is 1:200 close enough

I am doing alot of scratchbuilding and im wondering what the experts think of using items that are 1:200 scale for z. case in point, Plastruct has ladders and other items in their catalog that is 1:200. will these work or do they need modifing to look right?

Thanks' Steve aka "slugger"

Steve I don't think anyone will point and start laughing. On the other hand here is a link that might interest you if you don't need too tall of ladders. I guess they could be glued together. Cheers, Jim CCRR:unsure:
www.micronart.com/91406.html

Steve
As one who has done some scratch building-- but I am not a rivit counter.....
1:200 sure is OK in my book, but depends on items. I've seen 747's used- myself included. Depends on altitude and attitude.
Some very poular items such as cars scale out to about 1:200 by some manufactures.
Other things such as buildings are sold as Z 1:220 but vary greatly by producers.
Details such as ladders and windows could very well be used. Even some N , scale decales are used and things like freight loads can be BIG or oversize loads.
MTL, Marklin and to a less degree AZL, the MAJOR train makers must "compromize". If it looks good in your world, go for it!.
Fred:)

I second what Fred says: if it looks "right" to you, then it is right. It might not look right to someone with a scale calculator and a micrometer, but would you really care?

Fred wrote:

Steve
As one who has done some scratch building-- Fred:)

Fred I think you are being way to modest

Jerry

I have several pieces of modern US Military tanks and vehicles that are all made 1:200 and they are way, WAY too big for Z scale. I am having to reduce the sizes to 1:220 for a more accurate appearance! Soon!!!

In some instances, 1:200 might not catch anyones eye, but these military vehicles would. Just got to play with it!!!

Hobo Tim

Thank You all for your advice. I value imput from other more experienced modelers. I should have remembered what my mother always said."do whats right for you and who cares what other think"
I have projects that i'm working on that i was going to add some photo's of but my camera died on me so i need to have it fixed. I will send some pictures as soon as i can.
Thanks again
Steve aka "Slugger"

Myself I've a few 1:200 scale aircraft model kits (Hasegawa, Italeri, etc) and in my opinion, unless you directly put them on your rails it doesn't matter. What should eventually be a problem would be putting a B 737 fuselage on a flat car such as the trains that actually run between Boeing's plants of Wichita and Seattle. But myself I want to try this anyway...

Otherwise you could put 1:200 scale aircraft on a Z scale scene using a sort of forced "counterperspective": aircraft in the foreground, and railroad behind.

Dom

Dom, je suis d'accord, I also have some of the Haseg. kits and can't wait to build them up for Z.
This transport car that you mention sounds extremely interesting, any photos???

Dom
You are right. It should look fine as long as you dont put it on the rails. It's funny that you mention scale airplanes. I recently aquired from ebay some 1:220 scale "transall" cargo planes for the french airforce. I plan on repainting them for the US Airforce or the Coast guard. If you are interested, they are made by Heller Humbrol and the model number is 80038. It's from the 1980's so they are hard to find. They look like a two engine C-130 but smaller. when i get my camera fixed i'll post a photo

Thank' Steve aka "Slugger"

Hello Steve,
slugger wrote:

I recently aquired from ebay some 1:220 scale "transall" cargo planes for the french airforce. [...] They look like a two engine C-130 but smaller.

Are they looking like this ?

cool beyond belief!!!!

Yes thats the airplane but with decals for the French Air Force

Steve aka "Slugger"

slugger wrote:

Dom
You are right. It should look fine as long as you dont put it on the rails. It's funny that you mention scale airplanes. I recently aquired from ebay some 1:220 scale "transall" cargo planes for the french airforce. I plan on repainting them for the US Airforce or the Coast guard. If you are interested, they are made by Heller Humbrol and the model number is 80038. It's from the 1980's so they are hard to find. They look like a two engine C-130 but smaller. when i get my camera fixed i'll post a photo

Thank' Steve aka "Slugger"

Hi Slugger I remember this kit, but actually I guess it's 1:200. That airplane is very well set in my mind, I logged ~1700 hours on it as a military pilot between 1986 and 1994...

Dom

slugger wrote:
They look like a two engine C-130 but smaller.
[/quote]

Actually they're about the same size than a C130H (within 3 feet range for length as well as wingspan) but they're lighter (155000 lbs MTW for a C130 vs ~110000 for a Transall). But that's true, smaller than a C130H-30 or a L100-30.

But let's revert to Z scale.

Dom

andyjbj wrote:

This transport car that you mention sounds extremely interesting, any photos???

Here we are!



Dom

And this:



Dom

That is just so incredibly fantastic....

The Boeing trains have always interested me so I've been collecting pics of them for a while now. I've put 65 assorted pics in a zip file which you can download for free from here.

rapidshare.com/files/271717374/Boeing737Flatcar.zip

Hello John,
TailUK wrote:

The Boeing trains have always interested me so I've been collecting pics of them...

I was very astonished when I first saw pictures of those trains. Mainly becaue I thought that it must be awfully expensive to transport half finished planes from one factory to another. Especially considering the way Airbus does this with bigger planes, and now even with special ships for the parts of the Airbus 380 between Hamburg and France. I never thought that Boeing does the same just with trains. Is there any place where I can find more about this part of the building process? Like which type and parts of planes (do they also transport halffinished 747s this way) and from where to where?