Please enlighten me on lighthouses!

Prototype lighthouses come in all sizes depending on the topography where they are needed, whether they had to be tended year round, on the water or on land, etc.  Some are quite tall and others are not.  The one pictured looks fine.

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Dennis

Got one & looks good on my layout.

They also come in all shapes too-- i've seen round, hexagonal, octagon, and those are the ones built of brick/concrete-- i've even seen wooden ones. alot of the lighthouses in the Florida Keys are made of steel-- automated of course. Very few lighthouses are manned these days.

I hate to be a naysayer, but I just saw a number of lighthouses around the Michigan

upper peninsula this past fall, and have circled the coast of Fla. years ago photographing them, and that tower looks much larger and out of scale to the building attached to it.  I would need to check the window size on the tower, and if they matched, say a Grandtline window, I would saw that building off and build one in scale.  (if that building is in scale for an O scale structure, then the tower is HUGE, but I am betting the reverse is true)

If you can make it look right on your own layout, that's what counts. You kinda need the right scenery and locale for it to fit in.

Michael:

I have four on my layout. The Lionel version is on the large size, but is nice. Department 56 supplied a couple of others, one from the Seasons Bat collection that is first rate and another tower version form the New England Village collection. Finally I have a replica of the Plum Point lighthouse from my home State. If you have a waterfront area, they make a wonderful addition to any layout.

Well...

Rusty

Good one Rusty.  Too bad that tower is way out of scale. 

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Dennis

It's like trying to get a scale tree. They come in all shapes and sizes. the price is right and if you like it, go for it!

Gilly

All I have to look at is the photo of the package, which LOOKS like it might have an HO or smaller buiiding attached to a lighthouse.  If the BUILDING, when you have it out of the package, is sized like a Plasticville or O scale building, I'd use it (if I wasn't modeling deseret scenery). (or unless you are trying to force scale by using it for a background model...but then...I think the tower is too big)  IMO the building and tower do not look proportional, as I see them in the package photo.

2 years to build,lazer cut kit

Cheasapeake Bay Maryland

That's no good Joe.  The building is way too big for the lighthouse.  

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Dennis

Michael, the buildings under the Boston Light are quite small.  Click on this link.  The photos are copyrighted so I can't post it here.  I've been pulling your leg a bit but actually there are more light houses where the light towers are short, compared to their buildings, than there are those that are really tall.  But they do come in all sizes.

http://www.thelighthousepeople...e_Massachusetts.html

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Dennis

Joe your model of The Thomas Point lighthouse is awesome.  It's my favorite on the bay and have seen it 100's of times while fishing from my boat.

Michael,

   I have 2 light houses on the layout, both fit in pretty well, one is actually original Tin Plate and the other is hand carved wood.  Although my layouts are a childs wonderland and not realistic I tried to keep them some what in proportion.

PCRR/Dave

You can see how both light houses fit into the layout in this picture.

The lamp gives you perspective of actual size here in this picture.

Michael, I saw the same one at a dealer myself, I was tempted but don't have a use for it. I have lived my whole life in Oregon, spent a lot of time on our coast, we have lighthouses out here too. From what I have seen, it looks fine to ME. As others have said they come in all shapes and sizes, each custom to it's site, there is no "STANDARD" design. Some of the towers are/were truly MASSIVE structures, often appearing decieveingly small from a distance but up close nothing short of Impressive. If I had a place for one, I wouldn't hesitate to use that one. If YOU like it, that is all that matters, buy and enjoy it.

Doug

I have The Key West Lighthouse on my layout but no water on my layout since my late wife was born there. It's 11" tall so it's probably HO scale. But here in Tampa we have the Sulpher Springs lighthouse which is really a water tower so you dont need any water to be prototypical.

I see lighthouses all the time: We have a lot of them here in NC and at work we picked a "lighthouse theme" to decorate our conference rooms and public areas with pictures and models.  They could in all sizes, but usually the towers seem "too big" - even in person.

The MP Lighthouse is a very popular item at our shop (LHS).  Of course, here in Michigan we are blessed with an abundance of 'lights' along the longest shoreline of any state in the Union. 

Re scale...as others have pointed out, these sentinals of the shoreline come in a wide variety of sizes/heights.  So, from that perspective, it's whatever 'floats your boat'. 

However, at the MP price point as Michael pointed out, it's tough to walk away if you have any interest at all.  We still have one of the last edition of Lionel's version....at a significantly higher price!  Of course that one has a few more bits of pizazz over the MP...rotating light, sounds.  You can get a neat foghorn/seagull/sloshing water sound card from ITT Products which can add the sounds to the MP one, if need be.  PLENTY of room inside for the card, mongo speaker, etc. 

The G scale folks like this MP item, too, but I've had one customer claim it's too small for G scale.    So, eveyone has a perspective.

Lucas Gudinov

Well, thanks for all of the great posts. I have learned much. Rusty Traque pushed me over the edge with his picture. I am picking one up. Transman, truly an outstanding job on your lighthouse. Challenger3980 I spent much of my youth watching trains run the piers in Astoria, OR. Pine Creek Railroad, love your whimsical theme and interestingly enough, I live very near to the Pine Creek in PA. The rest, thanks all - each and every comment appreciated.

Comparing the "keeper's house" to the Railking 4 story building in the background, it's pretty obvious the house not an HO structure.

I would a agree at first glance, the tower looks too big, but by Googling, Binging or whatever you use as a search engine, it becomes pretty obvious there's no "standard" proportion to light tower vs keeper's house.

Rusty

Ironbound Andy,

I really like your light house.  Nice job.

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Dennis

It looks about right to me. The figures would seem to match the scale of the building. Lighthouses come in so many different shapes and sizes that I think it is impossible to say that any are too tall or too short. For example, compared to the lighthouse near to where I grew up (Over 140' tall.) , then this is a short lighthouse. But compared to many others it might be considered to be quite tall.