Correct OO scale people and vehicles

[Bigglesof266]

Does any one have the definitive guide on correct OO

If there's one out there and you find it, let me know. I've been looking for the past six years without success.

We could try and kick one off ourselves here with a cumulative effort?

First off we'd all have to definitively agree upon what constitutes OO gauge 'scale' figurines and vehicles. For me, it's 4mm or 1/76 regardless that we run on HO track.

Vehicles - comments below all relate to brands I have, usually multiple examples thereof.

Most of the recent Oxford vehicle "OO" releases, I'm not brave enough to say all, appear to be 1/76 scale to me.
Corgi vehicles are a mishmash, even many of their Trackside being an obvious 1/72. Recent releases seem 1/76, but they are still inconsistent.
EFE UK buses appear to be consistently 1/76 to me.
Base Toys trucks are 1/72 IME
Pocketbond ?? Hmmmm. Most appear to be 1/76, whilst my Austin Dorset seems rather overscale and 1/72. Without researching and confirming with verniers, I wouldn't inscribe that in stone.

Figurines -comments below all relate to brands I have, usually multiple examples thereof

Unpainted Dapol Railway Workmen and Platform Figures are both definitely 1/72 IME.
Unpainted Dapol ex-50's recently rereleased Airfix Station Accessores are closer to 1/87 than 1/76 IMO. Wooden posed and dreadful. A few are salvagable, so compared with the price of Dart/Montys etc, worth buying if you only use half a dozen or the crates and milk churns alone.
Unpainted Hornby steam cab crew are 1/76 on the money
Unpainted Modelscene/Peco Passengers & Station Staff ex-very old '50's Preiser = difficult to say without their bases as Peco supply them now. I fitted bases. having done so, I think they might actually be 1/76, but are on a late 40's early 50's austerity diet if they are. I know contemporary Preiser/Noch to be 1/87 HO. Jury is out on these early Preisers made for British outline as is apparent by the clothing.

Over to you.

[End2end]

@ Tovidious ... ABSOLUTLEY BRILLIANT!!! I had never thought or even seen "real life" cameos like yours before...Those Beatles get everywhere ! lol
Great pictures and a great looking layout full of interest. Just out of interest..... is Blakey under the bus? (echos of "I'll get you Butler" ringing in my ears lol)

@ Bigglesof266 .... Thats excellent and just the kind of information I was after. And yes I'll concur on OO being 4mm or 1/76
It's funny that even within a single range from one company the scale can be elastic for want of a better word. If I see "OO" or "1/76" I expect it to be at the correct scale not ... close but no cigar. Sadly not the case.
I have also looked at the Airfix range and have found a couple of vehicles I may buy that state 1/76. But there only a very few airfix kits that actually state 1/76, the majority stating 1/72. I cannot comment on the Revel range of kits but only for the fact I have not seen the range.

With the scaling of figures especially I think that a 2 pronged approach would be my way forward, with the cheap Chinese figures going in obscure places like in coaches as they are cheap and I don't mind cutting them up if needs be, and the more expensive figures (when I've worked out which to buy) "on show" as it were.

Loved your comment on the Modelscene / peco figures.... I think that can be transposed to a very modern image layout with 2008 - ongoing austerity
I don't have Wrongdows Office on my PC as I think an Excel document would bring the list together with the make/model/scale.
I'll think on it......
Thanks
End2end

[bsa77]

I found the problem when I started putting drivers in cars - now some of my vehicles (Army/RAF) are Airfix, some tamiya, some Oxford and so on so the scales vary between 1/76 and 1/72 but even so, it's amazing how much of a plastic bloke you have to cut off to make it look like he's driving!

But my pet hate is really shiny cars abandoned on roads - normally on amazing layouts too!

[End2end]

I found the problem when I started putting drivers in cars - now some of my vehicles (Army/RAF) are Airfix, some tamiya, some Oxford and so on so the scales vary between 1/76 and 1/72 but even so, it's amazing how much of a plastic bloke you have to cut off to make it look like he's driving!

I wonder how many layouts have gents loos where only the lower half of legs and feet are modelled?

But my pet hate is really shiny cars abandoned on roads - normally on amazing layouts too!

Am I correct in thinking that this is solved with the use of spray matt varnish? I had all my vehicles out the other day and can concur..... all are very shiny.

Also just as a side note... The flashing orange LED's came today for me to test out for the diggers roof light (on page one of this topic). Looking at them I think the base of the LED is quite bulbous so might not be able to add a driver, rather add him standing next to the machine or something.
Thanks
End2end

[bsa77]

Hanging from the cab Bob the builder style?

[End2end]

Hanging from the cab Bob the builder style?

