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O Gauge help


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Hi folks, im a massive fan of scalescenes kiut 90% of them! :)

 

Im model in OO, but i am buying a small O gauge layout in a couple of weeks time, ive just downloaded the small loco shed , the new one and need help!.

 

I am wanting to enlarge this to O gauge!, my printer doesnt have the option of enlarging, even though its a new HP one.

 

Can Anyone assist me??? .. ive read some articles on here, do i need an A3 printer?.. or would i be best just taking it to a printers?.. obviously dont want to pay a fortune!.

 

I know some folks say you can enlarge each component, but im not technically minded. :(

 

So please help! , cheers

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In the Netherlands we have copy shops.

Maybe they can help you enlarge and print the small loco shed.

They must have the right copy printers for the job.

Will cost some money, but if you don't print regular A3 prints, I think it worth asking.

 

Regards,

 

Job

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I would stick the file on a memory stick and take it to your local copy shop, they should be able to print it out at the right size for you, you just need to tell them what zoom factor you need.

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  • RMweb Gold
my printer doesnt have the option of enlarging

 

You sure about that? Under the effects tab you should have a resizing option to print at a percentage of the original size - very surprised if you haven't.

 

Of course you won't be able to get them on A4 sheets of paper, so you will need an A3 printer to print out the full size sheets.

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51 views and only one reply :(

 

This isn't an instant cure all it is a forum where members help each other. Many will look at a thread but not actually post in it for any number of reasons. With getting on for 16000 members now 51 views is a drop in the ocean and on a weekend that has been busy for many with bank holidays and the like replying to your thread maybe hasn't been the top of their agenda. Have patience and do a little work yourself and I am sure you will be rewarded with plenty of ideas.

 

As you are new here you may not have realised that we have a search function and although it is a little clunky it does produce results. There is also a number of threads in the help section advising how best to search.

 

There is an excellent thread here that may assist you.

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  • RMweb Premium

51 views and only one reply :(

 

That's a bit unfair - I guess like me most of these opened the topic to see what it was about and then couldn't help - with 15,000 members you are bound to get a lot reading something but not replying.

 

Mike

 

Edit - that's a coincidence - Mod 5 replying along similar lines at the same time !

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Have done desiel depot from oo to O gauge. You can't enlarge an A4 page on to A3 and get all the image on the A3 paper. I printed out in oo then cut out parts so that they could be enlarged to fit (when enlarged) on an A3 sheet, some large parts had to be cut into two pieces to be spliced back when stuck on to A3. scale should be 4mm to 7mm i.e. 1:1.75, so enlargement should be 175% BUT, I found it better to print a box 16cm x 16cm get it enlarged at a print shop and and check it is 28cm x 28cm, so you end up with the correct enlargement. I end up due to scaling on my printer and theirs to have to used 185% ???? It had somthing to do with the size of the border used.

 

Hopes this helps

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  • RMweb Gold

I have spoken to John Wiffen and he stated that the enlargement needs to be 176%. to get from OO to O.

 

Hopefully Ian (Redgate Models) will be along and post photos of his engine shed, as it's this one already enlarged and built in O.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

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...I end up due to scaling on my printer and theirs to have to used 185% ???? It had somthing to do with the size of the border used.

This is an important point to bear in mind when printing Scalescenes models, or anything else that has been carefully created to a specific scale on a computer. I've been caught out by this when I discovered that my Scalescenes bricks were too small. Many printer drivers allow you to have a white border around images or pages, and this is often the default setting. Unfortunately, they usually achieve this by scaling down the printed image to about 97% of the original. Always check that you really are printing without borders and at 1:1 (or in the case of 4mm to 7mm conversion 175%).

 

Nick

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I've just used my printer to print on A3 at 175% and it seems to have gone "over the page" which means - for example - in the viaduct with arches I'm only getting one useable arch per sheet.

 

I dare say that with a bit of tweaking and perhaps even going slightly underscale I can get at least 2 on the page but I'll take it home 'as is' and try building up one tonight to see if it looks 'right. i hadn't planned on using any Scalescenes products on my O gauge project but one arch of the viaduct might just look right as a bridge somewhere.

 

I'm sure that many of us have built things "to scale" properly before only to find out that it doesn't actually look right when miniatureised.

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Yes I found that happens!

 

It will fit on to an A3 page but you can't just print it out as it is, you need to highlight the individual elements and just print them out.

Like you say on the Viaduct arches you would need to highlight or select just the arches front or arches back then print that element out.

