Doin' the Math- scaling scenery , etc to HO

[Anonymous]

OK, so I have maybe been out of school too long. Used to be decent in math but now I've hit a mental block. How do you mathematically scale to HO ? Say, I see a building (prototype) I want to copy.(or a bridge or whatever) It's 60 feet long X 40 feet wide and 20 feet tall. Tell me how to do the math to get it right for HO.

[Leon Silverman]

Multiply the length by 12 (to convert feet to inches), then divide by 87 to get the equivalent length in inches.

[dave9999]

Click this link and then click "scalecalc". I keep this little program on my desktop
and use all of the time. Dave
http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/smf-qShareWare.html

[jkeaton]

Or, pull out your HO scale ruler (if you don't have one, Walthers and Micro-Mark sell them) and measure out 60 by 40 by 20 HO scale feet on a piece of paper that you'll use for your building plans. No mathematical conversion required!

Jim

[dknelson]

For very small items, there are also calipers that read out in HO -- fascinating. I think Micro Mark sells them among others
Dave Nelson

[tstage]

flinttim,

Hey, welcome to the forum! [:)]

Not wanting to split hairs. If you use the method that Leon suggested, divide by 87.1 (instead of just 87) to make it more accurate. That won't really make that much difference on a small item but may on a larger piece.

Tom