peco's N gauge accessories are sometimes clearly over-scale and thus perfectly suited to TT 1:120. As you can see from the photos which include true-to-scale TT 1:120 vehicles and people (and yes, a Trabant is so small in reality) the Peco cable drums and pallets, especially the pallets, are perfect for TT 1:120. I wind micro-cable round the open cable drums and they look a lot better for it, especially when treated with some paint, too.

 

I rather like that signal box in the last pic, what brand is it please? Or is it scratchbuilt?

[rekoboy]

The signal box is by Auhagen.

[Dava]

The Wills OO garage kits are very versatile, I used one with a side door added as a TT3 goods shed, it would work in TT160 too.Also makes a 2 road loco shed or 1 + 1/2 road as a repair shed. Also works for Hoe.

 

Dava

https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/wills-ss12.html

 

 

[eldomtom2]

It may also be worth looking into 15mm scale wargaming stuff - this is often quoted as 1:100, but wargaming scales are very fuzzy things and there must be plenty of stuff that's appropriate for 1:120.

 

As a general rule, you can get away with a lot as long as it lacks stuff that is scaled around the human body like doors.

[Oldddudders]

Here it is, in N.

 

https://www.goldenvalleyhobbies.com/14450-auhagen-n-signal-tower

[rekoboy]

Auhagen produces the signal box in in H0, TT and N.

Here is the page from their huge catalogue, which is also packed with modelling hints and tips...

https://www.auhagen-shop.de/product_info.php?info=p193_stellwerk.html

[rekoboy]

Eldomtom mentioned material for wargamers. Some of you might have encountered the Russian manufacturer of wargame products Zvezda - whose products may well have disappeared from UK shelves by now, but used to be  stocked by my local model shop. They produce in around 1:100 scale(?) lots of packs of soldiers, planes, tanks, and, most importantly, military trucks which can be easily made civilian! I have in my 'to-do-pile' three or four Zvezda truck kits, including an AEC Matador, no less! I have built a couple of wartime Opel Blitz trucks, which were still around in the early seventies in E Germany as coal lorries or on farms. The kits are very simple and have no see-through windows - a soft black pencil will do a good job of simulating glass, especially if the model is more in the background. My Blitz are modified with my own version of a flat-bed body.

[DCB]

The trick using under scale buildings  is to make sure the items which can easily be judged as the correct scale are either the right size, missing or there is nothing of a known size adjacent to compare them with,  like a car or lorry.  Domestic doors on new build, post WW2 are pretty standard at 6ft 6", About 2M    and bricks are pretty standard.  So if it don't have bricks and the doors are bigger than 99% of the model people you are using you have probably cracked it.  That said H0 scale buildings and people look horrible on 00 layouts...   Even 1:72 cars jump out as wrong when correct 1:76 ones are around.    Bigger issue with TT120 is finding UK rolling stock, unless you have class 66 on your clay drag,  Lot of scratch building, OK if you are 50 and hope to have it running when you retire at 70 but...  Presumably someone does a TT120 gronk, or you will look pretty silly with Frying Scochegg on a set of Mk1s at Indian Queens or Fowey.    Its annoying that they used TT120 when 1:100 is almost universally used in architecture and is a lovely size to work with.  

[rekoboy]

But as I pointed out in an earlier post Hornby would have been crazy to perpetuate model railways in TT 1:100 when the market for TT in Europe and N America is centered entirely on 1:120.