Ok guys take it easy with me . Im old and gray and my memory is fading fast. I am collecting O Gauge and building a few buildings by scratch. One inch on the measuring tape equals to how much in scale? I know O Gauge is 1/48. Does that mean 1 foot of balsa wood equals 48 ft in scale. I am building a grain elevator and Im trying to figure out how tall I should build it. Any ideas?
“Does that mean 1 foot of balsa wood equals 48 ft in scale.”
yep!
you got it…
its also commonly referred to as “quarter inch scale”…because one quarter inch on the model equals one foot on the prototype…
one quarter inch = 1 foot
one inch = 4 feet
12 inches = 48 feet…etc.
Scot
Ok thanks a lot Scot!!
I’m really going to confuse you now as O gauge isn’t always 1/48 some are 1/43 and then some like to model 1/50 I don’t know how they come up with all the different sizes but if you look the different sizes of boxcars you have basicly 3 different sizes you have the 6014 babe ruth size , you have the 6464 size and then you have what they now call true scale cars which are even bigger.
So which catagory are you? and which of the above is 1/48 I 'm not sure never got that technical with it but I believe the 1/43 is baby ruth size and the 1/48 is 6464 and the new stuff is 1/50 but I might be wrong just know I’ve heard them talking somethin like that.
American O is 1/48, continental European O is 1/45, British O is 1/43.5. The latter two scales produce models that are larger (compared to the prototype) than the American O. Most American O that is not 1/48 is smaller not larger than 1/48, but frequently uses different scales for length, width, and height. For example, a 2332 GG1 is about 1/48 in width and height but about 1/64 (S scale) in length.