Have many people mixed in military or civilian aircraft that are 1/72 scale with an HO scale layout? Have you seen it on other layouts or done it on your own layouts? What did they look like from the perspective of scale? Were they able to make the aircraft look as though they belonged? What do you think?
I don’t have any HO scale models but my N scale model trains work well with 1:144 scale models, the only downside is that the aircraft will be smaller. If you do use aircraft I’d recommend placing them in the distance.
I would like to try and find a model of an Air Ambulance helicopter for one scene. I am also thinking of of an aircraft flying over the layout. I guess suspended over the layout would be more accurate. I have seen it on some layouts.
I find 1/100 scale aircraft look better on HO layout, especially in immediate background. 1/72 scale planes just look too big to me.
Aircraft in scales the same as or smaller than HO look right, because they are seen as farther away. Aircraft larger than HO might work if they were seen at a distance, but this will be hard to do with the average space available for a home layout. Maybe really tall ceilings?
The difficulty with aircraft, is they are found at airports, and real airports are BIG. The mind boggles at the thought of selectively compressing even a regional airport to fit on the layout. Assuming this hurdle was overcome, I’d expect 1:72 to be close enough to 1:87 to work out.
David,
Your comment about airports causes me to reparse my answer above. If someone had the room on the ground to do that, yeah, I agree the difference would probably not be as obvious as it would otherwise be.
In my comment, I was assuming, maybe incorrectly, that the OP wanted the aircraft up in the air, where the view is almost always distant in real life. That’s why aircraft, even considerably smaller in scale than HO, still work well - if they’re “in-flight.”
Airport size depends on location and time period. Even up to the present day, grass strips are everywhere and those wouldn’t look out of place on a layout. For example a 1920’s/30’s grass strip wouldn’t be hard, have it cantilevered off the layout in either the foreground or into the backdrop. Place the hangers or barns either on the backdrop or backed up to the leading edge of the layout. Control structures are little more than a high place for a windsock.
To the original poster:
There also exists a small number of suitable A/C for HO. The Williams Bro made a combination of 3 or 4 model kits for the 20’s/30’s. A Pitcairn Autogyro, A super A(?), and at least one other type. I have the first two exactly for the purposes of adding a small grass strip as a transition break from farm fields to a town. Now if only I could finds some Jennies or a some nice Waco’s. Like 3 of the Jennies and 2 Waco’s would work nicely.
Walthers has a DC/3, P-51 and Bf109 as well. Ebay might lead you to others.
I can recommend Osborn Model Kits:
http://www.osbornmodelkits.com/HO_scale_railroad.htm
They make a DHC-2 Beaver on floats. I bashed mine into a land plane.A bush plane doesn’t really need an airport, just wide spot next to a field.[;)]
Also useful are a Cessna 172 and a small WWII hanger. Less potentially useful are a couple of WWII fighters.
Roco made/makes a useful Bell UH-1 helicopter. Look on ebay for some closeout kits that are very reasonably priced.
However, I’d bet Tony’s questions was driven by the excellent range of 1:72 models out there. It might be the case where a switch to S (1:64) maybe be what’s really required? Those 1:72 aircraft would look fine flying over S landscape and structures.
If the modeler chooses to add a little more realism to aircraft or helicopters in flight, you can use clear sheet plastic (or even better, save the clear top found on many store bought cakes…cheap[;)]) to make “spinning” propellers and rotors. Measure the size prop or rotor you need for your aircraft/helo (or ballpark it). Use a compass and a sharp xacto knife and cut out your circle (or use scissors meant for cutting circles). When cut, take a fine abrasive and lightly sand the clear disk in the direction the prop/rotor would spin. You are going for a blurry/spinning affect…not deep scratches. Try it out, it looks cool and makes for a realistic “spinning” prop/rotor.
Happy modeling!
Don.
1/72 is closer to S scale (1/64) than it is to HO (1/87,) so the only way to make a plane on the ground look realistic is to put it right next to the aisleway, with the trains farther back in the scene. Not as critical if the birds are airborne, since your eye level is probably a couple of hundred feet above ground level and the aircraft would appear closer even if they aren’t.
The more usual relationship is 1/96 (or smaller) in the ‘distance.’
As for the size of the ‘aerodrome,’ my second-biggest town is a little SMALLER in length than the hanger I used to work in at Edwards AFB - in width. The total footprint for the hanger is about five times that of the town in square feet. That simple grass field somebody mentioned is bigger than the HO footprint of a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, and won’t support anything but bush planes. Military aircraft more recent than Hurricanes and Spitfires need runways (except for the Russians, who designed EVERYTHING to fly off dirt.) The NATO standard runway is 8,000 feet long…
The sly, cunning trick would put a sectioned hangar and some parking ramp right at the fascia line, with those 1/72 aircraft positioned in appropriate ways in the scene.
Chuck (Former USAF flight line technician modeling Central Japan in 1964 - without an aircraft in sight)
Roco makes the aforementioned UH-1 in HO scale and an MBB type air ambulance as well. Either would work well as an air ambulance or police helo.
Don,
Something like this.
[:)]
Here is a my 1/72 scale Agusta Westland EH-101 helicopter next to a HO scale truck and Sheriff’s Deputy inside . I model 1/64 scale and HO scale together so to me it doesn’t matter if look a little bit big ,but I thought I would share this photo with you so can see the difference in size . I hope this helps you .
Just holding by I.C.R, on Flickr
1/87 scale airplanes:
Another possibility is paper model kits. There are a few in 1/87 scale. Paper Models in other scales can be resized to HO scale prior to printing. It is possible to make very derailed models from many paper kits although techniques of building paper models are very different from most other materials and paper models are not for everyone,
Gidday Tony, as far as I’m concerned it’s all a matter of perspective. The only 1/72 aircraft I’ve seen on an HO layout was a crashed one amongst some trees on top of a rocky hill as you will see on this video at 57 seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRJoAfIeObM
Now when it comes to aircraft, I am a rivet counter because I’ve put in quite a few over the years [swg] so I think, it would be far more plausible to find a crashed Boeing Stearman on an American layout rather than a Tiger Moth. That aside, it works for me, in that the aircraft is almost at eye level while the trains are approximately 20 inches below giving enough vertical separation, so that the disparity in size is not immediately apparent., and while Mikes Huey and Beaver are, I gather, 1/87, and so to scale,his photos show how placement of a 1/72 aircraft would not detract from the scene.
Its a case of the eye fooling the mind, which brings me to caballors photo. Having not seen an AW EH -101 in real life but knowing that they are big, then I can accept his scene, though if it were a machine I’m familiar with, like a Bell 206 Jet Ranger or Huey, then I honestly don’t think I would be so forgiving. What I think however is immaterial, the main thing is that caballor is obviously happy with his scene. [tup]
Which of course brings us to the most important part of model railroading, and that is Having Fun.
As for modeling an airfield, amongst my 1001 bright idea
Yep…that looks awesome Mike [Y]! Very realistic.
Happy modeling!
Don.
thanks dave, that is good info.
Thanks for the link! Those look nice. I love the Cessna as an aircraft to fly over my layout. It is fairly reasonable too.
Yes My thought was to have a single aircraft flying overhead and maybe a rescue or air ambulance helo at or near a medical facility. I do not quite have enough room for a airport per se’.
I did for a moment have a wild idea to have a F-14 Tomcat (Or other Military plane) as a display piece sort of like it was just outside of the gate of a military airfield. That is just a fantasy though as I most likely not have room. I have seen them at the entrance of several Naval Air stations.