The alternative is to go to a copy shop and see if they can print the kit out at the enlarged size.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

 

I've just used my printer to print on A3 at 175% and it seems to have gone "over the page" which means - for example - in the viaduct with arches I'm only getting one useable arch per sheet.

 

I dare say that with a bit of tweaking and perhaps even going slightly underscale I can get at least 2 on the page but I'll take it home 'as is' and try building up one tonight to see if it looks 'right. i hadn't planned on using any Scalescenes products on my O gauge project but one arch of the viaduct might just look right as a bridge somewhere.

 

I'm sure that many of us have built things "to scale" properly before only to find out that it doesn't actually look right when miniatureised.

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Presumably you'd have to go on to A2 paper if you want the full A4 > 175% enlargement? The first google result gives me £4.25 per page A2. I think A3 on the colour photocopier at work and extra work with the scissors will be the most cost effective way forward...

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Thanks for your interest in Scalescenes.com. I do have plans for a range of O scale kits in the future. There is a fair amount of work converting the current range to O (unfortunately it's not just a case of enlarging the kits up).

 

That said, as long as your printer has the ability scale pages up or even better you have access to a large format colour printer (scaled up the sheets are actually closer to A2) there is no reason why you can't build any of the kits in O scale. Page scaling is usually found in Acrobat Reader's print window (for more information on page scaling click here). If you enlarge the OO version up by 176% then you will end up with O scale. You'll need to roughly double the recommended card thickness which may require you to print some of the base layers twice. Another alternative would be to use foam core board which is usually available in about 4mm and would be much easier to cut out.

 

Just as a matter of interest, here is the mail i received from John Wiffen.:)

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When I first looked into this and went to an online printer the cost was stupid!!

I think they wanted about £20 per printed page!!

 

If you have Adobe acrobat that will allow you to select the individual elements so they can be printed onto an A3 page, but as you state to get a full A4 sheet enlarged to O then ideally you would need to go up to A2 which puts the cost up to silly money.

 

An alternative although would take some time is, as I have said, select each element and paste it into a word document, do this for the whole kit then have that printed out onto A3.

 

In word I created a custom size page which was A3 then selected each element of the kit and pasted it onto this page.

The church tower which is the largest single item I've found fitted....only just though, in the software I have I can select the individual elements by putting a box around them, the box had to be very close to the church tower cover layer or it wouldn't fit.

 

The problem though is how long it takes to select and copy all the different elements on one page, and then finding that just one element once enlarged will cover the entire A3 page!

 

Take the church as an example, that has 30 pages in the kit (page 31 is windows so not included that) on just one of the tower pages that has 3 items each one would need to be on it's own A3 page, as you can see to create the kit on A3 would more than double the amount of pages, now would say printing out 90 pages at A3 be cheaper than 30 at A2?

 

This is just one of the reasons John hasn't just enlarged the kits from OO to O.

 

Unless there is a printer/copier out there that would print the kits out onto A2 for a realistic price it's always going to take a fair amount of work on our part to get the kits done.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

Presumably you'd have to go on to A2 paper if you want the full A4 > 175% enlargement? The first google result gives me £4.25 per page A2. I think A3 on the colour photocopier at work and extra work with the scissors will be the most cost effective way forward...

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After doing a bit of searching I have found an online printer that can enlarge the kits and print them out onto A2 paper.

 

It works out much cheaper if a group of people all wanted the same kit because of the price per print comes down.

 

The site is HERE

 

I have no connection with them but the prices don't seem too bad compared to what I have had in the past!

For instance the free low relief warehouse has 4 pages in the kit.

You would select the poster size as A2 and 4 prints.

You would also select 4 in the split across how many versions box.

 

Total price printed and delivered would be £24inc VAT

 

For this small engine shed there are 10 pages so you would select 10 A2 posters to print out with 10 also in the split across how many versions box.

This works out at a total of £40.68 delivered inc VAT.

 

If there were two people ordering the same kit you would select 20 for the total number of posters required but still leave the split across 10 versions as you only want 2 copies of each version this then works out at:-

 

Total including delivery(to one UK address) and VAT £58.56 which divided by two would reduce the price to £29.28 plus the delivery to the second person.

 

It could be an alternative idea.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

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Great stuff, look forward to it, i went to a copy shop other day, asked for the enlargements etc, went back to collect em after paying an arm and a leg.... daft stupid $"!^*&& woman did em in black and white!! :nono: , and wouldnt re-do them!!! :rtfm: .... so now i have some full size print outs! :(.

 

Might use em and sort of scratch build, .........got the scalescenes O gauge papers.

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