A question on scale comparison

scottie2212 · 01-08-2006

Hi,

Is there a railway scale that equates to 1:100?
And, if so, are containers available in this scale?
I am building a container ship and am considering buying the containers to go on it. I'll need about five hundred so all donations gratefully received..:-)

Scottie

bogstandard · 01-08-2006

Unless you are going to be removing these containers from the deck, why not build an empty shell out of plasticard and stick the containers to the outside of it, that way you can most probably save yourself a few hundred, plus less weight, always a problem with deck stored cargo.

new to trains · 01-08-2006

i would consider just buying a small number of containers... say rib sided , rivet sided , smooth sided and similar, then make some silicon moulds of the sides, then cast in resin and apply to the ' plasticard' shell' as bog standard suggests.... this way you keep the uniformity, and keep the detail but get rid of the potenitial weight and horrific costs associated with hundreds of shop bought containers...

as for scale then the nearest commercially available is likely to be 00/HO scale....

scottie2212 · 01-08-2006

Now why didn't I think of that... Doh!

Thanks guys, moulding sounds like a great idea and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them.
If my calculations are correct a 100th scale 40' container would be 8 cms long, is that the size of OO guage?

Scottie

**Bunkerbarge** · 01-08-2006

Someone must have a railway container truck and can measure it for you. What will bring this to life is:

A) Don't make a 'box' and cover it as containers are never loaded that regularly. Check out some photo's on the web and you will see that it will be more realistic to have the arangement not quite so regular and

B) Add the tie bars used to secure the containers, these are always missed off models and are a very important feature of any container deck cargo. Once again check some pictures on the web for details. They are only a bar with a bottle screw in the middle that locate on the containers feet but the way they are laced is quite significant.

scottie2212 · 01-08-2006

Hi Richard,

Thanks for that, it's very good advice but perhaps you could elaborate a little.
By 'irregular loading' do you mean a mixture of containers in each stack? This is what I was planning to do.
The plans I'm working off show 'lashing' detail, which I assumed were steel cables, from the support pillars to the lower two containers only.
Is a 'bottle screw' a tube with a left and right hand thread?
I've spent a lot of time scouring the web but haven't found any pictures showing container ships in any great detail, can you point me somewhere?

TIA

Scottie

**Bunkerbarge** · 01-08-2006

Give me a bit of time Scottie, I'll have a ,look this evening and explain it all a bit clearer.

Container lashings have to be ridgid so that they can be fitted from deck level. I'll find some pictures as well.

new to trains · 01-08-2006

the plus is with moulded sides and ends then you can make any arrangement you wish, i totally agree that making a 'box' would be dull - which is why i said plasticard shell !

and irregular loading would be far more realistic..... again as said the tie bars could be moulded in too- i mould portacabins and shipping containers in N scale both has cross tie bars moulded in , there is no reason why these cant be added in 00 scale....

you could always buy a few of the irregular types to all to the realism, say buy a few 'tank containers' and maybe some of the 20ft containers that have the tarpaulin tops ( top loaders) and stuff to make a change and add to the realism, 00 scale decals are also readily available too so you can have your mearsk, evergreen and cosco containers too !

jankers · 01-08-2006

see http://www.solentwaters.co.uk/Genera...201/page2.html

for container detail, some good pics, a very useful site.

J.

**GEEDUBBYA** · 01-08-2006

Howdy Scottie,

CARDMODELS TO THE RESCUE! lol, Why Buy the containers when you can print off your own? Check out this link for containers of all sizes.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/schatborn/

Here you will find paper models of containers like you would find on ships or on train flatcars anywhere in the world. See the photos below:

20 ft containers:

40 ft single containers:

40 ft "4 in 1" container models:

Anyway you get the idea..... here is a photo of the actual models completed:

sorry its so small, thats the was it was on the site.

The good thing about cardmodels is, you can scale them to the size you need with any photo editing program, if you mess up, you print another, and last but not least, the only expense is your paper/card stock and ink.....a whole lot cheaper than buying "boxes".

I hope this has been of some help to you, have a good day,

Greg

ps, I keep telling ya'll that "if you can think of it, theres probably a card model of it".
Try testing me sometime on this lol.