Robert -348404 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Just wondering why airfix don’t seem to do 1/76 scale model aircraft as it would be great to go along side oo gauge train layout as I’m modelling steam era 1940-68 and would love to have spitfires etc on the layout but they all seem to just be 1/72 scale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 1/72 scale has been around since year dot and many think it is close enough for use with 00 layouts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) "close enough" I had a thought of joining a model railway club. It was reasonably close by. They were having an open house for the kiddies at Xmas, and I thought it a marvelous opportunity to examine the layout without any peer pressure from membership. The right of way was very good indeed. Lots and lots of rail. And then I saw the ancillary parts of the layout. Buildings, cars, people, etc. The environment that surrounds the railway. Heavens above, they took the principle of "close enough" to include a very broad range indeed. Cars far too narrow for the roadway. People too tall to fit under doorways. A total mish mash of accessories in a wide variety of scales. Totally spoiled the illusion. Disastrous. I did not join the club. No thank you. I do understand that for some folks, close enough is good enough. No issue there. Your railway, your rules. I respect that. @Robert -348404 Have a look at "Oxford Diecast 1:76 Military 76SET58". It includes a OO Spitfire. It will be up to you to decide if it is worth the price. Bee Edited June 6 by What About The Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) I could be wrong but exactly the same Spitfire, X4590, is offered within their 1:72 aircraft range so I think it quite likely that although the set is marketed as 1:76, only the vehicles are to that scale. But, at a wingspan difference of 8.2mm between the two scales, does it really matter? Edited June 6 by Going Spare Additional information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 11 minutes ago, Going Spare said: ...although the set is marketed as 1:76, only the vehicles are to that scale... That is deceptive marketing if true. Shame on them. Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Straying into rivet counter territory here. I have a 1:148 'Spirit of America' circling the northern fells of my layout - nowt wrong there.😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 @SteveM6 I will not judge a person for what they want. Robert wanted a 1:76 OO Spitfire. It is not my place to say that is right or wrong. The heart wants what the heart wants. Who am I to judge his desire? When the item advertised as 1:76 was assessed to really be 1:72, I denoted that vendor underhanded. Which I carefully conditioned with "if true". I stand by that remark. What Robert wants is a long standing desire, showing up in thread after thread across the internet. If a vendor takes advantage of that and supplies goods not to spec, then they deserve the negativity that comes with it. I do not care one way or the other about the Spitfire. The only aviation that can appear on an LMR focused layout is a Montgolfier Brothers ballon! I was simply trying to help an enthusiast out. I failed. Now as to that layout I saw? You will note that I did not name that layout or club. It was laughably bad though. If that makes them happy, then good on them. Its what they want. I simply found it disconcerting and jarring. So I passed. Does that make me a rivet counter? Maybe. Part of the hobby for me is exploring the details of the past and yes, getting it right counts. I prefer to be accurate. Plenty of other posts here by individuals who are fussed over the details. Like which coaches go with what locomotives. Like the exact color of this carriage or that waggon. Does a 21T mineral waggon require a brake van (recent TT question)? Are they rivet counters too? You are better than that Steve. Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Steve's 1/148 aircraft could be seen as forced perspective depending upon the viewpoint. An aircraft viewed from above a layout should in theory be a larger scale as it is closer to the viewer than the ground scale items. Everything has its place somewhere, that thing and that somewhere is down to the user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 I used a "N" gauge Hornby "Lyddle End" cottage on my layout, and it looks appropriate for the position it is in - I have yet to add some "small" people. As has been said, sometimes a smaller or larger scale item may be right for a given location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelink Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 I'm with Bee on the point of visibly out of scale items but the difference between 1/72 and 1/76 is scarcely noticeable for set dressing items and does it really matter in 00 when the track is wildly under gauge with locos and rolling stock distorted to fit? Each to his own, of course. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 (edited) Sorry if I offended you Bee and I agree about the misrepresentation (if true). I just think the many discussions, not just this one, regarding scale discrepancies, in a hobby where in OO not even the track is 'right', are somewhat pointless. edit: Threelink types faster than me. As for my comment, not only is the scale wrong (N/OO), I also got the name wrong - should be 'Spirit of St Louis' not Craig Breedlove's world land speed record car. That would look silly dangling over the fells.