Coaling Station (Plasticville-BachmannG) Scale question

[Rob s]

I recently picked up a load of bits and pieces
Amongst them were a couple of items i am confused by will be posting a few questions about some of the others later

To start with 2 of these - one still sealed in the original plastic bag but no box

It looks well out of scale or is it me, picture showing the rear with one of the smallest scale figures i have - the door and the access gantry are the give away

The instruction leaflet clearly shows BachmannG and Plasticville building kits
It states ITEM NO. 1957 COALING STATION and G Scale.

Its a snap together plastic kit - assembles well and with a touch of glue, some painting/weathering would look pretty good all round.
The detailing is fairly good and with a bit of re modeling, it strikes me it might just fit in as a bit of interest.
ie - loose the door - modify the walk way/stairs and raise it an inch

Now the questions
[*]Does any one know any history/story/age about these kits ? [*]What scale do they really represent ?[*]Would it be worth the effort to modify it or would it always look out of place ?[*]Any suggestions as to how to make it look more in keeping - may be convert to some thing else (sanding station perhaps)
The chap in question (a works colleague) has 20/30 odd packets of diff buildings (some duplicate) and a few other bits and bobs.
I was short of time, so did not take much notice when i made my pick up (not all railway related) most of the packets are still sealed and looked bigger in general

He know's my interests and handed me this and a few other items as i was leaving
asking if i could find out what they are and if they are worth asking a fiver for ???
(any less and he said it wouldn't be worth the hassle) is me

For that sort of money, i might go back and pick up the rest either to use or sell on if i can find any details :thinking:
(He's a works colleague not a friend so no need to be too generous - he was going to just throw them away apparently)

Thanks in advance

Any info / suggestions / comments would be most appreciated

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

hmmmm it looked goo till i saw the door lol. midgets only.

 

[yb281]

I wonder if it's 1/32nd scale (which is also considered to be G scale in the USA) Rob? Maybe even smaller - 1/48th?

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

does this help?

http://www.tandem-associates.com/plasticville/plasticville.htm

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

it would seem its 'o' gauge........?

 

[Zerogee]

Yes, Plasticville is a very long-running range of O gauge building kits, most rather simplified and toy-like (much more "train set" than "model railway") but quite cheap and capable of improvement with a little work. I believe that in the US, "O" is scaled at 1/48th, rather than our (UK) 1/43rd scale.

In the wargaming field, which is my other hobby (and my job!), Plasticville kits are quite sought-after as kit-bash-able urban scenery to use with 28mm scale figures (about 1/55th), for "modern" period and Sci-Fi games.

 

[Dtsteam]

Ooh ! I got one of these in a cheapo big hauler battery set many years ago and never bothered with it. I think I'll go and dig it out... leave the steps and gantries off and a quick dive bombing from the rattle can bombardiers should fill a corner somewhere.

 

[Rob s]

Wow quick responses and thanks to all

Duncan - thanks for the link had done a couple of searchs, but this had not come up, may be i should have dug deeper in to the choices
Thay mention the coaling station in the parts bit- seems not worth a lot unless you are a collector and it has the origional box 's

Steve/Bob p/Zerogee - looks like it is 'O' gauge then,
Why would they market them as G scale - seems an odd thing to do

pictures a bit unclear when down sized - shows Bachmann G with the word scale under neath the G quite specifically

May have a look at his other kits see if anything else could be bashed about a bit, was looking to do a mine/quarry sort of area so these might be usefull

Still toying with the idea of re-modeling it a bit, as it looks a bit big for passing on the my brother for his lads 'oo' layout.

Any sugestions for possable builds ???

 

[Rob s]

Ooh ! I got one of these in a cheapo big hauler battery set many years ago and never bothered with it. I think I'll go and dig it out... leave the steps and gantries off and a quick dive bombing from the rattle can bombardiers should fill a corner somewhere.

Hi David
I came to the same sort of conclusion
Was just sitting looking at it, and then the boss pipes up with a question,
how do they get the coal into it
Thinking about it, it's a good question looks to me like this might end up as part of some bigger structure, any one got any spare Plasti Card

Just found one on e-bay he want's £10 (might be worth watching if he sells it then i might pick up the rest

 

[C&S]

I'd definitely give a bash a go, although it will never have the heft that it should have, Hovever for coaling small tank locos and similar it could be made plausible.
Main job would be to make a larger machine room for the top of the stairs (maybe substitute a ladder for access if scale stairs are not available) Height looks about OK for the Baldwin, but obviously othert locos may need a higher coal-chute.

