Cheap and cheerful if I could login

Hi All.  In the recent past I have purchased all sorts of stuff online, even been known to get carried away???But I have have recently managed to get it working, Until Today, I went along with their “Strong Password “.idea, which seemed a good idea at the time, can anyone else tell me where I can purchase some reasonably priced seated passengers without all the Faffing around, online if possible. Best wishes Kevin

Depends.

For HO/OO?  I found it easy to locate a cheap job lot of "1:76 Scale" seated passengers from a Chinese source.  They arrived - looking very Chinese - and were definitely on the tiny side.  I reckon they are about 1:100 scale.  

It isn't always easy to see inside our little trains.  One doesn't necessarily need true-scale seated passengers.  In fact I found some of the 1:87 Noch ones to be slightly too big or perhaps the moulded interiors were a little too small.  

Of the Chinese ones I found that with a little adaptation of a few and the repainting of others so that the ladies didn't all wear pink overcoats (!!) that I could use the great majority as passengers without anyone being any the wiser.  

I even found a few in the pack which are child-sized and fitted two inside the corridor of a sleeping car.  There they represent the wide-eyed youngsters gazing from the windows out to an unfamiliar landscape having just spent the night asleep (one hopes) on the train.

Hi Rick. Thank you for your reply. I have seen the Chinese type, but they aren’t welcome on my trains. They are too small. The ones I would like are a bit more expensive, but cheap enough. logging in to ebay, gives me trouble, even though I recently purchased items from them? Best wishes Kevin 

I'm with Rick here.

1:76 figures are generally too big to fit in OO Gauge stock - particularly seated passengers.  Most need their lower body removing completely to come even close to fitting into the seats.

Sorry Kevin but China is the place.  They don't need to be very accurate models - as Rick said, you can't actually see much inside from normal viewing distance.

Loco crews are, of course, a totally different matter and, whilst I haven't got around to crewing any of mine yet, I think I'd probably go for the ModelU range.

Hi Petermac.  Thank you for your reply. “ The China “Syndrome “ ? But the fact is the ones , that I saw, in question had the look of Burma Railway survivors, emaciated to say the least. And very small. But, I am with you on the modelu Loco crews .  Best wishes Kevin 

Hi All.  I am interested in fitting passengers in my coaches and a YouTube video recommends the use of tacky wax.Which would allow temporary, but permanent enough, to keep them in place, has anyone used tacky wax for their coaching stock. Best wishes Kevin

Hi Petermac.  After due consideration, I have sorted the problem? Any, and that means any, travellers carried on my carriages will have to ride in the third class compartments . Best wishes Kevin 

Hi Rick and all interested parties. Following the advice, of ease of insertion, or otherwise, of 1:76 figures into OO carriages and the necessary cutting off of their legs, which no one would notice, once seated, I went  ahead and placed my order ,but, they must be swimming all the way as they are not expected until 12th. July, and I sincerely hope that is is 2021. Best wishes Kevin

Just pray they don't get stuck in the Suez Canal Kevin ………….

The French are quite adept at cutting the legs off frogs ….  :thumbs

Hi Petermac.  Thank you for your reply. Let’s hope that Ann Winterton doesn’t have another Morecambe Bay joke about Chinese imports up her sleeve?  Best wishes Kevin

Hi Rick.   Another reply, the Europeans landed today, on the mat, thinking of what you said about fitting travellers into their seats, this lot made/sold by Preiser look very small , in comparison with the Michael Portillo figure from Mike Pett supercast, they look like “small people “, it’s a pity that I purchased two boxes, as they are painted and modelled exactly the same. Maybe I should learn to touch them up with a brush. Best wishes Kevin

I'm pretty sure you'll find Preiser firgures are HO scale Kevin - I have some - they're brilliant mouldings but expensive (or they are here in France) and, as I said, HO scale.

Thank you for your reply Petermac. That is what I am never certain about, this thing HO/OO, when there is such a difference between them. Unless it was a school party???  Best wishes Kevin 

"HO" stands for "half O" Kevin.  "O" being 7mm:1ft means that "HO" is 3.5mm:1ft.

Post war, when new build houses were too small to accept big "O Gauge" stuff, they had to come up with something smaller.  It was difficult to fit the motors of the time inside British outline steam locomotives at 3.5mm:1ft  so they (Hornby) stretched things slightly and settled on 4mm:1ft


In scale terms, HO is 1:87 whilst OO is 1:76.  Not a huge difference but certainly noticeable.


If it was made in the States or on mainland Europe, it's going to be HO.  I don't think anyone on the planet other than UK outline uses "OO"  HO is often fine at the back to create forced perspective.

Hi Kevin

I have a few people bought from a well known auction site from a Chinese source - the people are all sorts of sizes notwithstanding the "OO" description.

I tend to put the tiny ones on the inside of compartments where they are noticeable as passengers but not noticeable as dwarfs!

There is also a schools special where all the really small ones end up - painted in their green blazers as a school uniform - see below - the Highmarsh "Boys" train which runs at the start and end of each term.


Barry

Another trick Kevin is to put a small dollop of glue on the 'behind' let it harden and then fix your 'raised' person in a seat. You don't really notice that they are 'Sitting in the air' unless you have an eyeball pressed right up against the glazing
Cheers

Matt

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

"HO" stands for "half O" Kevin.  "O" being 7mm:1ft means that "HO" is 3.5mm:1ft.

Post war, when new build houses were too small to accept big "O Gauge" stuff, they had to come up with something smaller.  It was difficult to fit the motors of the time inside British outline steam locomotives at 3.5mm:1ft  so they (Hornby) stretched things slightly and settled on 4mm:1ft


In scale terms, HO is 1:87 whilst OO is 1:76.  Not a huge difference but certainly noticeable.


If it was made in the States or on mainland Europe, it's going to be HO.  I don't think anyone on the planet other than UK outline uses "OO"  HO is often fine at the back to create forced perspective.

The Japanese have been known to use OO, and also a hybrid 1/80 scale.

Conversely, attempts to get HO scale British models onto the market have generally failed.

I use a mix of OO and HO people. Some OO figures simply don't fit into OO scale model seats in trains and buses, and especially cars, as I found out when tryingto fit a driver into an Oxford Diecast Messerschmidt (sp.?) 3-wheeler. Let's face it, real human beings do vary in size considerably! I am more of an S scale (1/64), personally.

I've just been adding the Dapol Railway workers as loco crews to my GWR Steam over on W-H.

 When it came to the driver (standing) he did seem very tall to fit in my Hall cab so was duly measured. He came in at 23mm from soles of boots to top of cap which at 1:76 is 1.748m or 5' 9". I'd reckon that is pretty well spot on for 5' 7' or so in stocking feet.

Then the seating passengers have needed serious shortening whatever the UK source I've tried so I don't get the mismatch.

Hi Colin. Well done with the measurements, as far as Loco crews are concerned, I am hoping to have Modelu as standard. Before going “driver only “ one of the guards was 6foot 9 inches.   Best wishes Kevin

Hi Jeff. Thank you for your reply. That is a jolly good idea, I will bear that in mind. Inscrutable as they say.  Best wishes Kevin