Too big or too small?

On 9/6/2007 4:42 PM Dan Merkel spake thus:

I'd say depends on where they are in the scene, with respect to the viewer. Closer to the viewer, make 'em smaller; farther away, larger.

David Nebenzahl wrote in news:46e091c1$0$24592$ snipped-for-privacy@news.adtechcomputers.com:

Other way around. Put smaller people in the background to force perspective and make the scene look deeper.

Not everybody is the same height. It's a bell curve around the average height.

Use the smaller ones for teenagers or members of ethnic minorities that are shorter.

The larger ones are probably too big unless you want a basketball team, Ted Cassidy or James Arness.

The bulk of the figures would be an important factor. Slim short people with small heads are possible. Bulky tall people with oversized heads are unlikely.

Buy the big ones and place them on the aisle side of the track. Buy the small ones and place them well back in your scenes. (KA forced perspective) (perhaps there's been a bomb scare at your railway station)

Greg.P.

And you should make sure that any other objects in the scene with the 'wrong sized' people are equally wrong sized! That is any vehicles, animals, and the like should be the *same* wrong size, unless you are doing something like using a pinto pony to model a percheron or something.

>

"Dan Merkel" wrote

Get the smaller ones. There are plenty of short people in the world, but giants are rare. Besides, you can use the smaller people in the background to give a false impression of depth to the scene.

And speaking of that; a layout I recently saw had a scratch-built background industry built to somewhat less than HO scale, and it was populated with N scale personnel and served by N scale trucks.

It was only about four feet away from where I was standing, but I didn't notice the difference until I'd been looking at the layout for fifteen minutes, and even then I had to look twice to be sure!

Good illusion.

Pete

On 9/6/2007 5:18 PM Gordon spake thus:

Yeah, that works better. Like having an N-scale line running in the background of an HO layout.

Honestly - correct sized people...

Get the small size people. They will fit better in things like autos and rr coaches and the size won't be apparent.

On 9/6/2007 4:42 PM Dan Merkel spake thus:

Actually, this turns out to be a more interesting question than it first appears. My guess was that the amount you said these sizes would be off (+16% and -15%) wouldn't be that noticeable, but after calculating some sizes it seems they would be.

I looked online for figures for average human height, but couldn't find any authoritative ones (and thank you, but Wikipedia doesn't count). So I settled on 5'7" as close enough for no never mind.

Using this figure as "normal", the small figures would be 4'9" tall, while the large ones would be 6'5". It seems to me this would definitely be noticeable, at least in a scene viewed up close.

I'm curious as to what sizes these figures actually are. I wonder if the seller could be bothered to measure them for you. I'd like to know how tall they are, to see how close they come to "average" height.

Certainly a "small" point (pardon the pun), but my math says they are either

16% too big or 13% too small. *

Regardless, I agree with Frank Rosenbaum -- if you have to choose, get the

1:100 size people. They will fit better in cars, doors, sidewalks, and won't be as apparent as an oversized person would be in those situations.

____ Mark

• A 6'-0" tall person should correctly be 0.827" tall in HO scale; the same height person in 1:100 is 0.720" in 1:100 scale. So the difference from the correct value is (0.720"-0.827")/0.827" = -13%

Err, I'm 6'3" and muscularly built and have always considered myself "about average". I accept that almost no-one else does. :-)

Regards, Greg.P.

Hmmm. I'm 6'2" and 210, which is obviously the correct size for me. But does that mean all the folks on my railroad should be a "correct sized" HO scale

54/64" in height?

In a quandary,

Pete

On 9/6/2007 9:16 PM P. Roehling spake thus:

Of course. Isn't that in your RR company's operating regs?

Small

With one well placed billboard stating

Smallsville Welcomes the annual Little Peoples Convention

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

"Operating regs"? We don't do much surgery around here.

Pete

As long as there are 2.4 children per couple size doesn't matter!

Paul

-- Excuse me, I'll be right back. I have to log onto a server in Romania and verify all of my EBay, PayPal, bank and Social Security information before they suspend my accounts.

Working the rockie road of the G&PX

"the OTHER Mike" wrote

Or, you could simply put them all on skateboards.

If you are modeling people with dwarfism or Gigantism they would work fine.