Hi all you 1/48ers!
I don't know if any of you realize that 1/48 scale armor can be enhanced with hundreds of Oscale railroad stuff.
O scale is 1/48!

That means buildings, vehicles, TRAINS!, figures and scenery of all sorts in your scale.

I'm not here to advertise for anybody, just thought you all should know. If you already knew, why didn't you say anything?

Cuhail

I Thought it was more 1/72 scale?,but you may be right.if so your diorama options are endless just need more figures.
karl

'O' is actually 1/43rd scale. Few problems with buildings for example but I would be very careful with other items.

'OO' is 1/76th, 'HO' is 1/87th... No scale in railroads corresponds to 1/72nd...Jim

Actually O scale in the States is 1/48, it's over in the mother country where they have it screwwed up with 1/43. Kinda like not driving on the right side of the road. LOL Bill

Thank you Crossracer,
O, in the States is indeed 1/48. I am not an O scale railroader, I model in N (1/160), But, I have considered doing a dio or two in 1/48 just for the almost endless material possibilities.
Figures are available at Prieser. Keep in mind, most of the "Railroad" figures are civilian.
I haven't checked for O scale websites, but, I know that they exist.

Cuhail

Ahh, here we go

Preiser Figures at 1/48

"http://www.discount-train.com/trains/preiser/o/preiser_o_1.html"

Just a small sample.

Cuhail

Thanks for the info I have been wanting to do a 1/48th dio with a new Tamiya Hetzer. I also have just recieved a catalog full of preiser figures. Woohoo :-) There seems to be a vast supply of dio stuff for this scale. Cheers Kevin

There really is a LOT of "Extras" for 1/48. The track in Europe in 1930's-40's was (I think) 2 1/2' gauge which is totally available in O. Look simply for On2 1/2 or even On3. (the "n" stands for "narrow" refering to the gauge, in this case, 2 1/2 feet.)

ALL ERAS of world railroading is represented in precision scale models made from wood, plastic, resin and even brass.

I'm glad I brought this topic up, it's good to pass on some knowledge here instead of gobbling it up!

Cuhail

If O scale in the UK is 1/43 that would explain the Dinky toy scale, though I must admit I've always thought it was 1/48th here too. Would 1/43 & 1/48 look Ok together? I ask not for myself, I'm stuck in 1/35th, but imagine the possibilities with all the civvy vehicles available!

Most railroad hobby shops online have a buttload of vehicles, buildings and figures in O scale.
Do a search for O scale.

Well if your going for totall accuarcy you might run into some issues, but a railroad layout...if its close its good enough

Meh,
Shouldn't be a problem, I mix 1/144 and 1/160 and you can only tell the diff with a ruler. My whole N-scale Air Force is 1/144.

Cuhail

Railroad guage (distance b/t rails) is a very interesting subject if you are a train buff. Railroads in Germany, France and most of western Europe were (and are) guaged a 4' 8 1/2" b/t the railheads - the odd distance was established by the English inventor Robert Stephens with his pioneering locomotive "Rocket" (not by roman chariots per the urban myth). The odd distance came about when he had to move the flanges on his wheels to the inside edge - he had chosen a nominal track guage of 5' (measured to the outside edges of the railhead), planning on outside flanges, but that turned out not to work too well. Flipping the tires around to put the flanges on the inside restulted in a 4' 8 1/2" rail spacing that just got carried on and on as the industry built each new piece of equipment to the emerging common standard. The distance is now commonly referred to as "Standard Guage" in the railroad industry.

Russian track was guaged at 5' to purposely render the other countries equipment incompatible. The Russians had been preceed in that by the American South, who also favored 5' guage. Anything under 4' 81/2" is classed as narrow guage - meter guage was popular in Europe, while 3' and 2' was more common in the USA. The 30" guage was used in Mexico, the US and elsewhere too.

The actual track guage of O-scale model trains built to normal standards for the scale is 5' because that is the guage Lionel chose - 1 1/4". In the US they are built to 1:48 scale. Trains built to run on correctly guaged track are called Protp:48. Narrow guage is noted by an 'n' - On3 (3' guage), On2 (2' guage), and On2 1/2 (30" guage).

Apologies for the off topic frolic. Wanted to offer some insight - I am one of those train buffs.

Konrad

There are lots of 1/43 die-cast vehicles available all the way from modern day types to early 1900's. They are noticably over-scale, especially when placed beside an exact 1/48 similar vehicle. Kind of like putting a 1/32 scale Sherman beside a 1/35 one. Corgi makes some 1/50 vehicles which are a bit closer (although a bit smaller).
HO guage track can be used for 0n30. And there are many resin and plastic 0 scale RR rolling stock kits of 20's and 30's vintage available guaged to HO track.