Bachmann HO Plasticville Union Station

[lirrman]

Just bought this station on e-bay.  When assembled it looked knid of small, almost N scale, but doorway height seemd prettey close.  Box said HO but also sais\d 1/8 scale.  Can any tell me if this kit is actually HO?

[Santa Fe buff]

1/8 is HO, but for more accurate, 1/87, but 1/8 is probably just correct. Good luck with that Union Station!

[Guilford Guy]

Uh... 1/8 is MUCHO LARGER than HO...
1/8 is the stuff you ride on... the track gauge is 7.5"...
Plasticville is a toy, so don't expect a fine scale model. They probably resized the prints for the O scale model which is also compressed... It may be N scale, but it is probably HO...

[JerryB]

Santa Fe Buff:

Regardless of what is probably a typographic error on the kit in question, some basic fractions math:

1/8=0.125
1/87=0.0115 (rounded)

1/8 is more than 10 times 1/87.

lirrman:

As to the kit, I would guess they accidently omitted the "7" as in 1/87. I haven't seen this kit, but one way to determine the scale of any building model is to measure a doorway. Modern standard doors are 6' 8" or 80" tall. Find a 'normal' door (as opposed to the perhaps extra tall front or freight doors) on the kit and measure it. If you don't have a scale rule, 80" in H0 scale is ~0.9", or a little over 7/8".

Happy RRing,

Jerry

[Woody Elmore]

The metric measurement 3.5 mm falls between 1/8 inch and 9/64th inches. So technically 1/8th inch is a tad smaller than proper HO. We are getting the the measurement 1/8th inch to the foot confused with a proportion 8:1 which is something entirely different. The original Bowser engines, made by Knapp, were 1/8th inch to the foot.

I don't think a person should expect true verisimilitude (whew, some word) from Plasticville houses. They were originally designed to be background for Lionel Trains and they looked much better next to S scale stuff.

I ask myself the question that has been asked before - why would there be a need for built ups? If I remember correctly,  Plasticville had relatively few pieces.

[Santa Fe buff]

Sorry, I got my scale information from a scale map, probably unreliable, I'm sorry for that error. Anyway, that is why Hot Wheels cars aren't good for HO, my friends say it is, but HO, Hot Wheels cars are 68:1, as to HO being smaller.

[grumpy]

The scale for HOt Wheels is  1/64 .
Don

[Santa Fe buff]

Oh, I probably just got confused.

[kevin2083]

Most Hot Wheels are near S scale, and Matchbox cars have the scale molded on the bottom somewhere. I've seen them anywhere from 1/46 to 1/120.

[lirrman]

Thanks to all who replied.  Beats me how we got on to hot wheels.  Anyway, I finally realized there are two ways to look at the 1/8 scale stated on the box. (1) The way I first figured it, 1/8 the size of the prototype.  That would make a 40' box car measure 5 feet long, a shade bigger than HO.  (2) The way it should be figured.  1/8 inch equal one foot.  Then, a 40' box car would measure 5 inches, a little smaller than actual HO scale.  My Union Station is probably about 10% smaller than actual HO.  Thanks again.
LIRRMAN

[SteamGene]

Many HO scale buildings are selectively compressed.  Look at the normal house and scale it out.  They turn out to be shack size.
Gene

[Guilford Guy]

Since the original Union Station was O scale at 1:48, or 1/4" to the foot, then it would make sense that they just halved the size of the building to make a 1:96 scale, or 1/8" to the foot building...

[pdlethbridge]

1/8" is 1/96 scale Revells constitution and cutty sark are 1/96 scale or 1/8" to the foot. there are 96  1/8" in a foot (12 x 8=96 )

[PRRThomas11]

1/8 and 1/87 are not similar even though they share a number. I have 1/8 scale trains in my backyard,  I would know.