New model railroading videos just about every week plus periodic livestream special events. This channel is member supported! Become a Thunder Mesa Studio member for early access, exclusive content, member’s only livestreams, exclusive merch and more. Patreon.com/ThunderMesa
The videos and projects presented on this channel are family friendly, but they are intended for adult hobbyists, not children.
OMG You actually did rock layering! Most layouts I've seen dont even have that! I'm gonna have to note that for my On3 railroad because the end result is cool!
I might be late, but do you have any plans on representing real life geology? I'd imagine that if you're going to keep with the mining theme that there'd be something obvious that they were chasing, like and old Dyke (geological definition), or exposed quartz/magnetite vain? And any plans to implements different colors into the rocks? And how did I miss the T-rex this entire time? That's pure gold (no pun intended)! I'mma have to note that. I want to do a simple 4x8ft modular layout...that's gonna be noted 'cuz my railroad is going to be set in the Black Hills of South Dakota (childhood home). A railroad company called the Black Hills & Front Range...or depending on how much room on the tender I got, the BH&FR, or Black Hills & Southern. Simple mining/logging railroad, that has a thing for 4-6-0's...and that's IF we're leaving out it's bigger cousin, the Lima, Portland, and Western Railroad out of all places...Ohio.
There’s the spot I can’t seem to get past for the last 3 years… actually building benchwork! I like you box girders though I’ll have to screenshot that.
Great video! Very inspiring! It was also great seeing your work in person. New deeper appreciation of the detail. Glad I got to see the gruesome gulch before it left. Also very nice to meet you. Thanks for sharing this journey with us all.
I really enjoy seeing each and every instalment that you issue. I model 0 gauge (English, c 1930 - 40) , and I too have a fascination for detail. I too create the interiors for my buildings and also create little detail areas, such as people gathering round and chatting. I have a poacher being apprehended by the squire on horseback with his shotgun pointed at the poacher and two police officers taking down all the details. I also have a light engineering works where the Forman is telling the lathe operator why he has no time to make him tea whilst another worker is outside reading the newspaper. And many other features. I do not light my buildings - it being permanently daylight in my recreation. I model in the garden and my layout runs from shed to shed via a big loop through the garden. I have gained so much from your build techniques, thanks. I never miss a posting, although I may not see them in the correct order. Regards, Paul (in Cornwall, England).
My O3r layout is over built. I used 2x4 lumber as I had a bunch on hand.....but also because BIG die cast locos can be extremley heavey.....so maybe not over built a lot!! Thanks
You have great vision. I finally saw what you tryed showing and telling how it would at the end. This is why I so enjoy watching and learning from you. Thanks so much. GOD BLESS 🚂 💕 🚂 💕 🚂 💕
Hey Dave Yes the main scale calculation is correct, but in model railroad we are dealing with many different subscales and challenges. Just look at the wheels. They are usually much wider than the original or look at your wonderful hills and rocks. They are usually much smaller than the scale size would be. Or look at the distances, in the real railroad you will hardly find a station or signal in 1 mile distance, what would be 130 inches on your scale layout. It is very complex and more artistical than mathematical question. John Allen used even smaller scales in the backround of his layout to force the perspective.😊 Eugen from Austria
Hey, Dave. Quick question... I thought you mentioned you download your figures from a website but can't remember which video I saw that on... could you share the website with me?
That's right... I remember now lol. I had just watched a video (actually, RU-vid puts you on a binge watch lol) while I'm modeling. I remember you saying that, just couldn't figure which video it was in.
Say if one were to convert measurements from one modelling scale to another modelling scale: in my case, for example, I want to convert the dimensions of a 1:16 scale freelance locomotive down to 1:87 scale so that it can run on HO track, would the mathematical procedure be the same, or would there be some additional calculations?
OK! I have started building Garbethong Creek which is a slot canyon in an obscure corner of Central Australia. I said your stuff was inspirational. You've done it. Good 'ealth, John Warner, Oz.
