Well, ya need light fer readin’ the Sears Catalog!
One possible issue is that, even if the external dimensions are accurate, the cab interiors often are more cramped due to the fact that a model often needs thicker walls than the prototype.
If you think getting an engineer into a model loco is tough, try putting drivers into your scale vehicles! They’re usually made to look good from the outside, without being at all accurate on the inside. I ended up having to cut off the driver at the hip to get him into one of my die cast vehicles.
I usually use a mill cutter in a Dremel to remove about 3/4 of the figure’s rump to get them into cars… and then you still usually have to remove the feet of the driver.
I have ONE car with folks in the back seat. You have to disassemble the car to get them there.
Mik; Like I typed in another post, it’s bashed from a ScanKit wayside tool shed - not from a privy. THIS is the privy on wheels, but I did not build the privy - I just detailed the interior and mounted it on a truck.
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/davemeashey/Privy03.jpg)
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/davemeashey/Privy01.jpg)
Remember, REAL privies don’t have windows. You gots’ to make do with whatever light comes through that little crescent moon cutout in the door or the slits between the boards. 
Yours, David Meashey
Kevin, would you mind if I put that image of EBT up on my site? The one with Pippin and Harry?
Sure. Here are some others if you’re interested.
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/eastbroadtop/EBT12/EBT1240.jpg)
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/eastbroadtop/EBT12/EBT1235.jpg)
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/eastbroadtop/EBT12/EBT1232.jpg)
And allow me to be ever thankful that you found the Bachmann figures inadequate, causing you to start sculpting again. I’m afraid I didn’t pick up my dad’s talent for that, and must rely on the talents of others. Keep 'em coming. I’ve got more engines that need crews! Later, K
Great shots, Kevin. Thanks. Good job on painting them too.
Thought I would include a photo of the Davenport. I took it to my local club’s meeting on Saturday, 04/28/12. Several other members commented on the locomotive’s weight. One asked whether Bachmann was using spent uranium as ballast in this locomotive. The locomotive is deceptively heavy for its size.
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/davemeashey/Davenport01.JPG)
I first tested it at my college buddy’s house. The locomotive pulled 13 cars (mostly Bachmann with plastic wheels) on a level track with 4 foot radius curves. It probably would have pulled more, but we ran out of cars. The stock couplers are the correct height to couple to Kadee G size couplers, and they do so nicely. I do have to pull the pin on the Bachmann coupler to separate them. Have fun, David Meashey
I’ve sat in the cab of Black Hills Central 2-6-6-2T many times, which is the loco bachman took measurements to produce it’s loco, and there is not a lot of room in there. #110 is also a standard gauge locomotive and I’m 6’6" 230 so although I might not be a small guy, I’m not a wide guy. I also remember sitting in a DRG&W C-19 and found the cab very cramped. The K class had lots of room IMO
The other evening I was fitting one of Bachman’s supplied 1:20.3 engineers into their 45 ton diesel. He’s molded in a sitting position, but the seat that comes with the loco wont accommodate him. I found that if I removed the seat, and placed it on the floor as a riser, he would “stand” on it and his left arm nearly reached the throttle. I also found that with application of heat his arms could be repositioned slightly and managed to get him posed so that he looks correct from the side window.
I have a few other included Bachman figures from the Connie and Indy and they are very tiny by comparison so they are sleeping in a box.
I have several figures scaled to 1:20.3 and they fit just fine in my equipment. I have several of Richard Kapuaala’s little guys and they fit in my Bachmann Shays and my K-27 really well. The figures Bachmann supplies fall more into the “Toy Trains” category, not the “scale” category. Most of the Bachmann accessories that come with the locos are wildly over-scale and “cartoonish”. If that is your thing, OK. If you care about scale, toss the Bachmann stuff!
Hi Andrew - I agree about the Bachman figures - especially the ones form the 10 wheeler. I’d love to use more accurate figures, but my recent projects are on a use-what-you-have basis, I’m still not back to work full time for over 2 years so there is no railroad budget. All of my acquisitions have been funded by selling off railroad items I no longer need.
My generation was built small (5’5") so we could work in the coal mines. 
