Thanks for all the suggestions I really appreciate it!
It is not as hard to scratchbuild these days, what with materials like Gatorfoam and Foamcore, and computer software that can print out siding and windows and signage. And we now have 3-D printing available.
Some part of this hobby comes down to "You can't always find what you want in a prebuilt kit". I would say HO has an over-abundance of nice stuff, but having to scratchbuild the buildings you want at some point is pretty much a given.
I know how long it takes to build something like this, but frankly it just seems to make good sense to me to learn how to build what's obviously missing from your goals ather than make some half-way attempt at what you want with shortcuts, then trying to convince yourself it looks better than it really does. Lying to yourself is the pits.
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
Heljan/Con-Cor offered some buildings that came with doors for N and HO. They're industrial buildings where the scale differences are not as noticeable as, say a house, would be.
When you do that, you're going to have, as was mentioned, bricks that may not be the exact scale size. However...when you look at many of the older AHM/Pola, Tyco/Model Power kits, many of them had bricks that were huge for HO scale and that didn't seem to stop many people from using them. And many early N scale kits had huge bricks too. So I think it's more a matter of where you are using the buildings, what the structures are and how you modify or paint them.
Jim
joe323 To the OP it's your layout if it only has to look good to you then do it.
To the OP it's your layout if it only has to look good to you then do it.
The OP obviously cares what others think, or he wouldn't have started this topic. SMH.
I agree with others, an HO building would look totally out of scale on an N scale layout. It's fairly common practice to use N-scale buildings in the background on HO layouts for "forced perspective" and that can be done successfully. The opposite, I can't see how.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
The trouble with looking at a picture on the internet is that there is seldom any way to make an accurate size comparison. Now, a side-by-side display of two or three models of the same building in different scales would give a much better idea.
Any true HO or 1:96 scale building will look grossly oversize if used in close proximity to N scale trains - even if the building is a country outhouse. Likewise, smaller buildings used to force perspective have to be set well back from the foreground rails. The suggestion to use an HO building as a source of kitbashing parts is valid, but there is still the problem that a brick wall in HO becomes a red cinder block wall in N, while a standard personnel door is suddenly twelve feet high and five feet wide.
As I detail my 1:80 scale layout I expect to use TT, N and Z scale buildings to make a couple of valleys look deeper than they are. S, O and G-scale buildings need not apply.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
delray1967The Sept 2016 issue of Model Railroader has a Trains of Thought article (last page of the magazine) addressing using the 'wrong' scale structure successfully by doing a bit of kitbashing.
That was modifying HO structures for S scale. HO is closer to S than N which makes the modfications a little easier.
Personally, I am always on the lookout for O buildings for my S scale layout. Many O gauge buildings for use with 3 rail O gauge are undersized to save space. You modify the doors and perhaps a couple of other features to get an S scale building.
Paul
I'm a bit of a rivet counter so I'd generally say no but...it depends. What specific model are you thinking about? Some advertisements use photos of different scale models of the same structure/loco/rolling stock just to show what's available from that manufacturer (look for any small print stating something like " *HO Scale model shown.").
I can usually spot an out of scale structure because something just doesn't look right...other times the modeler has done a superb job of kitbashing/disguising the 'wrong' scale that I can't tell. It all depends on the specific model and the specific situation on your layout.
The Sept 2016 issue of Model Railroader has a Trains of Thought article (last page of the magazine) addressing using the 'wrong' scale structure successfully by doing a bit of kitbashing.
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
If you want to do this, look for buildings that are way undersized for HO. Changing doors and some externals such as chimneys may work.
If you start with plastic kits you could probably shorten walls and make other changes such as doors to make it work.
But given the large number of buildings available in N, I'm not sure it's worth the bother.
Good luck
Chutton actually you are right to a scale model they would look funny. All I meant was if it makes the OP happy thats all that matters.
Oh and theres a certain 6 year old who has lots of matchbox and hot wheels now.
Joe Staten Island West
Tom was thinking right along the same lines as I was. Walthers did compress the blast furnace to closer to 1:160 scale. The Hulett unloaders, however are scaled very close, if not spot-on, to the real monsters.
Several articles and the Model Railroader book The Model Railroader's Guide To Steel Mills feature N scale layouts using the HO Cornerstone structures.
Regards, Ed
Many of the Walthers items relating to the steel industry are undesized. I suspect HO scale models could be adapted successfully to an N scale layout. The blast furnace and the Hullett Unloader seem like good candidates.
Tom
IMO some of the really selectively-compressed HO scale "large scale industry" buildings such as the Walthers Recovery Boiler House or the Walthers Kraft Mill can, with some modification, be made to represent very large N-scale industries - particularly if you approach them as boxes of kit-bashing parts as opposed to "must follow assembly directions to a t" building kits. I seem to recall that in the past some such kits of indeterminate scale (notably with large, featureless walls with minimal windows/doors) came with such doors/windows parts to model in either N or HO, but of course I can't find examples. OTOH, I must disagree with Joe, as smaller HO scale buildings with readily identifible human scale elements such as one-story stores or single family homes will look VERY odd on an N-scale module/layout. (The reverse as mentioned before, using N scale buildings and details for background forced perspective, is pretty common and can be made to work very well).
I used over sized matchbox cars on my HO layout until I could get correct size vehicles,
I have an N scale farm house pearched on top of a large hill on my HO scale layout. The idea was to make the hill look larger.
Irishbug Although, I haven't tried it yet, I have a feeling that the HO stuff might work on my N scale layout.
Although, I haven't tried it yet, I have a feeling that the HO stuff might work on my N scale layout.
Now N scale structures on an HO scale layout might work if placed in the background to create a sense of distance and space.
Rich
Alton Junction
I have never tried this.
I see a few potential problems: The brick size would be too large (or clapboard siding size).
People doors, loading dock deck heights, loading dock doors, etc would be wrong.
I imagine it would be easier to find a kit you like in n scale, or scratch build rather than fudging a HO scale to look good.
Dave
I have looked at some of the HO scale buildings on the internet and they look a lot like the N scale stuff. Although, I haven't tried it yet, I have a feeling that the HO stuff might work on my N scale layout. Not to just give prospective of distance but actually placed right next to N scale buildings. Has anyone out there tried this yet and agree/disagree that it would look OK? Thanks!