The Scale Question: 1:150 and 1:160 buildings

Many of my building projects lately have been based on Japanese 1:150 models. I had been noticing these buildings online for quite some time, but the fact that they weren't 1:160 scared me off, until some kind soul on of the N Scale forums told me not to worry too much about it. So I jumped in!

In the spirit of that original, anonymous poster who encouraged me to give the 1:150 buildings a try, I thought I would try and share some 'side by side' comparisons of relatively common buildings found in North America, and put some typical Japanese buildings next to them.

Example 1, below, from left, is the Tomix (actually, Tomytec) Cylindrical Building, and a Kato office building, alongside a (slightly modified) cheap Model Power building. Just by looking at the photo, it does appear that the Kato's doorways are slightly smaller, and the Tomix doorways seem even smaller still. However, comparing the first four stories of the two buildings on the right, it seems like they are pretty close. The Tomix (or Tomytec?) cylindrical building does appear to be slightly smaller than the other two, but how noticeable this would be to a casual observer is hard to know.

Example 2 (again, below), is another comparison between a relatively common N Scale building, the "drive in" (can't recall the official name) compared to the Tomix 7-11 convenience store. Any differences between these two are, for me, very hard to notice, and they look perfectly compatible.

For my 3rd and final example, again, another standard Model Power building compared to a TomyTec 'Town Collection" building. In this case, the doorway on the Tomytec tea is noticeably smaller. For me, this is probably too much, and this building would likely be hidden in a little noticed area of a city (near the back, where the small door way is not noticeable and adds to depth perception?) or it becomes a candidate for some creative kit-bashing.

So what's the final verdict? In most cases, I have found the differences too hard for the casual observer to notice, the exception to this seems to be the Tomytec models (which, for reasons unknown to me, are different than Tomix models) which do appear to be noticeably smaller when placed nearby a standard 1:160 (or even Kato) structures. However, if these sort of details are something you can't live with, I would recommend you avoid the 1:150 structures. If, like me, you find the differences hard to notice if not negligible, then I would suggest you try one like I did and see how you like the results. There's a lot to choose from for under $20 and a whole new world of interesting, MODERN, buildings are yours to be had!

The one thing I find perplexing, and maybe I just have this whole scale thing wrong, but it seems to me that 1:150 should be LARGER than 1:160-not smaller-which is, as shown above, the apparent pattern! Anyone with any ideas on this please leave a comment and fill me and others in!

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Modelling tip: Using caulk to fill gaps

This post is sort of a 'cheat' I came up with for plastic models that don't quite come together right in the construction process, and end up with an unsightly gap on the completed model. Yuck! Who wants that! I'll admit, most of these 'gaps' are self-inflicted and could be overcome if I had a bit more patience, the right tools (clamps or other bracing), and so on.... unfortunately, there's too much to do and I don't always want to spend a huge amount of time on one section of one kit! This is probably a more acceptable cheat when you are 'kitbashing' a structure as its often impossible to get just precisely the right cut the first time out.


The solution I found is to use paintable caulk. I am sure most people are familiar with this type of product. I've tried in the past to use some types of modeling putty for this job, buy I've often found them to be quite grainy and difficult to work with. Standard household caulk seems to work really well at filling gaps and cracks. Since I often re-paint most of my buildings to tone down the factory plastic colors, add realism, increase opacity, and so on, its easy for me to repaint over the caulk (which is why its important to use 'paintable' caulk!) which obviously comes in very limited colors that won't match the building!

Application could not be easier. I started by using a q-tip to apply the caulk to the model, but found that just putting a bit on the finger and applying it directly worked better. A damp paper towel cleans up the caulk easily and quickly. In several hours, the caulk is dry and ready for repainting. Note that in the 'after' picture at the top of this post, the caulk had not been painted. Even so, the difference to me is quite incredible.

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Greenmax 29 x 2 = 58?

One of the buildings that I've completed for the downtown renovation is the Greenmax Office Building #29 kit. This is another Japanese manufacturer of buildings for N Scale, although unlike Tomix or Kato buildings, these are typically in the form of kits a la Faller, Kibri, etc... This building also takes some inspiration from this, although not quite as magnificent!

