OO Scale - 1:76, 4mm = 1 foot and 13mm = 1 metre ???

QUOTE (GoingUnderground @ 2 Jan 2009, 16:46) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do you think that one is needed?

I'd have thought that any modeller with a little simple arithmetic and a little spreadsheet knowledge can easily devise the required formula in a spreadsheet knowing that 4mm = 1 ft.

I spent an hour or so over Christmas scaling a photo down to 4mm scale in preparation for a loco scratchbuilding project. Knowing the prototypical dimensions of three pieces of data in the photo it wasn't hard to devise the necessary formulae in one cell and replicate it as many times as I needed.

If you're going to do it, why not make it universal and equip it for O, HO, TT, N and Z gauges as well, and why not go the whole hog and include the latest microscale gauge "T" which I believe is 450:1.

Anyway good luck.

Keith.

Thanks Keith, good points all round.

I suppose I originally started making it just for me, a quick app to save me using the calculator everytime (though I had not considered a spreadsheet at the time I could use the same formulas to put one of them together).

Then I thought that other people might find some benefit from it so I started making it more attractive to use, and more like a professional program, as well (ex-web and multimedia designer you see - now teaching). Christmas hols is great time to run away with personal projects I guess.

I love the idea of making it universal, definately going to do that in the next version. Should have my initial prototype online tonight, will post a link.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Going back to the original post, even if you use 13mm = 1m the discrepancy will only be around 1mm for every 9 metres of prototype (using the measure 1 metre = 39.37 inches, so add approximately 1 inch for every 3 metres, or 3 inches - a scale 1mm - for every 9 metres). OK, so the longest coaches on British railways are around 23m, so you will be between 2 and 3 millimetres short in the final outcome, if you don't make any corrections. For purists that would be disastrous; for me ... who cares! I'm not going to notice 2mm missing from a 23m coach, especially when it is in service on the tracks.

Add to that that we're dealing with modelling compromises anyway, such as the scale 6 foot (sorry; 2 metre!) gap between coaches or wagons, or locomotives and tenders, and we can easily explain away the slightly shorter physical length. Hell, I don't even mind the Heljan "Tubby Duff"; in fact, I like it very much. The extra width does show from some angles but overall it still looks like what it is supposed to represent, a class 47 Brush type 4!

QUOTE (SRman @ 3 Jan 2009, 09:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Going back to the original post, even if you use 13mm = 1m the discrepancy will only be around 1mm for every 9 metres of prototype (using the measure 1 metre = 39.37 inches, so add approximately 1 inch for every 3 metres, or 3 inches - a scale 1mm - for every 9 metres). OK, so the longest coaches on British railways are around 23m, so you will be between 2 and 3 millimetres short in the final outcome, if you don't make any corrections. For purists that would be disastrous; for me ... who cares! I'm not going to notice 2mm missing from a 23m coach, especially when it is in service on the tracks.

Add to that that we're dealing with modelling compromises anyway, such as the scale 6 foot (sorry; 2 metre!) gap between coaches or wagons, or locomotives and tenders, and we can easily explain away the slightly shorter physical length. Hell, I don't even mind the Heljan "Tubby Duff"; in fact, I like it very much. The extra width does show from some angles but overall it still looks like what it is supposed to represent, a class 47 Brush type 4!

And I fully agree with you SRman( Jeff)

Well folks, thanks for all the feedback. I have now completed the prototype with a lot more features than I originally intended for the first release, but hey while I was on a roll who cares.

For now I have posted the online version here: http://www.coalvillemodels.co.uk.

When I am satisfied no major flaws exist I will compile a windows desktop version for you to download and keep forever.

You can give me feedback here or via the website.

Thanks again for all your input.

Nice interface, but it still leaves the user with having to write down all the answers.

Without a hard copy of both the input and the output, the user cannot eyeball the results for gross input or transpositional errors when they take the results and record them on whatever they're using to record the answers.

I'm afraid that I'll be sticking to a spreadsheet.

You got me thinkijng and just out of curiousity to see how long it would take I knocked one up this morning in less than an hour which covers Gauges G, 1, O, OO, HO, TT, N (UK), N (True 2mm), N (Continental & US), Z, znd T. Additional Gauges (or more correctly scales) can be added at will up to a maximim of 29 in total (that's the limit in MS Excel for the formulae that I'm using). The Gauge is selected with a radio button and I can enter the prototype data as either Imparial or Metric or any combination. Its capacity is limited only by the number of rows in a spreadsheet, but I've currently only allowed for 250 rows of data, and being a spreadsheet the results can be saved and printed out for reference whilst model building

I can also change the scaling ratios if I need to which I've initially set up as:
Gauge G 1:22.5
Gauge 1 1:32
O Gauge (7mm:1ft) 1:43.54
OO Gauge (4mm:1ft 1:76.2
HO Gauge (3.5mm:1ft) 1:87.09
TT Gauge (3mm:1ft) 1:101.6
N (UK) Gauge 1:148
N (True 2mm:1Ft) Gauge 1: 152.4
N (Continental & US) Gauge 1:160
Z Gauge 1:220
T Gauge 1:450

All a bit OTT as I'm an OO man myself, but I was curious as to how long it would take me. If anyone wants a copy, let me know and I'll send it to you for free. It is macro free in case you're worried about macro viruses, but does use radio buttons to select the "Gauge". I do need to clear it down after use.

Sorry if I've ruined your marketing strategy, MidlandModeller, but I'm sure others will find your calculator useful for one-offs.

Keith.

QUOTE (midlandmodeller @ 7 Jan 2009, 22:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Once again thanks for your input on my scale calculator project. The desktop version is now available as a free download from:

http://www.coalvillemodels.co.uk

Any problems, let me know, otherwise I hope you find it useful.

I am currently working on a version that allows you to save the results of your calculations for future reference. Very close now, but not enough free time so it will be a couple of weeks. For now I hope you enjoy using the current version on the link above.

Thanks again.

An interesting old thread....wonder how he got on.......................