HO Ballpark Tips/Suggestions

[Anonymous]

In an attempt to marry two passions, my son and I are planning to create a scale model minor league ballpark (with game in action) in HO. We've already converted field measurements. Does anyone have any tips/hints/suggestions for materials or know of anyone who has done this for their own layout? I've searched to find if anyone else has done this, but I've had no luck. Thanks for any help you can offer. ->kbrenne

[thirdrail1]

Very few have ever attempted anything other than a sandlot ball game due to the size of the ballpark. Unless you are building a truly large layout, it would completely dominate the layout. Even on a minor league field, it should be at least four real feet from homeplate to the outfield fence! Someone was selling bleacher kits on eBay last year, but have not seen any in quite a while.

[Anonymous]

Two thoughts--first of all take a look at the 2002 Walthers Catalog. There is a picture of someone who built a baseball field. Second, I recall seeing a module at an NMRA convention that included a compressed sandlot baseball field. There was the field and a lot of fencing, but only a couple of benches rather than bleachers.

Clearly if you built a professional ballpark to scale, it would dominate any layout.

[Anonymous]

I don,t see this as a real problem if you are building a school yard type ball field. The diamond can be done to scale and done in fine dirt to make the look, look good. simple bleachers should be easy to scratch build. the fencing can be built with sinple wood or plastic poles and material from a fabric shop painted silver. Use fabric like they use in weddings that is meshed that they put the rice in for you to through. The only thing is the out-field which I would scale down a bit as to not use up all the precious realistate. Unless you are planning something major league, this should be fairky simple to do. Now try to find those figures...I'd check the Walthers catolog for that.......keep the bases loaded, maybe the fans too, Ha ha.....Jamie

[BR60103]

You might consider putting the diamond right in a corner of the layout at the front so that the full-size people are standing in the outfield. This lets you model the more concentrated part of the scene. As a joke, you could model the the fence on the opposite side of the aisle.
David

[dandreas]

I think this is a great idea! Are talking about one of the "new" minor league parks like Memphis? These are very nice and rival some major-league venues. If so, a couple of suggestions...

1. Use selective compression. Making a "short field" will still give the desired effect. Shaving 40-50 scale feet off the outfield fence distance won't be that noticable but will help maximize space. Also think about putting the park back in a corner, as the geometry of the field is well suited to the usually wasted space in the corner of your layout. Thus, home plate would be in the far corner, etc.
2. Here is one place that the good ole' cheapo Life Like grass mat material could come in handy! It simulates the well kept grounds at the ballpark pretty well for not much money. If you want to get fancy, mask off a checkerboard pattern and put a thinned coat of darker green to simulate the "mowing lines."
3. Build a big, grand brick entryway to emulate the architecture used on todays parks. Go online and look at pictures of the newer ballparks to get ideas. See http://minorleaguebaseball.com for more info.
4. If you REALLY want to get fancy, use a small LCD television/monitor and build a "Jumbotron" in the outfield. (They have some that are 2" which would give you about a scale 15ft screen.) Jumbotrons are starting to become commonplace even for the minor leagues. You could videotape an actual jumbotron during the course of a real game, then play it back with an old VCR tucked under the layout somewhere. Or use a computer to custom make your Jumbotron messages....you could even get a little creative and use your son's team photos! (assuming your son is that age, etc.)
5. Remember that the main theme of these parks (besides baseball) is ADVERTISING! You can print out ads on your home PC to plaster everywhere around the park. Also look into the Bar Mills Models laser-cut billboards....I think one of those in the outfield area would be cool, like one of the prime sponsers of the park. Most are no longer in business but I think they have a Morton Salt, Sherwin Williams paint, Firestone, etc. that are still around. Check out http://www.barmillsmodels.com/ for more ideas.

There are other obvious things like you're gonna need a BUNCH of figures, etc., but I hope this helps and good luck! Let us know how it goes...

Doug A.

[Anonymous]

This might be a place where a carefully place mirror could be used to great advantage to save space. Model only the left or right half of the field and use a mirror for the other half.