One comment on "N Scale" is warranted here, and its a question I first had about Japanese models before I purchased anything. In Japan, it seems, is that their "N Gauge" is typically 1:150 rather than the traditional 1:160 of the US and European models (with the exception of the UK). What this means in terms of models and their appearance on a layout together has been, from my view, not a concern. In all of my Kato or Tomix pre-built structures, I can't tell any difference in the scale when these buildings are placed next to traditional Faller or Model Power, etc... N scale structures, and people/figures still look appropriate near them. The only Japanese buildings that look somewhat incorrect from a scale perspective are the Tomytec collection buildings (discussed here), but it is probably not that noticeable for most folks, and I expect a good subject for another post some day.

What I liked about this Greenmax building is it is a relatively 'generic' looking contemporary office building, which is something you can only really find from the Japanese manufacturers. The Greenmax 29 kit is actually only 4 stories, with the bottom floor being a train station entrance. Since I was looking for a traditional office building and wanted more height, there are a couple of modifications that I had to make.

- 7 Stories: As the title of this post suggests, this is two Greenmax #29 kits. That way I get a 7 story rather than 4 story building. Modifying a kit like this to make it work this way was a little bit of an adventure for me, but I found that my carefully mocking up the pieces prior to making any cuts with tape, and then marking those areas that needed to be cut, it worked out very well.


- Convert bottom floor to office lobby. The kit features a bottom floor that is more or less an open area with a stairway leading to tracks for a train station. I converted this into an office lobby by using the same columns that come with the kit, but adding clear plastic sheets to act as large ground to ceiling windows for the lobby. Of course, this required some additional detail work for the lobby itself, so with some figures and by using scrap pieces I made a coffee counter, a sitting area and other random sort of lobby features. I also used spare stickers from various Kato kits that were not seeing any use to add the feel of various signs, etc...

- Lighting and detail: As is my standard procedure now, I added in plenty of LED lights to the bottom floor 'lobby' area, and also added in more LED lights for the 3rd and 6th floor, which each got their own levels of detailing as I decided these floors (or their windows) would be transparent and indicated office workings working late through the night. I really enjoyed how the details on the 6th floor turned out. For this floor, I used different types of styrene to create 'cubicles' or desks, added more remnant stickers from other model kits (and some 'custom' ones from the internet - if you look closely you can see a 'successories' "Teamwork" poster on the back wall! :-) ), painted the office fixtures to get a grey 'drab' office feel, mounted this all on sheet of plastic, added a couple of figures to add depth/scale, and WALLAH! late night office workers!

- Rooftop advertising: Looking for more illuminated, I again used LEDS (I think there's a total of 14 or so in the entire structure!) to illuminate transparent plastic, which is then covered with a customized advertisement (Using Papilio polyester sticker film and a color laser printer - which has a more solid look than the Testors Ink-jet printer water slide decals I've used on other buildings (the photo at right shows the water slide decal versions- which I've sinced replaced). The downside of the Papilio is they aren't as translucent as the water slide decals, but look better in my opinion for larger signs or advertisements).

Overall, I am really happy with how this building turned out. One disaster that did occur is that the floor for the sixth floor (and all the 'detail' I put into it) 'slipped' before the glue set, thus resulting in an uneven floor. Its a mistake that will need to be repaired, but it will require the dissassembly of the building (which means I will probably learn to live with it). One other 'trick' I found on this building, is to use "Tub & Tile" paintable caulk to fill in the gaps in long seams.

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Playing around with downtown

Here's a photo of the downtown area with some of the newer buildings and structures I've been working on. This is a big part of "Layout Version 3", which will include a much denser downtown, a trolley line, and a 'real' passenger train station/extension to the layout. I expect most of this will be my 'Fall project' on the layout, so for the time being I am just 'thinking' about what to do and collecting materials for the ultimate start or construction!

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Travelers taking a photo

Its been a while since I've posted anything here, I've been somewhat distracted now that Summer has finally arrived. Here's a photo taken on the platform below my Kato Overhead Station. This area is lit with some warm white LED's that are wired into the floor of the Station. The figures are from Preiser (or they could be the Kato figures, which are also Preiser).

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