Thursday 3 March 2011

S gauge thoughts

As it says in the blurb to your right, I tend to wander around a bit when it comes to scales. Not surprising then that late last summer I sent off a couple of quid to join the S Scale Society. This more out of curiosity as much as anything else. I'd always drooled over Jas Millam's stuff and there is a notorious photo of me impersonating the Dali Lama while examining Robin Fielding's layout at Uckfield a few years back.

First thoughts are this: S is not a layout builder's scale. There aren't too many of them. There aren't too many members either - 108 including self. The magazine is not the glossy periodical that I've been used to with the 009 Society, but then this is a numbers game - the 009 mob have tenfold the membership so that's possibly a little unfair. Is this a scale that I want to persue or am I just trying to find a middle ground between 4mm and 7mm where the pickings are richer? I like building things, but I do want to see an end result before I get wheeled off to the nursing home. I don't want to be one of those people who is always building the layout; the one that never gets finished. The jury is still out.


2 comments:

  1. S scale always appealed to me to. I just can't do the imperial measurements required. Your point about it not being a layout builders scale is true - I can only think of 3 I've seen of any size and all of them took decades to produce.

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  2. It's more or less 4.76mm and 22.5mm gauge. Which when you say it like that makes it no more complicated that f/s OO.
    There are a surprising amount of wagon kits available and some pricy coaches. You only have to see what Steve Rabone has done in a shortish time from the articles in RM and his sticking S gauge wheels onto Arfix 4F tender drives. It's possible.

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