Question regarding HO scale people...


Dsquared_sleeperMSP

Dsquared_sleeperMSP

1:87 truck GuRu
I've been pondering over this for quite some time now. Anyway, here is my question...

Is it just me or do the HO scale people seem just a little to big compared to HO scale vehicles? I've looked at numerous pictures as well as putting my own HO scale people next to many different HO scale vehicles I own. They just seem slightly to big...and I mean a very minor difference.
 
I notice a problem in variance between the various providers in both vehicle and in people. If you get a batch of HO little people from Woodland Scenics, for example, they are sometimes 80% of the height and apparent mass of another set from the same company. And I do think the "HO" vehicles are often too small by nearly 20%. A 5 ton cube truck is going to be about half the length of a J1-e Hudson 4-6-4 locomotive, and yet the typical HO model of one is less than that.
 
Ever try to put sitting HO scale figures into seats in passenger cars or autos? The only way most of them will fit is by major surgery to their legs and butts! I always wondered if the people were too big or the seats were too small?
 
Are prototype people all the same size?
I know that at 250 plus pounds, I am a tight squeeze in my Vette, but quite comfortable in my full sized pickup. Therefore, I use the figures I have
available, but I consider their scenery placement on the layout.


(However, I have noticed some manufacturers think 1/72 scale people are "close enough" to advertise as HO scale.)

I have a background Buick convertable with three 6 foot 6 inch women passengers. :D A foreground pickup has four 5 foot 5 inch (Preiser brand) girls gossiping in the truckbed at a 50's drive-in restarant.:cool:
 
I've noticed I had to really cut the legs and a$$ on a guy to get him to fix in the truck cab of the dump truck and the same for the Terex dump truck I have. I figured it was the size of the inside of the trucks seem a little small but maybe you all are right and the people are to big. I need to look at that more now and see if I notice that as well.
Dave
 
I have seen considerable differences in WS and Preiser size people (maybe a measurement conversion problem :D). I follow Mikey's advice and place them where they look good. WS seems to fit better in the seating positions.
 
one reason is that not everything on a 'scale" vehicle is exactly scale. For example, the outer dimensions of the truck cab could be perfect. Then you have the doors. Since physical properties don't scale down well, the doors are going to be a lot thicker than scale just to work. If they don't open, then you get into technical minutia of mold and casting desgn. Same for the roof, the floor, etc, etc etc...Either way, physics just gets ugly and something gotta give. So the interior shrinks.

I'm sure that if you are willing to pay for it, someone will be willing to make a perfectly scale interior and exterior vehicle for you. And you thought brass locomotives were steep....
 
People are of course different sizes so I can handle it with my HO species. Vehicles are also all sorts of sizes but for HO models I find a fair amount of disproportion to each other. Compare a Life Like 50 Mercury to an Alloy Forms 55 Chevy as one example. The Merc looks bigger than it should. Not by a lot but if you are a car guy you pick it right out. Try putting anyone bigger than N scale into an HO Jordan Model T pick up!!!! It is just one of the things I notice and I'm not complaining or nitpicking because it is an easy discrepency to resolve. If two objects look odd near each other I just keep them farther apart and nobody seems to notice. Some gas station accessories include gas pumps that are close to 7 feet high. And so it goes.
 
It really hit me when I was looking at a beautiful diorama of a car accident on a stretch of highway. I started staring at the police officers next to their police cars and started asking myself, "does this look right?" So I went outside and stood next to different parts of my car and took mental pictures of everything. Then I compared my mental images to the pictures I had seen.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
kenw said:
one reason is that not everything on a 'scale" vehicle is exactly scale. For example, the outer dimensions of the truck cab could be perfect. Then you have the doors. Since physical properties don't scale down well, the doors are going to be a lot thicker than scale just to work. If they don't open, then you get into technical minutia of mold and casting desgn. Same for the roof, the floor, etc, etc etc...Either way, physics just gets ugly and something gotta give. So the interior shrinks.

