HO Baseball Field

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen or built a baseball field. If so it would be great if you had pictures or tips on how to do it. I am always looking for inspiration!

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen or built a baseball field. If so it would be great if you had pictures or tips on how to do it. I am always looking for inspiration!

[dknelson]

Deep in the recesses of my memory is the thought that the NMRA has, or had, a data sheet for baseball diamonds. Are you an NMRA member?

In my railfanning I have noticed that a fair number of major league, semi pro, and amateur baseball fields are near railroad tracks.
Dave Nelson

[dknelson]

Deep in the recesses of my memory is the thought that the NMRA has, or had, a data sheet for baseball diamonds. Are you an NMRA member?

In my railfanning I have noticed that a fair number of major league, semi pro, and amateur baseball fields are near railroad tracks.
Dave Nelson

[MAbruce]

Welcome to the forum!

That’s a pretty ambitious project! I’ve never done it (and I model in N-scale) so I would first have to be concerned about how much room this would take up on an HO layout. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it done in N-scale (a small one on an N-trak module) where the space requirement is a bit less of a concern.

I don’t know if this is an overly simplistic approach, but wouldn’t you just take the dimensions of a typical baseball field and divide by 87? So if you have, say 400 feet to dead center field, which would be about 4 1/3 feet in HO. That’s a lot of real estate on a layout.

Good luck! Please post some pictures if you do make one.

[MAbruce]

Welcome to the forum!

That’s a pretty ambitious project! I’ve never done it (and I model in N-scale) so I would first have to be concerned about how much room this would take up on an HO layout. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it done in N-scale (a small one on an N-trak module) where the space requirement is a bit less of a concern.

I don’t know if this is an overly simplistic approach, but wouldn’t you just take the dimensions of a typical baseball field and divide by 87? So if you have, say 400 feet to dead center field, which would be about 4 1/3 feet in HO. That’s a lot of real estate on a layout.

Good luck! Please post some pictures if you do make one.

[Anonymous]

I also wanted to build a little leage baseball field.... but after seeing the requirements (kids playing baseball, and alot of space) i switched to a drive-in diner

[Anonymous]

I also wanted to build a little leage baseball field.... but after seeing the requirements (kids playing baseball, and alot of space) i switched to a drive-in diner

[Anonymous]

I am planning a room sized basement layout, and I plan to model a 1940's era minor league baseball stadium. One spot that worked well for me is to place stadium inside a 180 degree turn-back curve at the end of a penisula. I am using a 30" minimum radius, so that leaves a little under five feet inside the inner track.

The penisula will be in front of the door to the train room, so the stadium will be a sort of focal point as visitors enter the room.

Also, this takes the viewer's eyes away from the somewhat un-prototypical turnback curve, and the curved outfield wall will fit nicely along the tracks.

I have been to several St. Paul Saints (Northern League) minor league games, and their Midway stadium is located between a mainline on one side, and a yard on the other. Talk about combining two great things to watch!

[Anonymous]

I am planning a room sized basement layout, and I plan to model a 1940's era minor league baseball stadium. One spot that worked well for me is to place stadium inside a 180 degree turn-back curve at the end of a penisula. I am using a 30" minimum radius, so that leaves a little under five feet inside the inner track.

The penisula will be in front of the door to the train room, so the stadium will be a sort of focal point as visitors enter the room.

Also, this takes the viewer's eyes away from the somewhat un-prototypical turnback curve, and the curved outfield wall will fit nicely along the tracks.

I have been to several St. Paul Saints (Northern League) minor league games, and their Midway stadium is located between a mainline on one side, and a yard on the other. Talk about combining two great things to watch!

[Anonymous]

If you go to Google or any search engine and type " baseball field dimensions" in the search box you will get links to all kinds of info. I wanted to build one on my layout but it required more space than I had available, even to build a Pinto ballfield which is smaller then Little league. I think in HO you will need about 3 square feet of room or so for the field , stands, fence, parking lot etc. One day I may just build one as an add on diarama to my layout.
Bee-Line

[Anonymous]

If you go to Google or any search engine and type " baseball field dimensions" in the search box you will get links to all kinds of info. I wanted to build one on my layout but it required more space than I had available, even to build a Pinto ballfield which is smaller then Little league. I think in HO you will need about 3 square feet of room or so for the field , stands, fence, parking lot etc. One day I may just build one as an add on diarama to my layout.
Bee-Line

[BR60103]

This topic came up last year. I suggested, more than half seriously, that the field be built across the aisle, putting the infield and stands on one side with the baseline or second base up to the edge of the benchwork and putting the last of the outfield across the aisle. Ther could be a disappointed player looking at a ball through the fence, or an active one going for a catch.

[BR60103]

This topic came up last year. I suggested, more than half seriously, that the field be built across the aisle, putting the infield and stands on one side with the baseline or second base up to the edge of the benchwork and putting the last of the outfield across the aisle. Ther could be a disappointed player looking at a ball through the fence, or an active one going for a catch.