[n2mopac]

I built a little league park on my N scale layout. While your project is on a grander scale (minor league), some of my experience might be of help. First, the above messages talk about selectively compressing the outfield. I discovered that for realistic perspective you have to keep the proportions of baselines/outfield the same. If you compress, compress the baselines as well. as long as they are proportioned to the outfiled in a realistic looking manner, no one will ever know without a scale ruler
For fencing I used styreme rod for posts and nylon screen for the fence. I assembled the fence then painted it ATSF silver. It looks great. I scratch built dugouts and put players on the bence in both, more obviously for the team at bat. I also have a coach yelling out to the players on the defensive team.
Figures do not exist in baseball uniforms, or at least they didn't a year ago when I finished my ballfield. I had to hand paint N scale figures with matching blue/red uniforms, caps, gloves, and numbers. Tedious in N scale to say the leastt, but this should be easier in HO. Preisler figures have a large enough variety that many can be found in poses that simulate ball players playing the game. Use your imagination as you look at them. I think the players in the field are what made the whole scene for me.
This is a cool project. Let us know how it comes out.
Ron

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of starting an HO little league field myself. I found some new, clean clay at a local little league field this week. This is the time of the year they are renewing the infields. Take a small jar of clay and lay it on some baking sheets in the sun to dry. It can be sifted and used for the scenery.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

I just found this informaiton on Infor

Standard Measurements in Sports

BASEBALL

Home plate to pitcher's box: 60.5 feet
Plate to second base: 127.25 feet
Distance from base to base
(home plate included): 90 feet
Size of bases: 15x15 inches
Pitcher's plate: 24x6 inches
Batter's box: 4x6 feet
Home plate: Five-sided, 17 inches by 8 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches, cut to a point at rear.
Home plate to backstop: Not less than 60 feet (recommended).


Hope all of this comes out. If not, visit this link: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0113430.html
Chad

[Anonymous]

I built a Little League base ball field on my N scale layout how ever I built a PINTO field which is 38' from home to the mound, 50' to the bases, 150' to right and left field, 200' to center. I used white styrene for bases, black for the mound rubber, back stop I used a plastic me***hat the ladies use to sew on which I found at a craft shop, out field fence I used the same mesh but I made a bunch of advertising signs like you would see at a ball park. The problem is ball playing children in N scale, I fudged it, it looks ok but don't look with a magnifier glass. Ball park dims. can be found at www.mulemix.com/field_dimesions.htm dimensions is miss-spelled at the site, if you can't connect go thru google search engine. If you light the field use fiber optic.
Good Luck
Beeline

[Anonymous]

I built a VERY selectively compressed minor league ball field on my HO layout. Its situated in a corner as other writers above have noted might be a good location. I intended it to suggest the ball park where the St. Paul Saints play. The prototype is a neat stadium with double track railroad running behind the home run fences. Fans in the stands bring along railroad train whistles to toot when the frequently passing freights blow their horns in salute.
Any way, my ball park is in front of a double track curve around a corner of the layout. I used commercial blended grass and light colored sand to create the field and basepaths..simply sifting it on a piece of green colored masonite and gluing it down with a solution of white glue, water and detergent. The basepaths are only six inches long and the distance from home plate to the center field wall is 15 inches. Despite its small size the overall effect is pleasing. Since the area immediately behind home plate is at the front edge of the layout I only modeled the baseline bleachers (out of strip wood) and let the viewer's mind fill in the blanks. I set the scene to suggest that the game hadn't started yet so my bleachers aren't full of fans (saves on the budget!) I have some lined up at a ticket office outside. I pasted magazine and computer generated advertisments (some that that refer to friends) on the home run fence so the choice of fencing material wasn't important. The whole atmosphere of minor league ball is relaxed and fun..that's how visitors perceive the scene on my layout. My greatest dilemna is finding ball players. I don't think any makes them even though you can find figures dressed (and even nude) in every conceivable fashion! I guess I'm going to have to find some other figures with hats and reconfigure them. Best of luck on the project!
Ralph

[Anonymous]

I'd love to see a picture of your stadium. I attend a lot of St. Paul Saints games, and I'm thinking of building a ballpark on the layout I'm planning.

As far as baseball figures, I bought a set of HO scale baseball players from a train shop in Cooperstown, NY a couple of years back. They don't have them listed on their webpage, but it might for worth an email to see if they still stock them.

Their URL is: http://www.cooperstownchamber.org/trains/

[Anonymous]

Here is a direct link to some HO scale baseball players.


http://lonesome-whistle.com/basplay.html