scale lumber sizes

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Does anyone have a chart as to the real sizes of HO lumber, either in decimals or fractions? I could figure it all, but there must be a chart someplace. I am ready to cut a supply from a walnut board I have.

2

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/conversions.htm#Scale%20Conversion%20Charts
http://www.plastruct.com/Pages/ConversionTables.html

I hope this will help.

3

I use a scale rule to get the right size. You don’t have to do any figuring that way. I use a Dremmel 4" table saw to cut my wood ( also my finger, but thats another story).
Tom

4

I’m with tommyr on this one…when i go to hobby lobby to purchase basswood or balsa i always take my NMRA scale ruler with me and measure the pieces of wood i need with it…chuck

5

Thanks . In time I will post the 500foot curved trestle I will need to cross Kimm’s Kanyon

6

You can also purchase HO scale lumber already cut and packaged at some hobby shops, arts & craft shops or online. Mt. Albert, Kappler and Northeastern are three companies that make scale-sized lumber in a variety of sizes and shapes for HO, O, S, N and G, as well as dimensional sizes. It is of excellent quality.

7

I was just looking through my supply of Evergreen styrene “lumber” and what they offer as an HO scale 2" X 4" is .022" X .043" actual. You’d probably be pretty close using .011" to represent one inch, although I’m not sure whether Evergreen’s offering is a real two inch by four inch 2" X 4" or if it’s the 11/2" x 31/2" version that you get at Home Depot. Hope this is of some assistance.
Wayne

8

If you divide 1 inch by 87.1 ( the scale ratio for HO scale ) you get 1 HO inch is equal to 0.0115 actual inches.

So that Evergreen styrene lumber, at 0.022" x 0.043" actual, is about as close to an scale “two by four” as you’re likely to get. It scales out to being a scale 1.9 inches by 3.75 inches. Pieces with other dimensions will be similar in their degree of approximation.

Working in O scale, as I do, I don’t sweat over whether it’s nominal or dimensional lumber. I always use dimensional lumber, i.e., a scale 2 inches by scale 4 inches. It simplifies the math a little, and I doubt whether anyone else would notice a difference that tiny.

In HO scale, the half inch difference between nominal and dimensional lumber would only be 0.006 real inches. You’d need a good caliper, and good shop technique, to be able to measure that small a dimension. I don’t think most people can look at a piece of styrene or wood and know without measuring that it’s off by a small fraction. That’s why we use scale rulers.

-Ed