Gauge Question

No. The gauge would need to be 41mm.

Now - if you had picked 1:32 you would have been much better off! Gauge

1 at 45mm would have been available to you.

Brian Boot wrote:

Gee, you're being pretty picky compared to the average 45mm gauge modeller. What with all the various scales, near-scales, and whimsically proportioned equipment that run on 45mm track, 4mm seems a quible. Using your numbers, 4mm/41mm is about 10% over gauge for 1:35 standard gauge. He's talking about scratch building a loco... if one built a loco to 1:35 scale, and gauged it for the widely available

45mm track, I suspect most people would overlook the fact that the wheels are set 2mm too wide on each side. That, I would think, would be less apparent than running a 1:32 loco along side the gun.

Of course, there is always the hand-laid track option. But once starting down that slippery slope then every other piece of rolling stock needs to be scratch built as well.

-dave

It's not really a model railway scale, more of a military modelling scale, so AFAIK there is no exactly correct gauge in widespread use, though Gauge 1 is fairly close. I /think/ there are some kits aimed at military modellers for locomotives to go with things like the K5 guns, but I don't know what gauge they use.

You might be interested in the railwaygun Yahoo e-mail group, which covers modelling as well as the real thing.

Dave,

10% over gauge is a lot to consider if the loco is a steam loco with outside cylinders and motion, and a diesel/electric loco's bogies will look a bit peculiar as well. If this is for a glass case display and you're scratchbuilding the loco in any case, building it to 1:35 scale using 41mm track would be the best bet.

If you want the original model to run on layouts built to existing standards, and it is being scratchbuilt and not kit built, then reconsider using 1:35 scale and go for 1:32(Gauge 1) or 1:43(7mm)

Jim.

1435mm/35 = 41mm. The established gauges are 32mm (0) and 45mm (I) I (one) scale uses 1:32 in Europe and 10mm/foot in Britain - that's about 10% out which is too great a variance. You could however use Peco rail components to lay your own track, sleeper by sleeper, and I scale components such as wheels and axles as a basis for a loco and further rolling stock.

Brian, Can you post your railway gun to Ireland, the 1600mm gauge there comes out at 45.7mm gauge in 1:35 scale. To the best of my knowledge we had no rail mounted guns here in Victoria, nor in South Australia, so they're not possible overseas postings, and in Brazil there is the language problem. Regards, Bill.

Well sure, but darn near everything I've seen running on 45mm track looks peculiar. :-) But then gauge 1, 1:32 scale is pretty rare in the States. "G Gauge", as it is called in the states, ain't called "Goofy Gauge" fer nothin'. I run 00... 15% gauge-to-scale misfit... now

*that* looks peculiar -- but I'm trapped by my own sloth. No time for anything but RTR in my life right now. Everything is a trade-off.

agreed.

I agree with you in principal, Jim. It comes down to a multi-way trade-off between commitment to 1:35, commitment to exact scale and the resulting appearance, commitment to interoperability with existing equipment.

-dave

Dave,

I sometimes feel annoyed that 45mm gauge has been hijacked as G gauge when it is the gauge of arguably the oldest model railway gauge and scale still in regular use - Gauge 1. (OK, there is a small minority interest in Gauge 3 in the UK). And G Gauge must be the only gauge which comes with a variable scale :-)

One 'advantage' of the propensity for UK modellers to use gauges narrower than they should be (7mm, 00, TT3, UK N scale) is that that allows a bit more space to squeeze in cylinders and motion on a UK steam outline model. When the clearances between the front driver crank pins and the back of the slide bars on the prototype could be so tight that you could hardly get a cigarette paper between them, then there was little hope of a model with over scale wheels working unless you moved the cylinders and motion outwards, or moved the driving wheels inwards. Moving cylinders out on a British prototype generally gives it the Prince Charles look - jug ears :-)

Jim.

suggest that you enquire at

where the 250 members will appply themselves to your question

N robbinson ( Moderator)

also