Mixing scales

[Chris G]

G'day all,
I was wondering if anyone has mixed HO wagons with On3O locos.

What I am considering is some ore wagons in the latest Micro Mark catalogue  ( 71047 DM&R ore car set ) behind a Porter ??

Any thoughts appreciated.

Regards Chris

[Ken]

 Chris

    Grabbed 8 HO orecars & my Porter, just to see what they looked like.
    Not very good.

  I did start a conversion on two of them, presently on hold
  to make them more closly resemble the Grandby Copper -Hidden Creek  ore cars    (with a smaller capacity) if the first two turn out I will be converting the others, should work out better for the Porter/Shay/Climax.

  Ken Clark
    GWN 

[Hamish K]

As Ken says thay are unlikely to look right. The issue with using HO scale cars as is in ON30 is that, even if the size is OK (for a much smaller prototype), the details such as ladders and etc. will look wrong. The proportions could also be  an issue. Converting them by fitting O scale parts and etc. is one possibility. As an alternative consider some of the kits available for ON30 if you are looking for something other than the Bachmann stock. Boulder Valley Models make a 15 foot steel ore car that might meet you needs.  There are quite a few kitmakers with ON30 items out there.

Hamish

[jpipkin]

I have seen Thomas HO scale gondola cars used by several people.  I am in the process of converting a Thomas tank car to On30.  It has taken quit a bit of work to remove the British details and rebuild the frame to look right.  In retrospect it probably would have been just as easy to build up a new frame from scratch. 

Jim

[amdaylight]

I have about 100 of the Tichey HO scale wood ore cars; they are almost the same size as the larger Gilpin ore car from Grandt Line. I changed the brake wheels and extend the ends so they have a platform like the Gilpin cars and I think that they look just great behind the Porter or the shay.

Andre

[Chris G]

Thanks for the input guys.
I'll take the advice and look for other options.

Regards Chris

[scottychaos]

Just for a point of reference, here is a little illustration I made up awhile back for a similar discussion:




Both locomotives are Bachmann Heislers.

They are shown in correct proportion to each other,
(as they would look if you owned both models, put them next to each other on the kitchern table, and took a photo.)

they run on the same track! (HO scale track)
but you can see the scales are very different.

Scot

[amdaylight]

Both locomotives are Bachmann Heislers.


Scot

Scotty,

Heislers ? ? ?  I see two Climaxes. And yes I agree that those two locomotives are much different due to scale differences, but the Gilpiin ore cars in O scale don't even make a small car in HO scale as the real ones were so small.

Andre

[Hamish K]

Converting HO items to ON30 has a long and honourable history. A large item in HO can make a small item in ON30. However the difference in scale means that very rarely could an HO scale item (unless badly overscale) be used without alteration. In some cases conversion can be simple, such as with the Tichy ore cars, in other cases a lot of work would be required.  A kit is available (Boulder Valley Models) to convert the Bachmann HO climax to ON30, it results in a considerable smaller model, about 14 tons compared with the original HO model being of a 50 ton prototype. The Bahmann ON30 climax is a 28 ton locos. Of course the converted loco looks very different from the HO original.

Hamish

[wjstix]

Keep in mind that ore cars were built to haul extremely heavy iron ore, that little 24' ore car carried as much weight as a 50' boxcar loaded with 'normal' items.  Narrow gauge railroads usually ran on light rail and were not designed for hauling extremely heavy commodities like iron ore.

In Minnesota, mining companies did use narrow gauge trains to remove 'overburden' - the dirt layer above the iron ore - when starting a new ore pit. Small engines and side-dump cars were the norm, that might be interesting to model.

[C.S.R.R. Manager]

I've repainted a bunch of Bachmann Thomas cars, and they look right at home behind the Porter.  They are a little narrower, but not too bad, and I'm not too worried about the UK details.  I did remove the buffers, and replaced the couplers with Kadee #5's.  But, they would look small behind a larger loco like the Climax.

[lvrr325]

For what it's worth, a guy at a show I went to a couple years ago had a big bin of odds and ends, anything you wanted like a dollar.  So I grabbed an old S-scale die-cast flat car body in with the other things I bought, I think it's supposed to be a 40' steel flat car. 

It's about the same length as the On30 passenger car body (less steps), the same width as other On30 freight cars, the grabs don't look rediculously out of proportion, and it even took an On30 truck on one end using the screws that come with a set when you buy them carded.   So I have one more flat car for a total investment of about $10.   


I saw an eBay seller with an On30 engine and three of someone's HO ore cars with it, and they looked goofy.  Maybe if you took a pair of them and split them down the middle and put them back together so that they were the right width they'd be okay, but that's a lot of work.   

Another possibility for cheap cars would be to look at some of the 1970's Lionel O27 cars - often you can find them for sale pretty cheap and they were scaled down to go around the tight track - I've read articles where guys converted them to S-gauge and they sized out a lot more accurately - so they might work for On30 as well.   

[Woody Elmore]

It is possible to use cars from other scales in On30. A popular conversion years ago was to use an American flyer hopper with On3 trucks. They didn't look bad after the grab irons, steps and brake wheel were changed. I believe their tank cars could also be reworked with a new frame or mounted on a flat car.

These cars are scarce now and collectors with the "Antiques Roadshow" mentality think that old American Flyer cars should cost the same as a new Buick.

I think the important thing in mixing scales is "eye appeal." If the car looks okay, not too big or small to be out of place, then use it. After all if it's your railroad; you are the boss (even if your name's not Steinbrenner!)

[japasha]

The use of other scales in On3 and On30 has been a practice many modelers have been at for years. You have to be selective on what you use and how you do it. I needed some gravel wagons for my railroad and wound up using a British prototype wagon for the basis of my moddel. It is actually a 2 foot gauge wagon used on the Welsh Highland Railway project in Wales. The actual origin may be South African.

I used a pair of Athearn double hoppers to build my two. I added a simple steel frame after removing the grab irons andd other scale specific things and then added couplers and San Juan trucks with four ounces of additional weight.
The result is reasonable enough that friends viewing the layout immediately look at the cars and want to build their own. Cost for each car was under $12. They track well and operate on 18" radius very well. I also have some log buggies done from scratch after I learned that my scale On3 Westside log cars were too long for my layout.

Write me for pictures at [email protected]

[glennk28]

I have to agree--the HO cars just don't look right with On30 locos.  Sometimes a one-scale jump works, but not two.  Back in January 1977 RMC awarded me the Dremel Kitbash Award for a bunch of On3 cars I cobbled up from Lionel and Flyer cars.  (I was careful to avoid any with collector interest) Which reminds me--someone was converting a Thomas tank car--Almost anything from Thomas Industries has some collector following---if HO, try Vintage HO Yahoo group--  there is a guy in New Mexico--RioGrande-something who makes a bunch of cast resin ore cars and other On30 stuff.  Even has a neat GE Boxcab that uses the Bachmann trolley for power.  Try an On3/On30 search on eBay.  gj