Sounds like Magaluf
But definatly an idea, although the doors do not open
Thanks
End2end

[End2end]

Something just popped into my head....
As the bus I have is a routemaster type it will need a conductor as well as a driver, so may I ask what range/where did you get yours Tovidious?
Or are they not specific bus figures at all, but actually train drivers positioned to look like the bus driver and conductor?
Thanks
End2end

[Tovidious]

Stan Butler and Jack Harper from ‘On The Buses’ are HO figures, Preiser Conductor 590-28034 and Engineer 590-28038. If you go to the link below and then post #19 you will find most of the figures I used on my layout listed I also wanted to point out the Noch HO figures tend to be larger then most HO figures and closer to OO, but as is evident by what I used, I don't think the difference between HO and OO figures is worth quibbling over and use them interchangeably.

Cheers,
Thom

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... n-the-usa/

[End2end]

Great stuff Tovidious, many thanks An extensive list of your figures there. And what a layout!!
I think I will be looking to purchase the Presier catalogue so I can see both those and the Noch figures side by side in print to decide what to buy from each of the ranges.
Just as a side note.... I went to my local model shop today and all they had in OO stock was some unpainted modelscene navy personnel and around 5 Noch sets, not even any Hornby ones as you'd expect.
Thanks
End2end

[Bufferstop]

Re Dapol/Airfix scales. When the current Dapol kits were still owned by Airfix there were different teams working on aircraft 1/72 and railway 1/76. The aircraft bods also did the army stuff including the figures. Their expertise in figurines was such that when passengers and railway staff were required the job was given to the aircraft team and they came out 1/72. The stunted pigmies in the platform accessories weren't there when Airfix produced it. I noticed that they have been cut from a larger sprue and packed in with the platform accessories. At least Dapol are using a plastic that takes paint. At one stage Airfix were producing all of their figurines, military and railway, in ghastly pink polystyrene, which was resistant to all known paints and solvents. (Well perhaps not all, but none that I knew in 1966.)

[Bigglesof266]

Re soft plastic figurines.

Definitely more challenging than hard plastic, but I got this to work for me.

1. Wash in tepid water to which a little surfactant such as dishwashing detergent has been added to remove the remove mould release agent. Rinse thoroughly. Shake dry. Allow to evaporation dry thoroughly.

2. Spray with Tamyia acrylic primer as an initial undercoat. Allow to evaporatively dry thoroughly. Follow with Tamiya acrylic colour (sprayed) for the predominant uniform colour. Do not over apply per coat. Thin only with Tamiya proprietary thinner. Do NOT thin with water.

3. Brush the detail bits, e.g face, hands, boots, weapons, with as many sequentially applied coats of colour well thinned with Tamyia acrylic thinners to achieve the desired opacity. Alternatively, use a quality hobby enamel on the detail parts if available in a suitable matt shade. e.g. flesh. Enamel is certainly brush friendlier than acrylics, the exception being Vallejo acrylics designed for brush application. Made in England Humbrol enamels were very good all those decades ago.

I painted a lot of Airfix, ESCI or Italeri soldiers this way back in the day when I was tabletop wargaming.

But -isn't there always one, because of the flexibility and nature of the soft flexible polystyrene of those Italeri, Airfix, ESCI figurines, whilst the surface primer does go a long way toward assisting the paint to adhere, it doesn't etch into the soft plastic surface as it will with harder if still rubbish recycled plastic of the current Dapol figurines. So over time, excessive handling will invariably cause large chunks of paint to flake off. This will also occur with enamel. It's a characteristic of the soft plastic, not the paint.

For static display if you follow the sequence described above, as long as not exposed to hot or cold extremes of weather, IME the paint won't flake within the reasonable timeframe most home layouts might be run. e.g. 20 years.

I still have boxes of painted 1/72 Italeri and Airfix plastic soldiers here which were painted over 35 years ago now which weren't handled overly much which have retained full paint application. As always, YMMV.

One thing is for sure, I prefer painting over quality hard non-recyled plastic regardless of model.

[mjb1961]

Hi ,Have you seen the NOCH 15243 bus driver and passengers ,figures with no legs ,,,,mjb

[End2end]

Hi ,Have you seen the NOCH 15243 bus driver and passengers ,figures with no legs ,,,,mjb

Thanks for that mjb1961, actually I hadn't, so for myself and everyone else, heres a picture of them.

Thanks
End2end

[Bufferstop]

Now here we have some Bachmann people waiting for the EFE bus that comes with Bachmann's Shakespeare Express.

It doesn't look too bad but, I'm 5ft 7in tall and my eye's are nearer the bottom of the bus windows when I'm standing on the pavement. I reckon him with the briefcase would have to mind his head when boarding the bus, yet my sons are both 6ft and a bit, and neither have to duck when boarding one of theses buses. 1:72, 1:76, 1:87 who knows?

[End2end]

And there's us trying to work to 4mm/2mm to the foot
Thanks
End2end