Skip to main content

We have a good selection of structures in O scale, but it cannot hold a candle to that available in HO scale.  Every month I get the Walther's catalog and drool at the commercial, industrial and residential structure kits available.  Then, a year ago I got an idea when I received my "happy birthday, you can take 10% off any purchase this month" email from Walthers.  I wondered if I could convert a larger HO scale structure into an O scale building.  

I saw an HO engine house kit that looked like a candidate and bought it.  By scaling up the doorways and openings and by adding a 1" "foundation", it worked as a car repair shop!  Here it is on the layout.

IMG_1685IMG_1684

So, when this year's birthday "present" came last December, I decided to try again and found this kit for a furniture warehouse.  It is a four story HO scale building that I thought I could convert to a two story O scale building.  

09330000003044_pkg_big

Here is what I did.  Here are two wall sections as they came with the kit.

IMG_1566

I cut out the area between the first and second floor and the third and fourth floor windows and glued the cutout to the top of the new, enlarged windows.  Doorway openings were similarly enlarged.  Suddenly, a two story structure.

IMG_1596IMG_1597

The rest of the assembly was pretty straight forward and according to the normal kit construction procedures.  I did add an 1/8 by 1/4 styrene strip to the base for a more stable foundation than the one provided in the kit and as you see, I enlarged the loading dock opening by doubling its width as well and increasing the height.  Here is the completed building being checked to make sure it would clear an O scale truck in the loading dock.

IMG_1678

And finally, here it is at home on the layout.  

IMG_1681IMG_1683

 

Attachments

Images (9)
  • IMG_1685
  • IMG_1684
  • 09330000003044_pkg_big
  • IMG_1566
  • IMG_1596
  • IMG_1597
  • IMG_1678
  • IMG_1681
  • IMG_1683
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Hey Pete, that is fantastic! Not to mention highly creative! I'm impressed.

Hey let's face it.... there will NEVER be the selection of anything train related in O scale as there is in HO. It's just simple economics... a bigger market supports more variety of products.

So I really admire the thought that went into doing your project Peter. Sometimes it's harder to kit bash than it is to scratch build, at least when it comes to the designing part. I think it's absolutely great how you looked at the HO building and obviously had a vision of how that structure could be altered. I don't think many O scale folks would have looked at that HO structure and envisioned it to be what you created. And then not just the idea, but the actual modeling!

Again, I think that looks fantastic. Bravo! I really enjoy posts (and ideas) like this one.

George S posted:

But, but, but ... the bricks are too small! 

Seriously, nice work!

They could be a modular or common brick at 2-1/4" high by 7-5/8" long or 8" long respectively vs. a king, queen of economy brick which would be larger and more common in industrial buildings.  Time to get the scale out and measure that soldier course at the cornice!

Last edited by GG1 4877

Thanks for the kind comments, all!  

One thing I didn't mention was that when looking at the Walther's catalog, I always check the dimensions of the building I am considering to see if it could be reasonably close to O scale when converted.  In the case of the furniture warehouse, it was about 8" tall.  That means in O scale, two floors would have 16 foot high floors.  Since this would become a warehouse, I thought this would be in the ballpark (actually floor to ceiling would be a bit less, taking out the depth of the floor and ceiling, more like 14 feet.

And in the case of brick size, I just live with it!  Unless you look closely you really don't notice individual bricks.  At least that is my justification for continuing to look at HO building opportunities. 

When I first saw this post and the interest it is generating in reworking HO models, I was reminded of an O Gauge Railroading Issue that I have: Jan. 2015, Run 275.  I just fished it out to jog my memory.  In it Greg Annett used HO buildings to add upper stories with naturally smaller windows to a skyrise.  He did a nice job.  FYI, for those with Digital Subscriptions.

Coming back to Peter's handling of the windows, interpretation of wall heigh, and architectural details, it is very clever and the results are so clean.  And, man, do you know your architectural lingo!  :-)

Tomlinson Run RR

Interesting use of buildings. I’ve found that a lot of stuff made for HO is very oversized and doesn’t work bad for O at all.

For example, I used a pre-made stack of feed sacks for HO as O scale sandbags. I have also used HO scale laser-wood grade crossings on my On30 layout. A 2-lane one in HO makes a fine country road crossing in On30, and a single-lane one makes for an excellent pedestrian crossing at a depot. The board sizes, frankly, would look too large in HO but looks just right to me in O. Just look in front of the pilots of the locomotives in the two photos below:

Some O gauge operators use HO structures in the rear of their layouts to give a false sense of depth. On my layout, I just measure up and scratch build. You get the right structure at the right price.

I disagree that the O gauge market is not abundant with suppliers of good structures and parts........Ameritown, Korber, MTH, Atlas, Lionel, Crescent Locomotive works, Menards, Bachmann (plasticville) . On eBay there are builders that sell components and pre-built structures. Do an online search and 100's ot things will turn up.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of HO details would look good in O scale. For instance some free standing HO scale water tanks look good as O scale roof top tanks. Walthers wall mounted dust collectors are used by many for O scale grain elevators. I have used Walthers HO scale heavy duty crane in O scale structures. Faller Gmbh silos work great as roof top bins.

Joe

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×