[Anonymous]

The baseball field demensions are on the D2h NMRA data sheet along with other sports field sizes and even one for a drive-in movie.

Doug

[Anonymous]

The baseball field demensions are on the D2h NMRA data sheet along with other sports field sizes and even one for a drive-in movie.

Doug

[Anonymous]

I have one of those old electric football sets & have 1/2way considered putting a stadium around it & having a game going on as my trains run by. Remember these, 2-3 men are always turning around in a continuous circle!
RayE

[Anonymous]

I have one of those old electric football sets & have 1/2way considered putting a stadium around it & having a game going on as my trains run by. Remember these, 2-3 men are always turning around in a continuous circle!
RayE

[Anonymous]

I've been toying with this idea too. I got some large sheets of paper and drew a field to scale in HO, and this may sound strange but it looked way too big. I did another drawing where I compressed everything about 60% and it looked much better.

Because people are used to seeing ball games from the stands where the perspective makes it look smaller, I think you can get away with that level of compression. It will still take up a good chunk of space, but not as much.

[Anonymous]

I've been toying with this idea too. I got some large sheets of paper and drew a field to scale in HO, and this may sound strange but it looked way too big. I did another drawing where I compressed everything about 60% and it looked much better.

Because people are used to seeing ball games from the stands where the perspective makes it look smaller, I think you can get away with that level of compression. It will still take up a good chunk of space, but not as much.

[HuskyHoops]

I'm in the process of designing the site plan for a minor league baseball stadium here. It's a 4,000 seat stadium, with 1,100 parking spaces, which combined, occupy a space of 905,000 square feet. Scaled down to HO scale, that translates to about 120 square feet.

I guess my advice would be to use not-so-selective compression and perhaps model the stadium near the edge of the layout to give the impression that the parking lies beyond the edge of the layout.

Maybe a little league field would be more suitable, as the dimensions are shorter, seating capacity is much less, and of course, parking isn't nearly as extensive.

[HuskyHoops]

I'm in the process of designing the site plan for a minor league baseball stadium here. It's a 4,000 seat stadium, with 1,100 parking spaces, which combined, occupy a space of 905,000 square feet. Scaled down to HO scale, that translates to about 120 square feet.

I guess my advice would be to use not-so-selective compression and perhaps model the stadium near the edge of the layout to give the impression that the parking lies beyond the edge of the layout.

Maybe a little league field would be more suitable, as the dimensions are shorter, seating capacity is much less, and of course, parking isn't nearly as extensive.

[Anonymous]

All the above sounds absolutly facinationg but tell me, just how small is the baseball or can you even see it.

[Anonymous]

All the above sounds absolutly facinationg but tell me, just how small is the baseball or can you even see it.

[Anonymous]

A true scale field, without seating or parking, could easily be 300 feet down the lines (almost three and a half feet in HO). It might me tempting to keep the infield diamond at 90 feet square (about one HO foot) and just compress the expansive outfield, but from laying it out in full size paper, I have found that your eye seems to use the diamond as referrence. I scaled the entire field down to about 75% and it looks great (on paper, that is).

My next step is to make a 3D mock up of stadiums designs to get an idea for realistic stands and outfield wall height.

Unfortunately, my large layout is a few years away, so I have had to change my modeling scope down to an industrial switching layout that will someday be a part of my basement empire. I do, however, plan to build the baseball stadium as a diarama to be sropped into my layout someday.

[Anonymous]

A true scale field, without seating or parking, could easily be 300 feet down the lines (almost three and a half feet in HO). It might me tempting to keep the infield diamond at 90 feet square (about one HO foot) and just compress the expansive outfield, but from laying it out in full size paper, I have found that your eye seems to use the diamond as referrence. I scaled the entire field down to about 75% and it looks great (on paper, that is).

My next step is to make a 3D mock up of stadiums designs to get an idea for realistic stands and outfield wall height.

Unfortunately, my large layout is a few years away, so I have had to change my modeling scope down to an industrial switching layout that will someday be a part of my basement empire. I do, however, plan to build the baseball stadium as a diarama to be sropped into my layout someday.

[Anonymous]

I found this site that might be of interest. I thought the models were great. Extremely expensive, but cool.

http://www.majorleaguemodels.com

[Anonymous]

I found this site that might be of interest. I thought the models were great. Extremely expensive, but cool.

http://www.majorleaguemodels.com

[dave9999]

There is a picture of a baseball park in the 2004 Walthers reference book. Its on page 621.
The model won third place in the Magic of Model Railroading Photo contest. It is very nicely done. It appears to have been scale down, but looks nice. Dave

[dave9999]

There is a picture of a baseball park in the 2004 Walthers reference book. Its on page 621.
The model won third place in the Magic of Model Railroading Photo contest. It is very nicely done. It appears to have been scale down, but looks nice. Dave