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UP6936

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Early clockwork mechanisms and electric motors were difficult to fit within HO scalemodels of British prototypes which are smaller than equivalent European and US locomotives. A quick and cheap solution was to enlarge the scale of the model to 4mm to the foot but keep the 3.5mm to the foot gauge track. This also allowed more space to model the external valve gear. According to Wiki

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Ah right I see what you mean! Thanks

I understand lima did British HO but it didnt last?

 

They did, A Class 33, Mrk 2 coaching stock and a 4F. Rivarossi also did a Royal Scot and LMS coaches. They didnt catch on as everyone had 00 stock and they looked weird next to other stock on their layouts. Lima fattened them up to OO scale to meet market demand.

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Several European manufacturers tried British outline HO the Fleischmann Warship diesel and Bullied coaches http://www.ehattons.com/17085/Fleischmann_4247_Class_42_Warship_diesel_in_BR_blue/StockDetail.aspx. were probably among the best.

 

During the 1950s & 60s British Trix hovered between HO & OO.

 

Their final models released in the late 60s including Gresley A3 & A4Pacifics, BRT Scottish Whiskey grain wagons and a Trans-Pennine Intercity DMU set were ahead of then current British RTR.

 

Some of the older locos, the coaches and the rest of the wagon range appeared to be to an odd scale of 3.85mm-Foot literally half way between HO & OO.

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I can see why you are searching for the Mehano 66 in H0 Fran. That would look amazing and show what Huge machines that the SD70's are. I remember seeing some pics of Egyptian Railways class 66's a few years ago and if I remember correctly they had anti vandal windscreen bars on the front cab windows.

 

Rich,

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Speaking of EM... in some ways it's unfortunate that Irish-outline models aren't produced in HO scale, as EM gauge track is very close to 5ft 3in gauge in 3.5mm scale. A small band of Irish modellers do work to that scale all the same...

 

Pat I know of some lads that are modelling Irish Railways in 00 that use EM and P4 scale track. They are happy with the compromise as it helps them get things up and running quicker. Especially in EM gauge as they can re-use the wheels and axles already fitted to the loco and coaches by just pushing out the wheels a bit. I think it is an acceptable compromise and gets things a little closer to 21mm. There are even a couple of 21mm non finescale layouts out there too that have the same track standards as EM, they are just a little wider, but still require compensation and longer axles. Again the original wheels can still be used.

 

Rich,

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  • 4 weeks later...

Apologies lads, been confined to the sick bed so didn't see the replies till now.

 

That's the definitive photo to show the difference Fran. I am thinking about how amazing an SD70 would look in 00. How does the Mehano model square up to the Bachmann one.

 

Rich,

 

Cheers Rich, a OO gauge SD70 would be quite something! The Mehano one is nice in places and has some of the details the Bachmann ones does not like sandpipes and the bogies springs, but the Bachmann excels in other areas like moulded cabling on the underframe. The front and side fly window on the Mehano are oddly shaped too whereas the Bachmann ones gets them spot on. So it would be Bachmann for me.

 

great photos. Model junction have a sale on genesis sd70Aces at the moment, and its my birthday on monday so im really tempted to put any money i get towards one. Did the mehano come with the tension lock or did you swap it in?

 

I would go for it, they're lovely locos and Model Junction test and check each loco they send out so you shouldn't get a dud. I put in the tension lock myself as I wanted to see how she ran with a bit of a load. She'll be getting Kadees and running behind some CN locos in a 'being delivered to the docks for export' scenario as part of a CN freight hopefully. Just need to see how well she runs with my CN locos and if it's easy to consist her.

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