discussion 1/72 Trains etc.

[Gern]

Can I pick some brains please?

I have an idea for a dio but I'm struggling to find WWII German rolling stock in 1/72. Does anyone apart from Hobbyboss and Unimodel (UM) make it?

Gern

 

[Alan 45]

Have you thought about doing it in 1/76 scale Dave ? I know OO gadge is that scale and there's not much size difference between them

 

[Gern]

Have you thought about doing it in 1/76 scale Dave ? I know OO gadge is that scale and there's not much size difference between them

Afraid it has to be 1/72 for what I have in mind Alan.

Gern

 

[spanner570]

Are you looking for the engines or the wagons or both Dave? I ask because I used Dapol wagons and a Mogul class engine (Altered to look European) for that 'Partisan Attack' dio. for a G.B. on here a while back.

The firm do various wagons....mine were cattle wagon types.....Might be worth a look on ebay for Dapol....

A bit of scratch work could work on them to make them look German.....I would think a cattle wagon is the same anywhere.....The engine could pose a problem.....Unless, like my effort, you end up wrecking the whole thing!

Ron

 

[Alan 45]

Afraid it has to be 1/72 for what I have in mind Alan.Gern

Ah something special in mind I'm intrigued

 

[Gern]

Ron, I've got the engine, a Morser and the track - along with other stuff - so I really need everything else to be compatible. Aren't those Dapol kits the old Airfix moulds? Does anyone know if they'll fit Hobbyboss track, if so maybe I could use some of them - as you say, a cattle wagon is a cattle wagon.

Gern

 

[bazers]

Hi Gern

dont know if this will help but i used a 00 gauge flatbed wagon with bogies of continental design cheep from e bay then split the the wagon along the length with a fillet of plastic to get correct width, have a look at my dora dio.

 

[Gern]

Thanks Barry, but that's some way beyond my skills I'm afraid.

Gern

 

[spanner570]

I seem to remember there was a slight fit issue with that dio. I did, and the Dapol rolling stock didn't quite fit the railtrack.....I think it was slightly too narrow, but as it was wrecked in the end it didn't matter.

If you did find something and had the same problem, could you not just either extend or shorten the rolling stock axles to fit?

The difference is minimal and would not be noticed.....

Ron

 

[rickoshea52]

I have never heard of any 1/72 scale model railway manufacturers and neither have any of my clubmates. When I say manufacturers I am referring specifically to those that produce models for railway modellers. The ones that you mention sound more like plastic model manufacturers, a subtle difference in genres.

With regard to track -

OO is 4mm to 1 ft, 1/76 scale with 16.5mm gauge (inside track width).

EM is as above with 18.2mm track gauge

P4 is as above with 18.83 track gauge

HO is 3.5mm to 1 ft, 1/87 scale with 16.5mm gauge track.

You can see from HO/OO that the same track is used but the OO scale model is slightly oversize. This is a typically British compromise. Only HO and P4 are prototypically accurate to scale overall.

For you to get 1/72 scale rolling stock I think you are confined to what is available as kits from the plastic modelling manufacturers or kit bashing a OO wagon by Dapol, Cambrian or Parkside Dundas - all of which are British rolling stock producers. A lot of these kits don't come with wheels as they are left for the modeller to choose depending on whether they want OO, P4 or EM wheels. Replacement wheels sets can be obtained from producers of P4, EM and OO gauge models like Romford wheels. Try Mainlytrains for these.

I don't know of any HO gauge rolling stock manufacturers except Kibri but most of their stuff is modern on track plant machines.

 

[Gern]

Thanks guys. I've just measured the track supplied with the Hobbyboss locos and it's about 20.5mm inside edge to inside edge so it doesn't look hopeful for any existing stuff to fit.

I have contacted someone to see if Hobbyboss intends to release 1/72 versions of the Trumpeter rolling stock - they already do the locomotives - as there is some connection between the two companies but I've not heard back from them yet.

I've got the two German kits that Unimodel make (they make a whole range of WWII Russian armoured train stuff) and hopefully these will fit the track I have. I'd better check that and the Hasegawa Morser that I was hoping would form a major part of what I have in mind......

Gern

 

[Gern]

Scale models my a**e!

Done a bit of measuring. According to what I've been able to find out, Standard railway gauge is 4' 81/2" which is 1435mm in new money. So for 1/72 scale, the tracks should have a track width of 19.93mm - right? Here's what I have found:

HobbyBoss track width = 21mm

Hasegawa track width = 19mm

Unimodel track width = 19.6mm

A railway track is just two bits of steel bolted to a plank! How difficult can it be to measure that? And once it's wrong, everything else has to be wrong as the rolling stock axle width has to match the track! Does anyone know how or why the model companies have done this?

All that means is the dio I had planned just ain't gonna work as it should. Back to the drawing board.

Gern

PS Thanks for your info on model railway stuff Rick. I should have said I was looking for kit makers rather than model railway stuff. As you say, they are generally considered to be different genres.

 

[Gern]

For anyone interested, I have found a company called Planet Models which does produce some German rolling stock in 1/72 (as well as some rather nice looking exotic models - http://henk.fox3000.com/Planet.htm). They look to be quality kits but they are resin - which makes them expensive; and there's always the issue that the rolling stock may not fit with any of the tracks made by other manufacturers!

Gern

 

[Guest]

Scale models my a**e!
Done a bit of measuring. According to what I've been able to find out, Standard railway gauge is 4' 81/2" which is 1435mm in new money. So for 1/72 scale, the tracks should have a track width of 19.93mm - right? Here's what I have found:


HobbyBoss track width = 21mm


Hasegawa track width = 19mm


Unimodel track width = 19.6mm


A railway track is just two bits of steel bolted to a plank! How difficult can it be to measure that? And once it's wrong, everything else has to be wrong as the rolling stock axle width has to match the track! Does anyone know how or why the model companies have done this?


All that means is the dio I had planned just ain't gonna work as it should. Back to the drawing board.


Gern


PS Thanks for your info on model railway stuff Rick. I should have said I was looking for kit makers rather than model railway stuff. As you say, they are generally considered to be different genres.

Hi, This is my very first post anywhere!


But I have been building models for years.


Yes "standard gauge" 8' 4 1/2" is 19.93 in 1/72.


But, I have just bought a UM Armored self propelled Leningrad Railroad car No. 604 and the track width of the supplied track is, as close as I can measure, 21.1mm !!!


But this is correct, 72 x 21.1 = 1519.2 which is Russian 5 foot gauge which is either


1,520 mm (4 ft 1127⁄32 in)


1,524 mm (5ft)


Track gauge link:-


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge


I think I will use P4 from kits.

 

[rickoshea52]

Beware, track gauge on the real thing is not the same all over the world and you may find that your Russian track may in fact be modelled accuratley because the Russiann gauge is different to British.


Trains on the Trans-Siberian Express have to have their coaches re-bogied at the Chinese border.


Also, some military railways use narrow gauge track.

 

[Gern]

Thanks for the extra info guys, at least I can see now why some tracks are different widths. Alas, it doesn't really help if I want to put all the trains and rolling stock on the same set of tracks - although there are a couple of ideas you've given me. I've put this very much on the back burner for now, I'll maybe have another look at it later.