I seem to recall this from somewhere, but I can’t recall the answer. I was thinking how you would calculate “scale” weight. Say for example an automobile weighs 1 ton ( 2000 lbs. ) - 1/87th of that means our H.O. scale cars “should” weigh about 23 lbs. !!! [%-)] Now, common sense tells me that CAN’T be right … what is the mathematical formula for scaling weight ???
Mark.
How do you scale an automobile? The same way you scale a mountain: one step at a time. [:o)]
Okay, okay,…weight and mass are interrelated, but to the “cube root” when reducing from the original size. In physics, the mass of an object, and its volume, increase by the cube, not the square, and not linearly as you have surmised.
Interesting question. I think for it to work out right one would also have to scale gravity too. If gravity were also 1/87th, then 23 lbs. sounds about right. I think the answer will have to do with mass rather than weight. It would be nice if we could also scale “physics” in general so we could have real momentum & scale hump yards.
the cube of 87 is 658503. If we divide this into 2000 lbs we get .05 oz which means the shell of our model cars is too thick.
A 20 ton streetcar would be almost 1 oz.
I don’t know what the exact weight would work out to,but 1/87 scale doesn’t mean it’s 1/87 of the total size.If something is 1/2 the SCALE of something,it’s 1/2 the length,width.and height,so really,if you visualize doing that to a square block,you’re really only left with 1/8th of what you actually started with!!! Something that’s half SCALE of something that’s 2000 pounds is only 250 pounds,or 1/8th of the total weight,not the 1000 you would think it is.
On a related forn if you were an HO scale person, about what scale would z scale be? I am thinking of useing z or n scale trains for a live steam layout on an HO layout.
Isn’t Z scale 1:220?? If you are assuming HO to be 'full life size" then Z scale would be 87/220 ~ 1:2.5
Jeff
As stated here before, you really cannot scale weight. The dimensions can be scaled down by dividing each dimension by 87. Mass, on the other hand is governed by density of atomic particles within an area. This density cannot be scaled down. If a material weighs 8 pounds per cubic foot, that density remains constant regardless of the actual size of the structure. The weight of your scaled down vehicle depends on the density of the model material, not the size of the model. If you 2000 pound car happens to measure 87 inches in length, width and height, it will scale down to a 1 inch cube. The weight of the scale model will then depend on wether it is made out of balsa wood, plastic, or medal.