How to know the right scale for train length?

[Aura]

I recently tried to make a train similar to that of the German ICE. My train is a little over two joined 28 studded train bases. The real train has a huge length, but the finished model seems so long... maybe because CITY trains are out of scale. How do you know when it is too long, or do you just have to estimate?

[Gioppa]

very easy, compare one minifig with the train, and search the photo of the train with a man aside...in this way you have the real scale, after count how many cars have the train...

[Aura]

Oh! Thank you so much, a very clever and easy technique! :)

[Redimus]

If you use standard Lego track, road vehicles and buildings, it's well worth considering *not* going to full scale length, because it often just looks odd. The Lego minifigs are completely out of scale with the Lego track (hell Lego minifigs are completely out of scale with themselves), so if you are intending on using them, you are going to have to compromise anyway.

tl:dr: Lego scale isn't really in sclae with anything, so don;t worry too much about scale length.

[Commander Wolf]

very easy, compare one minifig with the train, and search the photo of the train with a man aside...in this way you have the real scale, after count how many cars have the train...

If you build at a scale such that a minifig is 5-6 feet tall, your trains - especially modern passenger trains - will be very long. 5-6 feet minifigs suggest a scale of almost 1ft/stud in which case an ~80 foot long ICE car will be 80 studs. If I were building something that long and wanted to scale it properly, I would probably choose a smaller scale.

[SavaTheAggie]

If you know the dimensions of your prototype (X wide and Y long), and you know how wide you plan on building your moc (Z studs), then its easy.

(Z/X)*Y = length in studs.

--Tony

[Stefaneris]

I often use a "standard lenght", that's for me 64 studs in 8 wide and 40 studs in 6 wide (that's about 25m or 75feet). In the end, however, it has to look good and in my opinion, the longer the train, the shorter the cars can be. Your ICE will still be very long compared to original Lego trains.

[Aura]

Thank you all! Much appreciated :)

[Paperballpark]

The Flying Scotsman I built recently is 81 studs in length - without any coaches!

[monai]

that's depends on your final goal, do you want to build an exact replica of the model in LEGO train scale? the right scale for me is 1:38 (based on the gauge of tracks), but perhaps it will suffer for playability, too long, too large, wheels simply not available ecc. Otherwise, if you want to play with it, well it is simply upon to you judging when is long enough. It is the old topic of train scale for LEGO, there are no simply answers.

play well

Sergio and Eros

[Hrw-Amen]

I think just going on what looks right is the best way to go with most things LEGO and Mini-figure based.

[3797]

If you use standard Lego track, road vehicles and buildings, it's well worth considering *not* going to full scale length, because it often just looks odd. The Lego minifigs are completely out of scale with the Lego track (hell Lego minifigs are completely out of scale with themselves), so if you are intending on using them, you are going to have to compromise anyway.

tl:dr: Lego scale isn't really in sclae with anything, so don;t worry too much about scale length.

I was going to say the exact same thing. So... +1, I guess.

Edited December 18, 2014 by 3797

[pirzyk]

I would also look at existing LEGO trains also for inspiration, like the Horizon Express.

[Srbandrews]

I'm fairly new and have only made one proper train so far, but I agree with a lot of the advice here. Looking right to your eye is the most important thing I think. If there are particular elements that you know you're going to use to represent significant parts of the shape you might want to adapt the scale to match that. Might be an important window piece or, certainly in my case, a certain wheel size. I'd like to see your ICE build, though, sounds interesting.

[Steinkopf]

There has been a long debate regarding this topic with people trying to find the perfect scale, for many it lays somewhere between S Scale and Gauge 1, to be honest it really depends on what you are after as you are building it for your own enjoyment. If you are using standard LEGO track geometry I would suggest using selective compression rather than going for a near scale build, if you want to go for a near scale build you will need to use the straight curve technique to ensure the train runs and operates smoothly. There is nothing more ugly than a near scale piece of rolling stock trying to negotiate a standard LEGO curve, not only do you see most of the track that is supposed to be under the train due to the massive overhang you have a high possibility of taking out the train on the next track if you have two lines next to each other.

With selective compression you go for the overall look and feel of the prototype rather than a to scale model, this principle was used by the vast bulk of model railway manufacturers up until the 1980s, the standards then moved more towards a higher level detail and closer to scale models, this was mainly driven by the demands of the hobbyists. Using selective compression gives you the benefit of being able to integrate it more easily with standard sized LEGO buildings, as well as the space that you will save, the builds are also more achievable as they are less parts intensive compared to near scale models. If you do go for a near to scale build for your trains you will also have to apply that principle to the structures and landscape on the layout your trains will be running on, you don't want your trains dwarfing everything else that surrounds them as it would not look right. If you have a look at the people and train clubs who do build near scale trains you will see that they have also applied this to the rest of their layouts, the results are very impressive but the sheer size of these builds means you require a lot more room, they are also very brick intensive and can diminish your supply of parts pretty quick.