M Graff Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Hi all. I just had a small revelation..... I'm working on a project for my Architect studies, and currently it is model of a Swedish church in 1:50 scale. What really struck me was the amazing size of the model compared to the model buildings I have in 0-scale! I know we usually compress models in HO-OO scales and even more so in the bigger scales, but this is BIG! :-) I even had to check the drawings a few times...... just to make sure I hadn't built it to a larger scale..... It made me decide that ALL the buildings on my new HO layout was going to be to scale! It looks sooo much better..... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Indeed but you can't just do the buildings or it will look odd. If you consider how compressed most model railway track is you might be surprised. In 4mm scale a curve of 10ft radius would have an approximate 30mph speed restriction. A typical medium speed crossing from one track to another would be about 5 feet long and a very cramped station throat such as new street scales out at about 7 feet long. A 4ft long building looks big on a model but the prototype of the same building would be less than 100 meters long (which is far from big) Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Yes, but I will try to implement it in a way that will work with the size of layout that I'm building. 6.6 x 4.6 meters is the size of my new layout, so I hope to be able to make it work....... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 I will definitely go the way of trying to model as close to real sizes as possible..... I can't show some pics as I won't be back at the University workshop for some time, but I have made a new one in HO today.... It's fun to see how it looks compared to the HO buildings i have.... I can use it at Uni later, so no loss of time.... I mentioned that it's big in 1:50 scale, but it's big in HO as well! It measures in at 60 x 24 cm in HO..... :-) Here are some pics. Did I mention that the 1:50 scale version is almost twice as big? :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 It has been mentioned in many topics about how plastic kit buildings seem to be slightly under scale and resin ones even smaller (the 3mm brigade have found them to be about correct for their layouts) we assume that making buildings that don't sit closely to the tracks (such as shops, offices, houses etc) slightly under scale allows us to fit more onto our layout, thus buying more from the manufacturer. Obviously engine sheds / loco depots need to be closer to scale. It does prove useful to forced perspective, using correct scale buildings near the front and under scale near the back scene adding to the illusion of depth. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Yes, force perspective can be very effective, but is often hard to master as there has to be no give aways.... I have "finished" the Church now. I think it came out rather nice. :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Railway modelling is both a science and an art. I'm not advocating "sloppy" work", but if everything were to exact scale, it wouldn't always look right. As mentioned above, some structures can look too big and out of place if built to dead scale. I think a lot is to do with the angles/height that we view models. Artistry and imagination in modelling have an equal importance to the science and engineering side of things. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 I have made some progress on the church. The pews and crucifix are in place, along with the baptismal font and some visitors.... [] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 I had a chance to compare a selectively compressed church with my true to scale model.... It looks almost silly...... The small church is sold as HO, but some measurements tell me that it is probably more close to N scale..... But even if it had been made twice the size, it would still be too small! A comparison with a similar medieval church tells me that it would have to be 2/3:s of the length of my big model to be closer to scale.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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