I am not sure about Lyddle End but I bought some Metcalfe cottages a while back intending to use them as half relief behind a row of Kestrel buildings but had to scrap the idea for the same reason. They were noticeably bigger than the Kestrel houses. As to which is correct re scale I would not like to say.
Buildings
I recently bought some Lyddle End buildings for the first time. I have now placed them on my layout. I think they look great, except for the fact that they look 'too small' compared with my existing Metcalfe buildings.
Are Metcalfe buildings to a slightly larger scale than Lyddle End or am I imagining things? If I'm right, which of the two is the more accurate?
Are Metcalfe buildings to a slightly larger scale than Lyddle End or am I imagining things? If I'm right, which of the two is the more accurate?
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If you have a look I think that you will find that Metcalfe buildings are also bigger than Ratio or Peco. I have to admit that personally I am not that fond of them anyway. For some reason or other I just cannot get away with building them and of course they cannot be kit bashed or mixed with other makes as readily as plastic models can. I am currently awaiting delivery of both Pola and Piko kits of industrial buildings, it will be interesting to see how these compare in size with Kestrel etc.
Having just compared a Kestrel terraced house wall with a Metcalfe cottage wall I found that they were both almost identical in height and the bricks and courses were pretty much the same size and spacing.
The difference between the two though is that the Kestrel is about a scale twelve feet wide whereas the Metcalfe is about twenty feet wide when built. This results in the Metcalfe having a higher roof line and also a much bigger look about it. A bit further investigation showed that the Kestrel crossing keepers cottage scales out around twenty two feet wide which would be about right from looking at similar full size buildings that are dotted around this area. The other Kestrel buildings that I have albeit in various degrees originality also are about right in width. So I think that the problem was in my not comparing like with like.
Just out of interest I had another go at the remains of a couple of Metcalfe buildings last night and good kits though they may be unlike Asterix I just cannot get the hang of making them. So I think that I will stick with plastic kits which to me seem to be much easier to build even if you do have to paint them afterwards.
The difference between the two though is that the Kestrel is about a scale twelve feet wide whereas the Metcalfe is about twenty feet wide when built. This results in the Metcalfe having a higher roof line and also a much bigger look about it. A bit further investigation showed that the Kestrel crossing keepers cottage scales out around twenty two feet wide which would be about right from looking at similar full size buildings that are dotted around this area. The other Kestrel buildings that I have albeit in various degrees originality also are about right in width. So I think that the problem was in my not comparing like with like.
Just out of interest I had another go at the remains of a couple of Metcalfe buildings last night and good kits though they may be unlike Asterix I just cannot get the hang of making them. So I think that I will stick with plastic kits which to me seem to be much easier to build even if you do have to paint them afterwards.
To be perfectly honest I just do not like card kits. For some reason or other I just find that building them is fiddly and I get no real pleasure or satisfaction out of it. I had tried other makes of card kits before I bought the Metcalfe cottages. They all ended up reduced to spares as well. It is just a personal thing but I find it easier and more fun to build and hack plastic kits to suit what I want than build card kits. Having said that the pavement pack that Metcalfe do is an excellent bit of gear. Far better in N gauge than when I used it in 00 even if half of the packet is filled with blank card.
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