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Railway Buildings for 28mm Wargaming - HO, O or OO Scale?

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Carmine:
I'm sorry if this question has already been asked and/or is obvious to those who have more experience with Railway modelling than I do, but I wanted to know what scale of buildings and other scenic models available for this area of modelling work best with 28mm minis?

My father-in-law and son are enthusiasts in this area, and as such, I get the chance to visit many model railway exhibitions and have begun to come across some genuine bargains on trader's stalls that have made their way onto the table-top.

I thought most of these were O gauge, but online research turns up HO and OO gauge, and now I'm confused!

tom q vaxy:
0 scale is 1: 48. 48 scale inches to 1 "real" inch - or 1/4" to the foot. if your mini is 28 mm, he would be less than 5' tall in 0 scale.

S scale is 1: 64. 64 scale inches to 1 "real" inch - or .397 mm to the foot. if your mini is 28 mm, he would be 6' tall in S scale.


this is why LEDO & Matchbox cars work well (1:64 scale approximately).


the other dodge is selective compression. 0 scale building and change the door to S scale.


this may help:  http://raskcycle.com/techtip/webdoc11.html

Westfalia Chris:
It's an old quandary, mainly based on the issue that 28mm is more of a size, whereas the railway gauges are more or less all closely linked to actual scales.

These days, the scale range most commonly associated with 28mm is from 1/48 to 1/56. For most historicals, this provides a somewhat pleasing impression that the scale items "look right" next to the differently-proportioned wargames figurines.

O Gauge, depending on which interpretation you're talking about, usually ranges from 1/43.5 to 1/50. The anglophone O Gauge, AFAIK, is more towards the smaller scale, whereas continental/German O Gauge is mostly 1/43 or 1/43.5.

OO Gauge is commonly associated with 1/76 scale, close enough to both 20mm and 1/72 to work.

HO Gauge, or "Half O", is 1/87.

Generally, if you are talking about skirmish gaming, e.g. Gangsters, Cowboys, Aliens vs. 50s GIs, you should aim for the larger scale due to the higher level of interaction.

If you are using battalion rules, where a unit is defined more by the area of its bases rather than the size/scale of the figures (e.g. classic Warhammer, WHAB, Impetus and the like), smaller scales of buildings may actually look better since they are not to scale with the regiments, anyway.

Personally, with modern 28s, I don't think anything smaller than 1/60 looks good, with some minor exceptions. If you have older 25mm, or "True 25" figures, such as made by RAFM and Ral Partha back in the 1970s and 1980s, then 1/76 scale buildings could work if the game isn't a highly-interactive skirmish that requires something like "True Line of Sight" or similar shenanigans.

sukhe_bator:
HO scale is 1:87 or (3.5 mm to 1 foot) while OO scale is 1:76.2 or (4 mm to 1 foot). This is really designed for 20mm figures. True 25mm scale should be 4mm to the foot, but scale creep over the years has made them closer to 30mm and much bulkier. Most commercially available model railway buildings will therefore appear underscale compared with most wargaming equivalents. I used model railway scenics many years ago and added extra height by adding footings to buildings etc. which only works when using buildings as static scenery. Thus you will sometimes find 1:76 scale buildings work better as scenery for 15mm 1:100 (3mm to 1 foot or 1:120) while others can stand for 20-25mm. The issue becomes more challenging when modelling and using interiors in skirmish games...  The scratchbuilt timber framed building I made here is designed for use with 25mm medievals, but the proportions etc are based around 4mm to the foot. With medieval buildings doors were deliberately undersized for security in any event and 2 foot widths by 5 foot heights were quite common. I've added stone footings to raise the eaves a tad. When you look down at the table the underscale is not that apparent.

has.been:
As '28mm' seem to vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer,
I recommend taking along one figure from the maker of your choice.
Hold it next to the building model, best next to the door I think, &
see if you think it looks right.
Real buildings often seem weird along side one and another.
 I have often seen what I would take to be a
'15mm' (looking) house next to an 'heroic 28mm' one, but we
wargamers would not accept that on the tabletop.

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