O dear, it's 1:48 or 32 mm

[shadowbeast]

Wow, I had no idea that 1/45 is a railrway scale.  I thought most euro O was 1/43 (technically 1/43.5), hence HO being "Half O" and being 1/87.   

AFAIK, 1/48 scale is not a common European railway scale, but I could be wrong.

1/48 is mostly used in Europe by aircraft, dollhouse and military modellers. The only reason it is even O in the US is, according to legend, due to an error back in the early 20th century when toymakers were sharing technology under the impression that being compatible with other makers items may send some sales your way. An American engineer is said to have interpreted a 5 printed right across a crease as an 8...

1/43.5 is used mostly as British O, for the same reasons as most British scales are puffed up.

[FramFramson]

The carriages and flatcar are definitely from Company B; the loco too, if I recall. These were all purchased in 2012-2018. I think they've remastered their railway equipment a couple of times since then -- they were resin bodies with metal detail parts buffers, undercarriage parts, axles, wheels, and couple of other small bits). I definitely used the wheelsets that came with the kits; it wasn't too hard to assemble them to fit S-scale track.

--
Michael B.

Thanks!

[eilif]

1/48 is mostly used in Europe by aircraft, dollhouse and military modellers. The only reason it is even O in the US is, according to legend, due to an error back in the early 20th century when toymakers were sharing technology under the impression that being compatible with other makers items may send some sales your way. An American engineer is said to have interpreted a 5 printed right across a crease as an 8...

1/43.5 is used mostly as British O, for the same reasons as most British scales are puffed up.

That might be true (though I am doubtful), but 1/48 is a very practical scale, both in simple math terms and because of the large size of American railway equipment for which even the small downsize to 1/48 does have some notable size savings.

Looking back over my earlier posts, I may have implied that S scale is 1/56.  It is not. S is 1/64 (traditional old-school 25mm scale), a fact I was reminded of last weekend at Trainfest.  1/64 still often looks quite good next to 1/56 wargaming models, especially alongside the compressed scenery wargamers tend to use.  If I had a bottomless wallet, it would probably be my choice as well.

However, this also explains why the toy-train "0-27" scale sometimes looks best next to 1/56.  As a compressed version of 1/48 O, it often is functionally the closest thing to 1/56 (28mm). 

[CompanyB]

yep, those are the older loco and carriage models.  Though they are all still compatible with the new 3D printed ones.  We have all new wheel sets in metal, but they all still work on S gauge track, with the ability to fit to other scale.

The new locomotives have 3D printed trucks.  By default those are scaled to S Gauge.  But they can be rescaled to any size by request.

[FramFramson]

1/64 is so tough to find, and very little is made for it, but is far and away my favourite scale for planes, trains, and vehicles of all sorts to go with modern 28/32mm minis. Large enough to not look too small, doors/windows/hatches etc. generally look fine at a glance, but they don't take up an unplayable amount of table space the way a 1/48 train or plane does.

[eilif]

1/64 is an odd scale, but it's fairly common in the states for die-cast.  ERTL has alot of things to offer if you're looking for relatively modern farm buildings and farm and construction equipment.

Personally I find the vehicles too small for my taste, but the buildings (which go in and out of production) and scenic items look great for 1/56 wargaming and scale up well next to Plasticville. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've heard that Plasticville "O" structures were originally deliberately made smaller than scale for affordability and to appeal both to those who had American Flyer S-Gauge trains and Lionel 0-27 (compressed O Gauge equipment) trains.

By way of comparison, this is my Christmas Lionel layout from a couple years ago. 
https://chicagovalleyrailroad.blogspot.com/2020/12/o-27-christmas-layout-tour.html
It's mostly Plasticville which generally has footprints like S, but doors like O. By way of comparison, it also has a proper full-size Lionel O-scale station (red one), 0-27 train Diner, and the last two pictures have a green-roofed ERTL farmhouse that was sold as 1:64.  The people are mostly 1:48 and the cars are mostly a mix of 1:43 and 1:48 with a few oddballs thrown in.

