And on the 8th day a Man said: "Let there be F Scale" And the man (many men & women actually) saw that it was good.
Just like some of us have now gotten used to the idea of On30 (O Scale Narrow Gauge running on more readily available HO Gauge track) someone else said hey ~ what if we consider G Gauge track to be a scale 36" gauge how big would the locomotives and cars have to be then?
While modeling F Scale in Standard Gauge (4 feet 8 1/2 inches) is certainly possible, none that I am aware of have attempted it. This would again require you, once again to hand lay all your trackage.
As you might have already surmised; we really must begin to separate the concept of “Scale” from the concept of “Gauge” as they are certainly NOT the same thing…
In truth I didn’t even know F Scale existed but then I sorta got slapped in the face by these beauties seen a few weeks ago at my local All Trains Hobbyshop! *
The local Hobbyshop just took delivery of a Train Collector’s Estate. It came in an 18 foot U-Haul truck filled front to back 3/4 quarters high with all F and G Scale Trains.
Dave at Berkshire Trains is just starting to get into it all so there will be more in the near future.
F-scale is a recent discovery of mine, too. I stumbled across this website a few years ago. This guy lives only about an hour and a half away from me. The website has not been updated in looks like 7 years so hopefully it’s still in play. I’ll contact him and see if I can’t come down and see his layout someday.
One knock I give Bachmann is their plastic wood looks…plastic. They think I see wood grain but it just doesn’t look even like a model wood. Too shiny?
Well Fred you already know what i am going to say to that:
Give me some Cidatel Shaders and some Tamiya Matte Clear in a rattle can and i will fix you up in under 20 minutes!
You are most likely correct on that.
As i said earlier it appears 99.9999% of F Scale modeling is based on doing Colorado Narrow Gauge and using G Scale track to represent 3 foot gauge.
If I understand this correctly those wanting to do Large Scale modern “Standard Gauge” will use equipment in the 1/29th scale proportion. And again they are using the LGB track but this time to represent “Standard Gauge” (US) in this slightly smaller scale.
Here is a 1/29th scale car that I saw in the store just yesterday: I’m sorry I did not put my hand into the photo to give you some idea just how large this car really is.
Looking back on it, I would guess-timate this car to be 25-27 inches long.
I know someone makes the full length Autoracks in O scale because we have had them in the store ~ and I think someone (probably USA Trains or Aristo-Craft) makes them in 1/29th.
Just came across this one yesterday for sale at the local hobbyshop:
It is G Scale but with a car repaint and re-lettering this one would certainly work in F Scale! Beautiful work/derrick car with a SOLID BRASS, PRE-ASSEMBLED and PRE-PAINTED WORKING CRANE!
Turn the crank, the gears move and the hook chain is winched in!
The store owner would not let me take in out of the sheet plastic as the model is factory fresh. PM me if interested and I will hook you up!
