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Hopefully I'm putting this in the right place (it is sorta "layout building).
Anyways, I'm toying with the idea of including a recreational ballpark on the layout to fill a gap. I just can't get my head around the HO dimensions for it.
Its been a while since I tried to convert real measurements to HO, so its "divide by 87" right? The results I'm getting just seem overly large.
Yes, just divide by 87. So let's say a typical MLB park is 400 ft. from homeplate to the wall. 400 / 87 = 4.5 ft.
But you don't have to model a pro ballpark, it could be a little league park, which is probably somewhere around 250 ft. from homeplate to the fence. 250 / 87 = 2.87 ft. And then there are the bases which are 90 ft. apart. 90 / 87 = 1 ft.
Model it like Fenway Park. Have the rails cut a section of outfield shorter, but use a higher vertical wall to make up for the lack of distance.
Also, the shape of a ball park isn't formed in a perfect arc emitting from home plate. Center field is always deeper than left or right, to the fence. So, the usual 400ft distance is only typically near center of the field (sometimes changed and defined by real world obstacles surrounding the ball fields). Left and right field foul lines are more typically 310-320ft.
Though, I'd gather much of that info really doesn't matter, as you've discovered modeling a ball field on a model rr is going to eat a LOT of real estate.
It could also just be a city park baseball field. Those usually have strange obstructions in them. One of ours had power lines running through the outfield. It was amazing how often we hit the lines, stopping a beautiful home run dead in its tracks.
________ MERCEDES-BENZ GL-CLASS SPECIFICATIONS
Even a Little League field will take a fair amount of room. Depending on the scenery and structures in the surrounding area of the planned ball field a neighborhood sand lot diamond where the local kids form pick up teams might work. The actual lot can be quite small since it wouldn't require things like grandstands or other structures normally found on LL or pro fields and you wouldn't be forced into selective compression while still keeping the finished scene believeable.
A model is "a miniature representation of something" according to the Webster's New American Dictionary.
Key word "representation".
Nothing says it has to be an exact scaled down version of the real thing!
You can build your "representational" baseball park in whatever space you have for it, so long as it looks plausible, and first base in not only 3 scale feet from home plate.
________ Uggs
Are you wanting a little leauge field? I work for the local parks department, and specialize in baseball fields http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#5...=a&lat=28.343792&lon=-82.277353&z=18&pid=5874 . If you model it to scale an average Little leauge field will eat up a 300' x300' area..... My park is 14 acres and contains 4 fields from 100' out field to 260'..... If you need any info I'll be glade to help!
Here's a link to a friends now defunct layout that featured a great ballpark in a corner area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z26qcE4-aZw
Credits: layout by Ken Epps, video by jdl562000