[FramFramson]

I've used a mix of 1/56 and smaller cars for my tabletop, with a very small number of larger scales in there as well. The scales on the Lledo and Matchbox cars are shaky at best, and several times what I did was take nominally "1/64" Lledo cars and replaced the undersized wheels with very slightly oversized ones to produce the desired effect. The main thing is that I ended up with a fleet which all looked like they could plausibly be on the road together.

One of the things which is easy to forget is how widely the size of cars used to vary. So my main scale concern tends to be fairly arbitrary: 1) do the doors look like they could sort of plausibly accommodate an average-sized figure? 2) does it look like figures can converse or shoot over the hood/bonnet (i.e waist height to mid-chest height)? My figures have thin metal bases which only adds about 1.5mm, so I also don't base my cars (which I prefer anyway), but if they were on plastic bases, I might theoretically have to use larger cars. Having cars where the hood was up to most figures' chins or higher (trucks can be different of course) always stood out as annoyingly absurd to me and something I could never unsee.

It's all so fiddly, but the end result will always be the hyper-scientific measure of "Does it look alright at a glance?" 

[eilif]

Continuing the scale discussion regarding 1/64, I might have found a reasonable source for 1/64 semi trucks for those in the states. Lionel traditional sized Semi trucks and trailers seen to be very close to 1/64 and out of style with railroaders. Thus fairly affordable on the used market.

I've got some of their "Shipping containers" (which are actually van boxes ) and some semis are on the way now.  I may have to eat some of my words against these smaller scale vehicles. The "Containers" look pretty good next to 28 figures. Better I think than my 1/48 semi Tractor and trailer trucks which look HUGE on a gaming table.

Will take photographs and measurements when they arrive

[Michi]

Late to the party, I somehow missed it - but maybe you have missed this entry of mine: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=73712.msg899323#msg899323

There is still On30 narrow gauge in 1/48th scale on HO gauge tracks. This is a diner made from a Bachmann coach with a 28mm Shadowforge and 1/64th scale die cast cars in front of it. These are the usual mix of scales on my table...

[eilif]

Nice work.
On30 is a great option for wargaming.  If you don't mind repainting, you can often find deals on Bachmann On30 locos trains on ebay that are made for the "Bradford Exchange" in really cheesy fan paint schemes that have no relation to reality.

[eilif]

I forgot to post pics of the Lionel 1/64 semi trucks.  I really think they are the perfect compromise for 1/56 gaming.  The Figure in the picture is probably between 30 and 32mm though.
The Lionel Semi Trucks are widely available on Ebay and quite affordable. 

The Blue Tractor is a Kinsmart Kenworth and is cheap on Amazon. You do have to slightly enlarge the trailer hitch hole to make it work with the Lionel trailers though.

If folks are interested, I have some other pics comparing different size containers and trucks that I can share as well.

[Michi]

I forgot to post pics of the Lionel 1/64 semi trucks.  I really think they are the perfect compromise for 1/56 gaming.  The Figure in the picture is probably between 30 and 32mm though.
The Lionel Semi Trucks are widely available on Ebay and quite affordable.

The red tractor you mention being from Lionel looks exactly like those from Shinsei. Maybe those die casts were supplied from them to Lionel (who is actually a model railway manufacturer). I use them as well:


They are also good for (Gaslands) conversions, because they are much cheaper than scale trucks for collectors (of which I've got several too of course).

[eilif]

I bet your right about the tractors.  The bodies look identical.   It appears that the Lionel trailer frame with swapable bodies may be unique to them though.

Ironically, on Ebay it looks like the Lionel examples are cheaper than the Shinsei!  Still, I might have to pickup one of the Shinsei Freightliner COE tractors.  I've got a soft spot for those suicide cabs.