# The Budget Builder, part VI - drawings, photos, and scale



## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Sometimes you may want to make a model of a real object. You have 4 choices; measure the real item or even another model, work from plans, work from photos, or wing it from memory.

Lets go through that list backwards - 
#4. Wing it from memory. - Unless you have an eidetic memory, it probably isn't gonna come out anywhere really close to the original. However, if that's all you have - say of the house your mom grew up in - and if you don't care about being "perfect" and just want an impression of the real thing. It works just fine. I do this 6-7% of the time.

#3 Work from Photos. - There's actually two ways to work from photos. You can use them as a visual guide for layout and proportions, and make an educated guess on the actual measurements.- Or you can measure the height of something in the photo that you already know the size of (like a person) and then measure everything else by this 'base scale' to get the measurements you need. Easy with straight on shots. And there is a computer program that will adjust angled photos for you to get the information from angled ones. The first is actually what I do about 90% of the time. The 2nd sometimes.


















#2 Work from plans. - If you have access to either full sized plans or ones in your chosen scale, you're in like Flynn. Otherwise you might think you're in trouble... Actually you're not. 
If you have a calculator or can do a bit of fairly simple math in your head. The thing to remember about scale, ANY scale, is that it is a mathematical ratio. F-scale 1/20.3 means that 1 inch on the model equals 20.3 inches (or a bit less than 2 feet) on the real thing. Likewise HO 1/87 means 1" on the model is 87" (or a bit over 7 feet) on the prototype.
What you should be getting from the above three sentences is the key to unlocking ANY drawing. If the drawing is dimensioned with 'full scale' - ie prototype numbers, you simply convert those to your chosen scale. If you have to take measurements from the drawing, you can not only infer the prototype measurements, you can actually convert them directly to the scale you are building in.
The ratio between HO scale and F scale is 4.285714 - I think most folks will agree that multiplying the HO measurements by 4.25 (1:20.47 scale) or even 4 (1:21.75 scale) is "close enough" for most model work. Also, those same HO measurements multiplied by 3 gives you 1:29 scale.
O scale is usually 1:48 I'll leave you to work out the key.

#1. Measure the real thing. - Occasionally you can, like if you're making a model of your own house, just take those real world measurements and divide by the scale you're using. Working from another model uses the same conversion calculations as we discussed with the plans, above.

Now is also probably the time to have a brief discussion about something called "compression". Most structural models are compressed (smaller than full scale ones) because, frankly, many real world buildings are simply too honking *HUGE* for most layouts. There's two main ways to compress, a change of scale (Many HO buildings are actually 1:100) or selective compression, ie reducing size by removing part of the structure. The V&T shops and yards at Carson City, for example, would be 55 feet by 217 feet in 1/20








........Bigger than many, if not most, whole layouts.

First, lets just look at the shop building itself: It is 11 bays wide, with 33 widows and 2 doors down the sides. Try reducing that by roughly 30% -- 7 bays wide, w/ 20 windows and 1 or 2 doors -- It would still be pretty darn big, but perhaps manageable on a large layout. To keep the proportions within reason you'd have to also shorten the height by about 5-10%, as well, 

















The yards? What about reducing the number of various sidings in the yard from 15 to about 7 or 8 and shortening them? How about making the wye smaller? What about simply eliminating some of the outbuildings and some of the passing trackage? A lot less space, but as long as the general layout of the trackplan is about the same, most folks, even V&T fans, won't even notice. And you won't have to buy the neighbor's lot and take out a 3rd mortgage to build it.


Here endeth today's lesson, lol.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Good points about selective compression, but you also have to remember to selectively compress the carloads, etc. One of my major pet peeves as a railroader is seeing a model of 'industrial building' the size of a typical house, and having the railroad service them more then they would typically need. I personally think that SC something can work, but other times reducing it so much that it deems it unrealistic. I'm in the process of building a feed mill that is 166' scale by 113' scale that hasn't been selectively compressed. But I wouldn't be happy building a model that was smaller because it wouldn't look 'right' to me even if it was selectively compressed right. But you point is right not everyone has room or be willing to make a full sized replica of the real world. Given a limited amount of space I would rather have everything not SC and model less then compressing everything and modeling more. Not trying to disagree but bring some discussion to the issue. 

Also a another good method for building from pictures is to use a image software program (google sketchup comes to mind as it's free) to create scaled drawings to work from. In my example I've created a 3D building in sketch-up for my feed mill that allows me to change/adjust various things as I find out more, prior to begining any actual constructions, much like a cardboard mock-up! 

Craig


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Craig, thank you for bringing that up. Yes, you can compress too far and stretch credibility. I vaguely remember a gent who wanted a mine to fit in something like 3 square feet and yet still serve 2 tracks. I guess, just like in the smaller scales you just have to pretend the rest of the complex is off the edge of the layout. 

Most 'towns' in modeled LS (mine included) seem to be about 10-15 houses.... but have a nice station. Unincorporated clusters of houses like that were real lucky if they got a whistle stop with a roof.


However...... One of the things you CAN do is stress artistic impression over scale fidelity. I have what would be a 12 ton coaling station, but it goes well with everything else around it, so it mostly looks okay for a branchline stop. 


My coal mine complex is absolutely huge by many folks model standards. At 5 feet by 7, it takes up about a quarter of the layout. But it's ridiculously tiny by real world standards. It also only serves one track that will hold 4 hoppers..... a real RR probably would not have even bothered putting in a siding, BUT it's smallish buildings again work together as an impression of a coal mine. Trying to put in a 2nd siding and park 20 hoppers would ruin the impression.


Somewhere you'll always have to make compromises. A scale mile in 1/20 is 260 feet. A really short shortline is about 10 miles. Most small towns have several hundred buildings. I don't think many folks have that kind of space or money.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I always wanted to build a G scale layout in a warehouse...but that's a lottery dream.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Mik, great post. Glad to see there are some of us who care about such minutiae. More, please. And great looking station, by the way.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe, I'm currently looking for fresh ideas to continue the "budget" series.... I may have a look at general layout construction tips, or ????


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