"28mm scale" is used to imply that an average human would be 28mm tall (or possibly 28mm from bottom of feet to eye level) in that model line. If you have a model of a horse, or a child, or a dragon, or an M-4 Sherman, or whatever, that model would be (in the eye of the manufacturer) scaled appropriately to the human reference model. Some manufacturers are better than others, and modelers are notoriously bad at intuitive understandings of the sizes of stuff. Most modelers, for instance, pick vehicle models that are much too large for the figures they're using for a variety of (fairly interesting) psychological reasons. There are various ways of finding a scaling ratio for figures like that, but a decent rule of thumb is to divide the actual height of the figure by 1800 (30cm = 1', close enough). If you measure "28mm" figures, you'll find various heights, but 30mm is probably close, which gives you a scale of 30/1800, or 1:60. For which S-scale stuff works pretty well. This is complicated by the fact that figures made for gamers and figure painters tend to use a different set of exaggerations than figures made for model railroads. Preiser figures, for example, tend to be quite tall and skinny for their scale (probably close to 8 heads high). Gaming figures tend to be closer to 5.5 heads high and have larger hands than an actual human, so they're much bulkier for their height. When you're looking at a scale model of a manufactured item, it's pretty easy to just put a ruler up against the prototype and then multiply by the scale to get the right size for the model. This doesn't work as well for people, since they don't come out of standard-size molds. 8-) And even in case of manufactured items, there are things that can't be cast at the correct size, because the plastic can't flow into something that thin, so scale is always an compromise.
A spreadsheet that does all these calculations for you is a great tool. I have one specifically for N scale. Since I design details for 3d printing I also have it convert between imperial and metric (mm) since 3d designs are usually in mm. If the structure still exists you can also use Google Maps to measure the rough dimensions to scale it.
Speaking of 3d scanning and printing, have you ever thought about making a 3d model of yourself and using it on the TM2025 layout, just thought it’d be fun to have a shrunk down version of yourself on a model railroad.
The thing about your small and cute on30 is that it is way compressed from full size o scale o scale takes a huge amount of space not saying your approach is wrong there are so many flavors in our great hobby
On30 is O scale. One foot in On30 is the same as one foot in standard O scale. Narrow gauge equipment is just physically smaller, as are many of the structures one might find in western mountain mining towns. But the doors, windows, figures, horses, wagons, dogs, and vehicles are the same as on any O scale layout. But you are correct that many On30 modelers use a lot of selective compression and characterization in their work, myself included. That's a part of the appeal.
A ratio gives better insight like 1:48. A letter can be regionally define like US 0-scale = 1:48 while European 0-scale = 1:43.5 or even 1:45. G-scale US = 1:24 and G-scale European = 1:22.5. No one is wrong or right. It is a guideline for your build to represent the real world. Whatever the scale you are building in: enjoy the build!
@@ChristopherDennie-tc5jt because it's 7mm to the foot for O, 4mm to the for for OO , 3.5 mm for HO and 2mm to the foot for N (1:160, 1:!52, 1:150 and 1:160 as at that small size it doesn't really make a lot of difference)
Where doors are not visible I have heard of folks working out based upon the brick courses. Similarly if planks are used they are often a certain size.
I was involved in architectural steel fabrication for many years and quite often I would be given a photo of something that a customer wanted and I would use known features in the photo to create a scale to determine and design the features required. Once the scale is determined I can use it to work out forced perspective elements. People can come up with some interesting ideas for their custom homes. Thanks for interpreting a very useful topic.
Doll houses are marketed as”scale” and “1/2 scale. This is confusing until you realize that in these peoples’ world “scale” is 1”=12” and “half scale is 1”=24”. I learned this little tidbit when I got interested in large scale model railroading. That, however is another subject all together. Love your column on You Tube. By the way I hated to see “Gruesome Gulch” go, but I hope it went to a good home.
I've always used metric, but I've been tackling inches this year as it makes sense for my 1-24 layout. I try to avoid feet though. And I have to count the ruler divisions for any fractions smaller than 1/4". Inevitably, I end up double checking in mm. Apart from Evergreen Styrene, does anyone use decimal inches in modelling?That's one can of worms I'm not opening. Cheers, Kev.
This was useful. Many people coming into modeling via tabletop gaming or action figure dios do not have the basic knowledge of how scale works, and they need a clear explanation, not some complicated table on Google.
28mm is 1/64 scale. This is a real number. Gaming sculptors do not conform to real numbers. They certainly haven't conformed to 1/64 since the '80s, if that. Then when GW and others came up with Heroic scale we got figures that are a different scale every which way you measure. Also factor in the old school sculptors who measure to the eyeballs and the newer ones who measure to the scalp. The 5.5mm society accepts anywhere from 1/60 to 1/50, so just pick one and go for it.
@@thoughtengine You are mathematically correct. However, most 28mm figures have heads larger than they should be, so are somewhat "comic" style. It's not obvious until you put a 1/64 scale model vehicle next to one. Then you realise that they appear bigger than the vehicle. This is why most wargamers use 1/56 vehicles with 28mm figures.