🥴 Edited June 7 by SteveM6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rana Temporia Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 There have been articles in the railway modelling magazines using Airfix models to make wagon loads, it may have been Chris Elllis who wrote them. There was definitely one with a spitfire in a crate. Regarding scale, different manufacturers’ models of the same prototype are often not the same size. When the Airfix class 31 came out it was heralded as a super model. It was too short and looked it alongside the even then elderly Tri-ang version. A lot of the continental HO models were made the correct cross section but in length were to 1/100 scale. We sometimes have to make allowances but if a model looks right I can enjoy it. I do enjoy my shortie Princesses with their shortie coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelink Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Rana T's post puts me in mind of the Trix Twin Brit I bought and repaired some years ago and the carriages that I patiently acquired one at a time to go with it. They were superb models both in terms of appearance and running but sadly, when positioned alongside 00 scale models, were too small. They were to the Trix "one size fits nobody" scale of approx 3.8 mm to the foot. No matter how hard I tried I just could not overlook the size discrepancy, small as it was. It just did not look right, so the models were consigned to the display shelf. Great shame. The same applied to a Lima Crab which although allegedly 00/HO was nearer HO than 00 and slightly small in comparison with another, definitely 00 Crab. The odd thing is that where buildings are concerned I take all manner of liberties including the use of theatrical scenery painting tricks and, when they look right, they look right no matter how under or over scale they may be. There's no rhyme or reason to it - mind you, the human eye is easily deceived: I once made an industrial cherry picker, sitting centre stage, completely invisible to a theatre full of people using no more than paint, cardboard and a cheeky distraction technique. It lifted a large ornate throne 14 feet into the air and back down again whereupon the actor sitting on it vanished into thin air leaving just a pair of smouldering shoes. It was my best special effect ever and I sometime wish I could achieve the same sort of thing in 00 scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Loved that 'Trix one size fits nobody' comment !! Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelink Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Same applies to some of the clothes I find myself buying. I used to scoff at the garb of some of the older parties I saw on heritage lines or at model railway exhibitions. Now I am one of them... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Hi ThreeLink: SWMBO's mother is now well into her 90s. We are just happy she is wearing clothes, of any kind. Style isn't the critical criteria. The discussion of mixing scales reminds me of a person in Nero's court, Caius Petronius Arbiter. The arbiter of good taste. He decided what was in good taste for the emperor, and what was not. Backed by the absolute power of Rome. Until one of us is anointed with the power of a Roman emperor, good taste will remain a personal choice. Mix scales however you like. Its your railway. Tell us how you did it, forced perspective, tricks, techniques and etc. How paint can fool the eye into not seeing a cherry picker. Telling other modellers they are doing it wrong, because it doesn't meet your criteria.... well, not so much. Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Fred Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 I am looking for a old decrepid castle for on the top of a now inaccessable cliff (hence it now being old and decrepid) but the only suitable ones I can find are H0, not 00. I don't really want a card one. I did get one from a fish tank, but it just doesn't seem right, so discarding it. What are views, is there a good 00 one out there. I did see the perfect one but it was N gauge and that is just too obvious. Bear in mind postage from UK can be horrendous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Too Tall Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 I think a castle in HO wouldn't be too noticable ? I would like some castle ruins, but do find it hard to locate anything suitable, even straying into wargaming territory. So if you see something , let me know ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Fred Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 (edited) I am downunder, there seems to be a bit in pommie land, but I am a miser when it come to postage. Nothing worse than the postage costing more than the article. There is NOCH HO+TT CASTLE RUIN NOC58602 but that is also suitable for TT and N so not so sure. Also found FALLER CASTLE TOWER RUINS FB130285 but that is a bit sparce. Still looking Edited June 8 by Aussie Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelink Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Hi Bee. At risk of over simplification aything including a cherry picker can be rendered invisible if it is painted matt black and placed near something brightly coloured. The eye stops at the brighter object and does not register the black object. This old stage trick works just as well at 1:76 as at 1:1. When painting locos or stock, if there are any elements that I do not want to be seen I just paint them matt black. It works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Too Tall Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 (edited) I would agree on postage @Aussie Fred its a bugbear of mine too ! Personally both of those sound a little small to me when you scale the dimensions to 1:76, but would have been nice to find the Noch one when I was building the TT layout 🙂 I think that scaled up some might be good though ... if you know someone handy with a CAD and a 3D printer ! I am sure as a kid, there used to be plaster powder building mould kits, you don't see them these days though. Edited June 8 by Too Tall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelink Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 I should have added that with black used as a disappearing agent, a black loco should be painted dark grey and other colours lightened a little. The matt black also needs to be perfectly matt : some allegedly matt paints have a slight sheen - doesn't work. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What About The Bee Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 That is a clever trick, thanks Three L8nk Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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