Bob,

Welcome Aboard. Thanks for joining us and we will be looking forward to your participation and comments. We like lots of pictures here.

Jim

Thanks for the warm welcome gent's! I do have some pic's of my layout in the rough at this time it is all track work. I hope the best for Rusty ! My prayers go out to Him.

Hi All,

I have just been browsing through Laurie Green's updated website and there is a wealth of very useful information on O scale modelling.So for the handful of people left who haven't converted to 0n30,including you,Barry,I highly recommend you have a look and see what can be done.Laurie,for those who are unfamiliar with him,is an Aussie(but we won't hold that against him)and a very talented modeller,and I ,for one, will be returning regularly to his site to draw inspiration.

His site is www.lauriegreen.net/

NickO

Thanks Nick!

-david j

Nick,

Do you model On30? I am think of doing something in this scale just to see if I like it. Still will keep my HO stuff. Have too much built.

Paul

I do not know anything about On30 & I have a question. How does HO compare with On30? Is it twice as big as HO?

Paul

Paul , everything will essentially be twice as big a HO except for the fact that you can use HO track .That's why I'm doing just a diorama in ON30 , to use track that I already have .Narrow gauge locos and rolling stock tend to be a bit smaller than modern O because of the time period much of ON30 portrays .But buildings , vehicles and people will all be O scale or 1/48 .

TERRY

My mistake , Paul , O is 1/43 ...couldn't delete last statement ( 1/48 ) to make the change .Sorry for the confusion .

TERRY

Paul,

Basically I'm like you,I've made a large financial commitment to modelling HO and HOn3 but really fancy doing something in On3/On30 as a diversion.I have already scratchbuilt an O scale version of SW's Tractor and Repair Shed(see numerous photos elsewhere on the Forum),built one of their Blacksmith's Cars,bought a Bachmann Porter,cheap,and just started my Stoney Creek Johnson's Leatherworks,so I can say I have stuck a toe in the water.I really fancy building a "small" module that I could take to shows,if anyone would have it,but I feel my main interest should remain in HO.I am,however,open to persuasion to change.

As for differences in sizes,Terry is right,O scale measurements are essentially twice the size of HO,but the volumes are 8 times the size.I believe the reason On30 is becoming so popular is the ease that people can have reliable good looking layouts without having to spend a fortune on brass locos.I get the feeling that it is a manufacturer-lead scale.

Just to add to the confusion,I have to say that Terry is both correct and incorrect at the same time when he says that the scale is 1/43.The British O Scale is 1/43 or more confusingly 7mm/1',whereas the American O scale is 1/48.I think I'm right when I say this,but no doubt someone will put me right if I'm wrong.By the way,Laurie has a chart on his website that gives all the relative percentages of all the major scales to each other and he explains the whole subject much more clearly than I can,have a look and see if it makes things any easier to understand,

NickO

Nick,

You are correct. HO is actually half British 7mm hence the 3.5mm to the foot and not half the American 1/48. I use both 1/48 and 1/43 for my On30 modeling.

Frank B

Nick, thanks for the link to Laurie's new site. I have had the enjoyment of seeing Laurie's work at a couple of exhibitions and it is superb.

You should definitely exhibit your work Nick. All friendly insults aside, I think the world is ready for you. Where would you exhibit first?

Having just dismantled my first layout to go modular I have been re-thinking a few things. I could do some modules in O scale and use the rest of the layout as a staging yard and visa-versa for the HO modules. I really like what can be done in HO and don't want to give that up but do I go Ho and HOn3 or HO and O?