Garden Railway Forum

Hi all

As a newcomer to 16mm scale/32mm gauge who wants to scratch-build all his stock, how wide should I build my wagons and coaches? I know there's no 'ideal' size but what is an average 'ballpark' width?

I've looked on various manufacturer's sites and the width seems to be roughly between 80-100mm region. I'll make a few cardboard mock-ups and see what looks appropriate but I'd be interested to know what widths you guys use.

Steve

100mmm is about the mark. Andel and ip (I think) have dimensions on their site.

I just had a quick measure up and my sm32 stock is 4" to 4.5" OR 100mm. to 110mm. wide , that's a range of Kit and scratch built wagons and coaches .

Coaches 6ft = 96mm wagons 80mm= 5ft though wagons range from 3 to 5ft

Thanks for the replies - I'll stick within your recommended guidelines then. (I don't mind stock being slightly different sizes as it looks more realistic but wouldn't want anything looking really out of place!).

Just been making a few quick cardboard mock-ups of various wagons and small coaches to get an idea of the size..I think I'm going to like this scale!

Thanks again
Steve

Work on scales and proportions, as we know a lot of 16mm commercial stuff is oversize anyway but the sizes quoted are protypical .

I always go for max width being three times gauge (on NG lines). Of course this does give a little lee-way for cheating as it doesn't specify if it is model gauge or prototype gauge!

That seems to be a good guide! I don't think I'll ever be buying commercial stock as I'm too much of a scratch-builder so everything I build should match up using that formula.

I can vary the widths slightly of the odd wagon or coach just to avoid too uniform a look.

This is my garden which my stock will hopefully one day trundle round


Steve

Always nice to see the "blank canvas" just waiting for the new railway - don't forget to keep updating this photo as work progresses!

In between building a new r/c plane and refurbishing a guitar, I've knocked up my first 16mm wagon body, based on some of the excellent models I've seen on here.
More of a test piece than anything else, it's made from 1/8 balsa (all I had) and the strapping is good old Cornflakes cardboard with rivets embossed using a ball point pen. Yes, the end supports are lolly sticks!

A light sanding of the balsa then grey acrylic is brushed on the body with a stiff brush so it raises the grain a little - really more like brushing it into the body, rather than over it. The rust effect on the strapping was simply by scraping a suitable coloured pencil, dipping my finger in the resulting dust and rubbing it over the strapping, letting the edges and rivets take most of it.

Floor was done the same with brown acrylic, then after drying it got a watery dirty black acrylic wash to emphasis the planks.

This is a marvellous scale to scratch build in! (but then you all already know that ) Hardest thing to do is resist super-detailing everything.  I've sent off for some axle boxes and wheels and will make a few chassis' up. Next bodies will be made of Liteply and have individual planks, as I'm not too happy about the 'drawn-on' planks; they look..er.. drawn on!

Regards
Harry

Great work for your first scratch build