I'm sure that if you are willing to pay for it, someone will be willing to make a perfectly scale interior and exterior vehicle for you. And you thought brass locomotives were steep....
Click to expand...

I agree and need to accept it. I guess I was getting annoyed because I have seen so many brilliant designs within HO scale modeling, but it seems like this issue could somehow be addressed...
 
Dsquared_sleeperMSP said:
I agree and need to accept it. I guess I was getting annoyed because I have seen so many brilliant designs within HO scale modeling, but it seems like this issue could somehow be addressed...
Click to expand...


yes, the normal way would be to support those suppliers who are more accurate in scale, and let the market work to weed out those who aren't. In a perfect world that would work. However, the market is also determined by the compromises the consumer wishes to make, and for some evidently price matters more than accuracy. Can't blame them, we all make compromises. Some are acceptable to us, some aren't. Realize also that what was acceptable to us 10 years ago (or in my case 40 years ago) when we started may not be so kosher today. Tastes and expectations change, so does availability. Today I don't mind spending some change, 40 years ago I was squeezing ever penny!

As the modeller, we are responsible only for what we choose to use on our layouts. So if you find one supplier works well for you, spread the word.
 
I have some construction vehicles on my layout that are between 1/87th & 1/64th. My 1/87th figures that are sitting fit perfect in the seats & their arms reach the controls perfect. Not 1 person that visits my train room has ever noticed the difference in the scales. When I started in trains back in 1961 all of the trucks, cars, tractors, etc. were way way out of scale. I still have a few of them w/the figures. back then figures were a lot smaller than they are now. I have a bunch of cars that were made 30 years ago that are a lot smaller than the vehicles of today.
 
One other thing to consider,
in HO, car & coach seats dont cushion the 1:87 butt, and 1:87 body parts dont flex and bend as us "real folk" do. Just makes seating them harder.

NH Mike I guess I must be the exception to the rule. My jordan pickup has a Preiser driver, and the gas pump in my back yard is 10 feet tall!
 
kenw said:
yes, the normal way would be to support those suppliers who are more accurate in scale, and let the market work to weed out those who aren't. In a perfect world that would work. However, the market is also determined by the compromises the consumer wishes to make, and for some evidently price matters more than accuracy. Can't blame them, we all make compromises. Some are acceptable to us, some aren't. Realize also that what was acceptable to us 10 years ago (or in my case 40 years ago) when we started may not be so kosher today. Tastes and expectations change, so does availability. Today I don't mind spending some change, 40 years ago I was squeezing ever penny!

As the modeller, we are responsible only for what we choose to use on our layouts. So if you find one supplier works well for you, spread the word.
Click to expand...

Very well put. I guess it isn't a total let down for me. I just wanted to see if it was just me or if other members noticed it as well.
 
kbkchooch said:
One other thing to consider,
in HO, car & coach seats dont cushion the 1:87 butt, and 1:87 body parts dont flex and bend as us "real folk" do. Just makes seating them harder.

NH Mike I guess I must be the exception to the rule. My jordan pickup has a Preiser driver, and the gas pump in my back yard is 10 feet tall!
Click to expand...

Karl, I neglected to point out that some of those gas pumps that are close to 7 feet tall are supposed to be of a more modern era from the early 60's on up.
Pumps of the 20's to 40's vintage like the one you own of course were much taller. Good that a Preiser figure will fit into a Jordan T pick up. None of my Campbell or Woodland Scenic folks will. Note to self: build a Gold's Gym and start getting these folks trimmed down. ;)
 
kenw said:
yes, the normal way would be to support those suppliers who are more accurate in scale, and let the market work to weed out those who aren't. In a perfect world that would work. However, the market is also determined by the compromises the consumer wishes to make, and for some evidently price matters more than accuracy.
Click to expand...

Case in point, the Bachmann Scenemaster vehicles. Not only oversized for HO, but proportionally wrong as well! Get a scale rule and some line drawings out and see! But they seem to sell well. :confused:

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather have a small amount of good stuff, than a lot of not-so-good stuff.
 
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