"N Scale" Becoming Looser & Looser?

[CoalPorter]

I don't think it matters much. You need to try it and if you like it, don't worry about what
scale is printed on the box. I just bought a TOMIX building of eBay, and it is sold as 1:150,
but imo, it is closer to Z scale (1:220). I like the look but was 100% disappointed in the smallish
size.

[peteski]

I don't think it matters much. You need to try it and if you like it, don't worry about what
scale is printed on the box. I just bought a TOMIX building of eBay, and it is sold as 1:150,
but imo, it is closer to Z scale (1:220). I like the look but was 100% disappointed in the smallish
size.

Japanese structures are often much smaller than U.S. ones. Size of the door should give you a good scale reference.  If it was Z scale then the door would be very short.

[CoalPorter]

Japanese structures are often much smaller than U.S. ones. Size of the door should give you a good scale reference.  If it was Z scale then the door would be very short.

I just checked (really it is a TOMYTEC building being imported by Walthers) called "Professional Office Building".
The outside doors scale to 5'-0" in n scale- even the main entry way? The overall building is a two story office but is smaller than DPM'S "
Crickets Soolon" which I think is the smallest DPM building. Anyway the Tomytec building is way to small, so I don't think
the 1:150 means much.

[nkalanaga]

garethashenden:  I have seen "N6.5", although not "Nn6.5", so that one works.  Since N scale narrow gauge doesn't follow a particular gauge, it probably is a better name.  HO has HOn2, HOn30, HOn3, HOm, HOn3.5/HOn42, etc, but they're generally used for that particular gauge.

N narrow gauge lumps Nn3, Nm, and Nn3.5/Nn42 all into one, and uses a gauge of about 41 scale inches, so it really does need a "catch-all" name.

That's similar to the pickle "G gauge" is in.  As others have pointed out, the same gauge is used for multiple scales, so true "G scale", 1:22.5, has almost lost its meaning to most people.

[JMaurer1]

G scale narrow gauge (36" or 1/22.5) is called Fn3. G scale is arguably 1/29th scale (4' 8 1/2"). Of course there is still 1/24th and others that just created this big mess in the first place.

[johnb]

Fn3 is 1:20.3

[engineshop]

So where did you find 1/170 vehicles? According to Kisatchie's search your choices wouldn't work well on any urban street I know.

Right here:

I've mentioned this before when some 1/150 cars were starting to be advertised as N scale and now I'm seeing stuff ranging from 1/144 to 1/170. I'm not a fan of this seemingly-increasing trend but I can live with it IF the item is clearly marked as 1/144 scale, for example, and not just "N scale". Thoughts?

I only gave an example and used the numbers that were in the quote. I actually model in HO and use TT and N and 1/72 items. I just assume if I mention these scales numbers, somebody would point out that we are talking about N scale and not HO.
Sorry about my comments on this topic. They can be deleted if it complicates the issue.

[peteski]

Right here:
I only gave an example and used the numbers that were in the quote. I actually model in HO and use TT and N and 1/72 items. I just assume if I mention these scales numbers, somebody would point out that we are talking about N scale and not HO.
Sorry about my comments on this topic. They can be deleted if it complicates the issue.

No problem Roland - not knowing that you just used those scales as a theoretical example, I was simply curious where you found models in those scales.

[Erik aka Ngineer]

The issue is globalization. And no I'm not a hippie activist. Up to ten years ago manufacturers had a fairly strict geographical separation. You basically had no interaction or trade between mainland Europe, the UK, North America and Japan. There simply was no problem with differing scales because every market had its own standard. Nowadays you can order anything online from almost continent except Antarctica.

[nkalanaga]

Erik:  That is a significant factor.  And it's been a factor since the Middle Ages.  Back then, every country, and often every town, had its own standards for weights and measures.  No problem, because everything was grown/made, sold, and used, locally.  As trade started to grow, problems arose.  Try buying a yard of cloth when the yard was defined as the length of local rulers arm, and every producer had a different ruler.  It was a nightmare, until kings and trade groups started imposing regional, and later international, standards.

Since we really don't need that much regulation for model railroad products, probably the best idea would be for manufacturers to list scale, gauge, and for wheel/track products, standards.  Examples could be "1:160, 9mm, RP-25", or "1:150, 9mm, NEM".  For buildings, vehicles, and other non-train items just the scale is fine, since track standards are irrelevant.  An example for narrow gauge could be "1:160, 6.5mm, Marklin".  It wouldn't take much room on the packaging, since it wouldn't have to be in big print, just large enough to clearly read it.  Small print under the "N Scale/Gauge" that most products already have would be fine.

[Doug G.]

Actually, N scale has been pretty much a worldwide enterprise from the beginning. Almost all N scale in the early days of the US was imported from Europe (Atlas, Aurora, Revel, Rapido, MRC) and Japan/Asia (Con-Cor, Bachmann). And really, it still is.

Doug

[highway70]

I don't think that the mixing of scales that are "close" is really new or even an increasing trend.  It is also not unique to N scale.   HO'ers were using 1/87, 1/76 and 1/72 scales when I was a kid.  1/144 and 1/150 vehicles and building and vehicles (as well as other close scales) have been used on US 1/160 layouts since the beginning.   Mixing scales has a long history in model railroading and is especially ubiquitous on toy train layouts in the toy train world from which model railroading developed.

Even models designed  for N scale are not sometimes not accurate  1/160 scale. Sometimes this is  due to blunders, but it may be because the makers didn't want to spend the money and/or time to get them right.  The old Bachmann Birney trolleys and PCC cars are too big.  It is said that they designed them to fit mechanisms using parts that were available and cheap  instead of designing mechanisms that scale bodies could be fit on.
 Of course many early N scalers called the company "Botchman (a well earned name)at the time, but used their products anyway.

Two companies made Interlocking Tower models that were reduced size, but otherwise exact copies of the Revell HO scale Interlocking Tower from the 1960's. Seen separately they looked identical, but one was actually at least 10% larger. 

[nkalanaga]

Doug:  Very true.  What seems to be new today is that modelers here, and probably elsewhere, are buying more products designed for sale in other countries.  In the early days, most of the railroad imports were designed primarily for the US market, and US modelers didn't worry about trains built for other countries.  Today, everything is sold worldwide, and local scales get more exposure.

Buildings, of course, have always been sold in multiple markets, but, especially with older buildings, door and window sizes varied enough that the scale isn't critical, unless it's supposed to be a particular prototype.  A generic late 19th/early 20th century brick building will fit most of the common N scales.