My first post here, as I’m an undecided HO or maybe S modeler wannabe…
Anyway, I want to attempt my first scratch build and I have chosen to try and make a velocipede. For those of you not familiar with them it is a human powered three wheeled hand car circa 1880 ish. I was not aware of them until this weekend when I stumbled upon a head on photo of a man on one on the D.T. & I railroad.
So why am I bothering the G scalers? I am not sure I have the skill to make one in S or HO yet, and thought G might be big enough or a first try. So my first question is what is the size of G scale?
Also where is a good place to purchase G scale lumber? and also does anyone know who sells G scale hand cars and/or wheels.
Well let’s see 45mm is I don’t know what less than two inches maybe an inch and three quarters. If that represents 4’ 8.5" I may still be in trouble, I have no dimensions for a velocipede as of yet though not from lack of trying. However, I can’t believe they were longer than five feet which means I have all of two inches to work in… Wow reality is setting in and it doesn’t look pretty.
I agree with you on Google… I have several photo’s of the critter, what I am lacking though are the actual dimensions. I am still trying to figure out how accompished scratch builders can take a photo and then scale off the needed measurments.
Welcome Tom; I’ve seen a Great Northern velocipede on display at , north of . I have an Ozark Miniatures “G” “Pump” Hand Car, kit #OM-56. The package is stamped ½ which would indicate 1/24 scale narrow gauge. Having said that this is an early kit and things weren’t well defined in the garden railway yet.
I model in scale standard gauge using 45mm track which is exactly three times HO. In other words if you have an HO plan triple it. Also a lot of us rip our own strip wood on a table saw, old redwood fencing or decking works good. Evergreen and Plastuct products also work well, but when used outdoors should be painted for UV protection.
It’s pretty common to take a pic and work up from it. Start with a known entity like track width or wheel size and scale everything else from there. I have done it with buildings using door and windows as a reference -
Craft sticks (popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers) from craft shops make for cheap lumber too.
Here are a couple of hints to get rough estimates of the actual size. Take a close look at the page from “SBHRS” velocipede. Assume the rails are “standard gauge” 4 ft, 8.5 inches. Grab a tape measure and get the measurement from the heel of your shoes to about 2~4 inches below your belt. This will give you a diagonal measurement from the foot peg to the back of the seat. Add another 6~8 inches and you will have a good estimate of the “axle to axle” length of the velocipede. Assume that if you were sitting on the “v-ped” and your feet were resting on top of the rails, you now have the diameter of the wheels and the height of the seat above the rails.
An important thing to remember here, these types of MOW equipment were generally built by the individuals that used them. Your goal should be to build what looks right for the effect you are trying to create.
