Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

layout scale conversion

1078 views
2 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
layout scale conversion
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 20, 2004 11:52 AM
Found a layout plan that I like. It is 3/16=1'. I would like to copy it at 3/4"=1' in order to see how part of it looks on my layout plan. Using cut & glue instead of drawing it. How do I enlarge it? Thanks for the help.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 20, 2004 11:54 AM
It looks like to go from 3/16" : 1' to 3/4" : 1' it would be a 4x magnification that is required. That would be 400% ona copier which might not be possible, so you'd have to do it in steps.

Andrew
  • Member since
    July 2002
  • From: Richardson, TX
  • 136 posts
Posted by trollw on Thursday, May 20, 2004 2:22 PM
Since a lot of the copiers scaling is not very accurate, on one corner of your plan, draw a capital H where the horizontal bar is 3/16 of an inch long (the bars on each end make it easier to measure the line length since the enlarging frequently makes the lines fuzzier). I usually draw one horizontal and one vertical (to be sure the copier is not distorting it). Then simply use whatever copier you have access to that can enlarge (101% or greater) and enlarge it until the crossbars are 3/4" long. If the enlargement gets larger than the max paper sixe, simply keep track of how many enlargements and at what settings it takes to get the lines to the right size. Then simply offset the orignal and 're-enlarge it' until you have the entire plan that you can then tape together.

You can also do it on a computer if you have a scanner and a printer. Scan the plan into a BMP file, open it with DRAW or some other drawing program, enlarge it and print it (be sure to print at actual size, NOT 'fit to page'). You can use the same 'H' trick to be sure it prints out at the right size.

John

Regards,

 John

 "You are what you eat," said a wise old man. Oh Lord, if it's true, I'm a garbage can.

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!