I am thinking of adding a z scale oval onto my ho scale layout as a live steam oval. Has anybody done or heard of this before? Tell me if you think this is a good or bad idea.
misunderstanding. I think we had a misunderstanding. What I meant was that I would use the Z scale set as a Gscale garden railroad on my HO layout.(this is very hard to explain)
I read an article once where a modeller used a Bachman On30 Porter on a G scale layout to represent a 7/8" scale kiddie ride. He cut out part of the roof of the Porter, put in a stool and sat an engineer in there. He also used On30 rolling stock converted to carry the passengers around. It was pretty neat. I think Z scale could work for what you are looking for. Plop a figure down on the tender of one of the locos, put some seats in a gondola or on a flat, and have at it. Sound like a neat idea. Eric
Yes, this has been done. A notable example- In the last years of his life, John Allen did this on his famous Gorre & Daphetid. However, his was I believe scratchbuilt, not necessarily using Z. Someone here at TrainBoard posted a view of such an effort, built on an NTrak module. I do not recall who? Boxcab E50
I did some rough calculations and came up with a comparison of Z scale in HO. Z scale rolling stock would be about a 5" scale in HO. Here's how I got there: A 40' boxcar in HO is about 5.5 inches. A 40' Z scale car is about 2.2 inches. A 1" scale means that 1" = 1'. So here, we need to know inches per foot are needed to make 5.5 scale to 2.2. 5.5 * X(scale)/12 in = 2.2 Solve for X. X= approx 5. That would be a very large live steam operation. In real life, a 40' car would be 16' 8" long. That sounds more like an estate type railroad than a kiddie ride. Do some of the Z scalers here have an HO figure they could put next to some Z scale stock and post a photo here. That would give a good size reference. Eric PS - If my math is jacked - please let me know. I don't want to look like a fool
z scale Im hoping it will work but if it wont I guess Ill just have to get one that is in the right scale but doesnt operate. Maybe I can find some really short Z scale cars. PS You must be really good at math.
I figure that Z scale compared to HO would be 87.1/220 or about 1:2.5 scale, or about ten times too large for a HO-sized G scale operation (is it me or it's getting pretty confusing?). 1:2.5 scale would be a large kiddie or amusement park ride, something like the photo attached here (photo taken in a zoo back in 1972).
EXACTLY That exactly what I'm going for. So I guess Ill just sart looking for some z stuff. Thanks for all the help guys
I have both Z and HO locomotives, so I took a couple of photos for you, comparing both HO and Z scale locos, plus a figure and a car to give you a good idea how they match up.The 0-6-0 switcher is the smallest locomotive that Marklin make. If you do decide to get a Z scale locomotive to run on your HO layout, then I would suggest you go for a starter set. Ron
Use 'T' scale for 1& half inch scale As far as I know all the 'T' gauge stuff ( 3mm gauge track) only comes as EMUs , but if you want a kiddie ride adapting it makes sense? Quien Sabe? PJB
Hi ,I am a member of the Metrolina Model Railroaders. We have a HO portible layout. we built a 8' carnival section . There are 5 operating carnival rides. and 1 carnival train. I used N Scale to make it, Kato track in a figure 8. Kato steam engine. and model power heavy weight passenger cars. mounted person in tender (Operator), used HO passenger seats in cars with seated figures. Check us out on the web at metrolinamodelrailroaders.org thanks Jt