What other kits has your mate got for you to play with?

 

[vsmith]

The coaling tower IS NOT G, it is in fact the older Plasticville O scale model, now that said it CAN be built into a reasonable G scale model, I rebuilt one with LGB Pier bases to raise it a bit, reworked the railings, on mine I added a rear structure as this was on the original layout up against the backdrop covering an electrical plug and power cord, but, once rebuilt and weathered it has becomes a rather nifty ore bunker on my mining layout.

 

[Rod Fearnley]

Definately American "O" had one as a kid in the USA back in the 1950's. That was back in the day of the Lionel "O" guage. I hesitate to say scale.
When the 1st Big Haulers came out at £25 for the set about 20 years ago, they were in the box along with some road and yard signs, crossing barriers and telegraph poles.
Plasticville stuff is still available.
Rod

 

[Old Tom]

does this help?

http://www.tandem-associates.com/plasticville/plasticville.htm

At the very bottom of the page it has a banner for Plasticville and it states that they are '1/4 inch'.

So I guess they are 1:48 scale.
I personally wouldn't force them into G scale because the wall planks and corrugated roofing would be too far out of scale.... but I would love to use them on my 1:43 diecast dioramas!

 

[Rob s]

C&S - def going to have a bash cost now't so why not
don't know what others he has till i go back friday
Do you mean 'Heft' as in weight or as in presence ?? can easily fix the weight and as part of some bigger structure think it would look OK

vsmith - knew i had seen something similar on here before, thanks very much for posting the pic again, plenty of ideas to [strike]plunder[/strike] ponder on that pic

Rod - just found the other one has a piece missing, any chance of getting hold of a roof for one and posting it on to me :wave:

Old Tom - oops missed the obvious - but would not have known what scale 1/4 would be any way, thanks for the heads up - if i can grab any more will give you first pick if you like
The planks do look about 1/2 the size of the planks on the Bachmann ore wagon, but does not look out of place from a distance

Still wondering why they call it G Scale though ???
is it an American thing

 

[Mik]

Not an 'American' thing. Just a 'sell it to people who don't know and probably won't care' thing. So Botchmann called it "G" because at the time they brought out the Bug Mauler they had nothing else to offer to go with it. ... Now they gots cardboard houses!

Honestly? They're cheap enough. So just replace the steps, the railings, and board up the door and then it's OK for a branchline coal dock and even looks pretty good beside that little Piko water tower.

Or you can take 2 or more kits, cut the roofs off, build them side by side leaving the elevator boxes and platforms off, then lay a spur track over the tops -- Presto! A quick n easy transfer dock....

 

[Rod Fearnley]

Rob send me a PM and description and if I have the piece you are on about I'll send it over. I'm, fairly certain that I have, as I bought 4 sets back then.
Oh I shall need your address as well.
Rod

 

[C&S]

Just built a ladder from balsa, using strip roughly one eighth of an inch square (approx 3.5/4mm square). Cut to length, treat with shellack or button polish, to harden. When dry bind together with a little masking tape or cotton ties and drill through both lengths at 15mm centres. Separate and insert styrene rod (approx 1.5mm), with a dab of glue on each end, as the rungs.

 

[Rob s]

Just built a ladder from balsa, using strip roughly one eighth of an inch square (approx 3.5/4mm square). Cut to length, treat with shellack or button polish, to harden. When dry bind together with a little masking tape or cotton ties and drill through both lengths at 15mm centres. Separate and insert styrene rod (approx 1.5mm), with a dab of glue on each end, as the rungs.

Sounds very interesting, messed about trying to make some steps from plastic sections
but it was very fidly and difficult to glue together and achieve any strength at the joints.

What is button polish ??
Any chance of a couple of pic's

Thanks

 

[juniortrainaddict]

Got any more ? Pm me if you have any of them sets plse.
Regards Adam

 

[Gizzy]

Knowing I am a G scaler, someone once gave me one of these kits..

I gave it to Adverse Camber, as to me it was more suitable for a US theme layout..

I agree it's more to O gauge scale and too small for G....