Hello all,
It has been bugging me for some time now, that what a bloke REALLY needs in this wonderful hobby of ours would be a (very handy) set of vernier calipers that can be read out directly in scale feet and inches..... ::)
The price of accurate digital types has fallen sharply over the past few years, and it should not be too difficult for some person with a bit of electronics nonce to re-program a pair of these so that they can read in different scales....like HO, O, S and so on. Maybe even switchable between scales, as the current types are switchable between Imperial and Metric.
Anyone have any thoughts on this, or is it just another of my pipe dreams? ???
If you want a Vernier Caliper in H0 and other scales, try these:
http://www.echomtn.com/08CAT.htm#TOOL2 (http://www.echomtn.com/08CAT.htm#TOOL2)
If you want a Digital Caliper in H0 scale, you might be able to find a used one (they are no longer manufactured.)
If you want a dial caliper in H0 scale, you might find a new one by General, even though they stopped making them a couple of years ago.
Problem is, not too many modelers scratch build anymore, and those that do usually find it easy enough to measure with a standard caliper and convert with a calculator, if and when the accuracy is really needed.
An alternative is to use a CAD program and lay out your plans in feet and inches, then rescale the whole drawing to the scale of your choice. If it is too much trouble to learn to use a CAD program, you can always do what we did in the days before calculators and computers. Build your H0 model houses, buildings, bridges etc. to a scale of 1/8" to the foot. This gives a item that is about 9% under scale. This has the effect of emphasizing the trains and making your whole layout look 10% bigger than it really is. With common fractions, it is easy enough to do the conversions from full size to scale size in your head.
Personally, I work in a shop with scale rules, digital calipers, vernier calipers, dial gauges and micrometers all close at hand. But I find I do almost all my scratch building using using a $3 steel ruler from Staples, one of those ones with inches and fractions on one edge and millimeters on the other. I use the inch side for 1/4" and 1/2" to the foot and the metric side for 3.5 mm per foot (exact H0 scale) and 10.5 mm per foot (1/29 scale with an error less than 1/10 of one percent.)
Jim