I need help with understanding scales

[Anonymous]

This may sound fooli***o a lot of you, but I am doing some diorama work for my sons school project. It is on the Wild West and includes some miniatures. I would like to include a train in this diorama. I put together a lot of models including plastics, resins, and even wooden ships. This will be my first foray into model trains though. I would like everything to be as close to scale as possible. I am using 25-28 mm figures for this diorama. Is there any train scale that comes close to this? From my research it seems that O scale (which seems to be 1:48) is the best, but I can find very little info on that scale. Can anyone help?

[rogerhensley]

Lionel and MTH both fall roughly into that scale. There are numerous building kits available as well as cars and people. To get some idea, take a look at http://www.walthers.com

You did say Wild West and that will limit your choices somewhat. A good hobby shop should be alble to help.

Good hunting.

Roger

Roger Hensley – [e-mail]
== http://cid.railfan.net/ ==
== Central Indiana Division, NMRA ==

[CNJ831]

While O scale is probably the closest match to the scale you have chosen for your son's diorama, I'm afraid including a (Wild West) train into the scene would be a very expensive proposition. Most O scale locomotives run into the hundreds of dollars. There are, to my knowledge, no readily available O scale, unpowered, plastic, old-time locomotive kits in this scale. My advice, if you really want to follow your idea, would be to obtain just an old-time freight car or two in O scale (still in the $30 to $50 a piece range)for the display.

John

[Anonymous]

Pictcelt; Using 25-28mm figures means that the closest model railroad scale for these figures is S scale. which is 64:1. The figures then scale out at 5 to 6 feet tall. Using O scale means the figures are about 4 feet tall.
The bad news is that S scale is even more difficult to find reasonably priced equipment for.
Old tinplate S equipment, ( American Flyer) is a collectors' item, but 'old time western' equipment in AF would be almost impossible to find. Actual S scale trains are expensive, and most hobby shops do not carry this size.
There's a very large availability of 64:1 British farm, military and related plastic toys, and also a huge North American diecast metal farm equipment selection.Sorry for the bad news. regards / Mike

[dknelson]

I wonder if there might not be something in the toy department that could be modified with a little work? I know there used to be soft plastic trains very close to HO scale that were cheap. Also don't overlook some wood craft kits in well stocked hobby shops -- I have seen some very creditable sailboats and a covered wagon (horse drawn not an F Unit!) that were reasonably priced. With luck there might be an old time train as well. And what about building a small 4-4-0? A small metal juice can is a good start on a boiler ....
Dave Nelson
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Dave has a good point...there are some variety and department store low cost "Christmas" trains around, that are plastic, battery powered, that run on plastic track. I have seen some that are 'old-time', colorful, balloon stacks etc...can be detailed & weathered....and right now they are really low-cost, on sale at 50-60% off.Most of these are closer to S scale than O or H0, and that's what you need . Good luck/ regards / Mike

[Anonymous]

Thanks a million for all of your help guys, I will look at S scale ( I really would like to get into the train game) and see. I also have thought about scratch building, but I don't know a whole lot about dimensions for the train, and it could be a very daunting task. I will look for the "Christmas" trains also. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Just in case anyone is interested, I found a plastic battery operated toy train at Toy's R Us that is perfect for what I wanted. It is as close to scale for my figures as I could construct myself and is entitled Old Western Express. It came with a coal car, a passenger coach, a cattle car, and a petrolium tank (I just won't use that car). Plus it only cost me $10.00. So thanks for all your help.