Just a quick and probably simple question.
Can I use 00 buildings realistically on a 009 layout? If not how to scale 00 buildings suitably.
Thanks.
00 is 00 whether its 16.5mm ("standard" gauge) 9mm (2ft or 2ft 3 more precisely) or whatever
Buildings are the same size whatever the track gauge but of course choosing the right 00 buildings to fit in with your modelling theme or railway is what 009 is all about. If you are modelling a prototype narrow gauge railway then the choice of buildings is there to see and the skill is replicating them. If its your own railway the skill is in both the selection and the construction to make a plausible scheme. Most 00 railway buildings do not really fit the narrow gauge theme and neither do many other 00 buildings especially the newer ready to plant buildings but you can try
Peter Smith
The simple answer
Paul
YES!
009 is '00' scale. The big plus for 009 modelling is the availability of all, repeat all, 00 scale accessories that can be used. As well as scratchbuilt buildings I also have Hornby Skaledale buildings on 'Loch Ewe' and 'Crummack' layouts. I don't blow my own trumpet but Loch Ewe layout has appeared in the Railway Modeller, October and December 2009, and Feb 2010. There is a photo of Crummack in the Railway Modeller 2014 Annual. Skaledale ready to plant and kit built buildings feature in the background. All 00 scale buildings, figures, lineside furniture available from all the kit manufacturers such as Wills, Ratio, Langley and many others can be used on your layout. Choose carefully as 009 locos and rolling stock are smaller than standard gauge so try to keep things in proportion. For example, on one layout we use the Ratio engine shed designed for standard gauge, we have reduced the height in proportion for our 009 narrow gauge locos. We use smaller buildings on our layouts so that they do not dominate too much and also most 009 modellers build smaller layouts. Don't be afraid of adapting structures to suit your need. doing so will individualise a structure and make it stand out a little more.
Hope that answers your question.
Roger
Regarding railway buildings as opposed to non-railway-related buildings on the layout and taking the example given of cutting down a standard gauge engine shed to make it more in proportion to its intended use with narrow gauge locomotives you can go the other way too.
Some of the smaller OO scale model buildings can be beefed up to turn them into railway buildings. At least one person has taken the Wills corrugated iron chapel, raised it a little on a brick base to give the necessary clearance and turned it into an engine shed.
I guess this is an example of something similar in 305 mm/ft a Nissen hut cum engine shed/workshop -
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1590396 (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1590396)
Contrariwise, sometimes HO buildings and people are used towards the back of a layout to give the illusion of greater depth and perspective.
Paul, you have, unfortunately, fallen into the "Scale / Gauge" trap!
It is understandable though as most railway modellers are very lazy when it comes to the words 'scale' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_%28ratio%29) and (track) 'gauge' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), and use the two interchangeably to mean the same thing when they in fact have very different meanings.
Thus "009" is 00 scale (which is 1:76.2, or 4 mm to 1 foot as a ratio) with 9 mm track gauge. "OO Gauge" uses 16.5 mm gauge (and to compare to 009 would be 0016.5), "EM" uses 18.3 mm gauge and "P4" uses a gauge of 18.83 mm but all to the same 1:76.2 scale (and all represent a track gauge of 4' 8.5" with varying degrees of accuracy to the scale ratio). But as the scale is the same a person, car, house tree, etc would be the same size, regardless of the gauge of the track on the layout.
There is a caveat however: Railway related buildings, especially things that trains / locos will pass through (tunnels & bridges, sheds, etc.) will be slightly smaller for 009 compared to OO as the narrow gauge trains represented by 009 models will be smaller than the standard gauge trains of OO, and thus the holes the narrow gauge 009 trains go through (the loading gauge) will also be smaller than for the OO gauge ones. But that is to do with the physical size of things in the real world we are making models of in 4 mm scale.
Thank you all for your very constructive comments. I do completely understand the distinctions beteeen scale and guage it was just that when making some card buildings intended for 00 they just seemed wrong. I did what you have suggested and cut them down "to size". They will be Ok in the short term but I will have to review the type of buildings I use and modify them appropriately. I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't missing somehing. Thanks again.
Perhaps there is not a rigid correlation, but when it comes to freelance 009 layouts there appear to be two extremes. At one end there is the main-line in miniature approach (proper raised platforms, full compliment of station buildings etc) and at the other there is the bare-bones, run-down, mend and make-do approach. I guess it is going to depend on the invented history for the layout.
I would also point out that there is a lot of variation in the size of prototype rolling stock. Early lines tended to use much smaller trains that later lines - look at the difference between the Festiniog and Welsh Highland. Industrial stuff was smaller still.
If you try and use buildings created for standard gauge trains it's very easy for them to overpower the much smaller narrow gauge ones. Although they are same scale its likely buildings created for a NG line would be somewhat smaller in the prototype than SG one, we need to keep the same sense of proportion for it to look visually right.
It's not helped by the tendency to sometimes model NG stock and locos a little smaller than they would be in real life. I think this goes back to the days of Eggerbahn, HO scale and cute trains. There are quite a few 009 locos a normal sized 4mm scale man would have a hard time getting in the cab.
Tom
Adding to this thread, another good contender for a OO9 engine shed/workshop must be the Scalescenes TO17 Garage? Not too grand, not too scruffy...
http://scalescenes.com/product/t017-garage/
Doug
Just to further confuse matters I always thought the Eggar locos were far too small for 4mm scale. Surprise! I bought one of the Minitrains Eggar locos for nostalgia's sake and guess what? The loading gauge is just about identical to my scale size Corris stock. But of course, the Corris was a very small railway in every sense.
Quote from: GraemeD on January 03, 2014, 11:27
Regarding railway buildings as opposed to non-railway-related buildings on the layout and taking the example given of cutting down a standard gauge engine shed to make it more in proportion to its intended use with narrow gauge locomotives you can go the other way too.
Some of the smaller OO scale model buildings can be beefed up to turn them into railway buildings. At least one person has taken the Wills corrugated iron chapel, raised it a little on a brick base to give the necessary clearance and turned it into an engine shed.
Like Roger (Krizzy) I do not intend to boast, however, I am one of those who have succesfully used the Chapel kit as a loco shed: it appeared in the October 2005 Railway Modeller.
(https://elmgatemodels.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/picture-4.jpg)
Aha. That could well be what I was remembering!
When all's said and done, Paul, however much measuring and scaling you do, I'd suggest that the most important thing is that structures simply look right - it's as easy (or difficult!) as that.
David.
Totally agree with you David. I like to scratch build, and I found that planning a building to 'real life' size, the result just doesn't look right, so I make paper mock-ups, and then adjust my measurements to what 'looks right'.
Purists will gasp in horror (why I avoid RMweb...) but in the end it's my layout, and it's for my enjoyment!
Shaun.
Quote from: Paul Budge on January 02, 2014, 21:32
Just a quick and probably simple question.
Can I use 00 buildings realistically on a 009 layout? If not how to scale 00 buildings suitably.
Thanks.
I am building an exhibition layout with both 00 and 009 and therefore standard and narrow gauges. The building size is the same and the same sized people, whether driving a standard gauge loco or narrow. Scratch building anything to scale is a challenge for me as I am very new to model railways.
That's because both use the same "Scale" 1:76. See Julien's earlier post.
Trouble is manufacturers throw the terms "gauge" and "scale" around as if there's no difference. There is. "Gauge" is the distance between the rails, so OO gauge is 16.5mm and thus the term "OO Gauge" has no meaning whatsoever when applied to buildings where the term "OO Scale" should be used instead.