need some help i’m just getting back into this stuff what’s the right size scale to use for my HO lay out 1;64 or 1:87 vehicles
1/87th is HO scale. but if you X it by 3 you get 1/29th scale which is the right scale even tho we run on the wrong track cause its metric.
1/29th is currect, the track guage is wrong. but its too late to change.
Large scale is the right scale! but for HO its 1:87.
Next time you should start with the right forum. [;)]
-Brian
HO is 1:87 (technically 1:87.1) scale. 1:64 is S scale.
Not sure how large scale worked into this, but the track used for the last 40 years for LGB trains is No.1 gauge. For standard gauge, it works out to 1:32 scale, and goes back over 100 years to Marklin who numbered their different size trains from 1 to IIRC 4 guage, with 1 being the smallest (!!). Later they came out with a smaller size so they had to call it “zero” scale or 0 scale, which came to be called O scale (“Oh” scale). BTW HO means “Half O”.
Back to No.1 gauge…LGB used No.1 track to represent European meter-gauge trains, so the scale worked out to 1:22.5. IIRC. In the US many people used 1:24 scale on the same track to represent 3’ gauge trains, but now the more correct 1:20.3 has been used. Although 1:32, 1:22.5. and 1:20.3 equipment all run on the same tracks, the equipment is of different scales so are of different sizes - 1:32 standard gauge cars are noticeably smaller than 1:20.3 narrow gauge cars.
1:29 scale came in as sort of a compromise maybe 10-15 years ago. It’s close to standard gauge, but larger so the cars and engines blend in better with narrow gauge LGB stuff - the 1:29 cars are pretty close in size to the 1:20.3 and 1:22.5 cars. Most “serious” modellers wouldn’t mix the two, but quite a few large-scale guys and gals are building outdoor garden railways and aren’t as worried about scale fidelity as long as it all ‘looks right together’.