Joe Rusz said:Is that my excuse ? Good to know that. :)
My generation was built small (5'5") so we could work in the coal mines. :)
Hi,
It is not only the height that is a bit too large for narrow gauge; they are also to large in the girth; I model the 1880’s then someone was tall if the exceeded 5 feet, almost always were slim as well; I make model horse drawn vehicles for my layout - taking the plans as being correct (which they are for the time that the vehicle being drawn was built), they only seat 1 person in a 2 person seat.
The result was a slight re-drawing of the vehicle to get the aforementioned pair of persons on the seat; the same applies to the AMS D&RG coaches; the only way to get two persons per seat is to use the Chinese copies of people off E Bay (thus they are slightly smaller that the original from which they were taken) those will with care fit, some re-arrangement of the arms helps a lot.
Their scale is much below 1/20th but there is no other way that I can populate vehicles and coaches, and the figures are quite cheap, for my period the reduced size actually helps. Some 1/20th figures are on my layout, but I have a large mix, with more of the smaller ones being the most useful.
Yours Peter.
Actually the average ht in 1880 was 5’7"
Go to http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/steckel.standard.living.us,,, scroll down to the average hts charts. I think you will see that 5’ was never an average ht.
Remember 23 of our 43 Presidents were at or over 5’ 11.5" tall. The shortest was James Madison at 5’ 4" tall.
The tallest Presidents were Abraham Lincoln and Lyndin Johnson at 6’ 4" tall.
Thomas Jefferson (one of the founding fathers) was 6’ 2.5" tall
And our First President George Washington was 6’ 1.5" tall
I’ve had this discussion before. The shortness of people in the past is largley an urban legend based on assumptions made from observations of the dimensions of certain features on buildings and homes and ships.
Doors were smaller back then because a small door is cheaper, and easier to make, not because people were smaller. There also were no uniform building codes back then so carpenters were more likely to just make a door a size that was the easiest to make or build homes with low ceilings because they were cheaper to build.
One other issue with seats that figure sculptors like myself can’t guess is who will be sitting next to our figures. People aren’t ridgid. They can shift their bodies in ways to accomidate another person next to them. I’m a little over 6’ tall and husky, and I can fit myself in a coach seat on an airplane and sit next to another person my size without too much difficulty. A plastic figure can’t do that.
Then there is the accuracy of the model you are making figures for. FNG scale is 1:20.32 scale. Some folks round that down to 1:20. The missing .32"s aren’t that obvious if you are making something whose prototype is 1’. But on a 5’ tall figure that is a 1.6" difference in ht. Making that figure only 4’ 10.4" tall.
I make my figures 1:20.32 and pray that models follow the same scale the advertise
In all of my travels to American Civil War sites and museums over the years , the orginial uniforms on display , sure seemed to be for smaller men in the 1860s , compared to military people now . Perhaps
Guess it depends on the locomotive you’re modeling. Typically, Bachmann has used 1:20.3 models of very small locomotives to fit well with other “G” scale trains (smaller scale) without looking huge. (The K-27 is obviously an exception.) Consider how well most 1:1 people you know would fit into this:
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/slatecreek/_forumfiles/Monson3-side.jpg)
Matthew (OV)
Also take a look at this…
This has WM 6 at Cass, (and several others too … ) and also the prototype for the Bachmann Shay, Ely Thomas #5 (which wears #6 these days…) in New Jersey. The difference is striking … a lot of folks see the model, and envision a locomotive of the heft and dimension of the larger standard gauge ones with similar outlines, while the actual prototype is MUCH smaller.
Matthew OV)
Dennis, were these actual uniforms worn in battle? Or reproductions? Were they folded up laying in a display case or were they being displayed on a maniquin? I have been to a lot of Civil War Museums when I was a kid, so my take on the uniform sizes is not reliable since it was through little kid eyes staring up at them in wonder.
I do recall that most of them that were not folded up were in too good of shape to be used in battle so I would imagine they were reproductions specifically made for the museum and were smaller just to preserve space and the cost on material.
They did the same thing with Armour in the old days that was used to adorn castles and the homes of the wealthy. A lot of people assumed (saw this on the history channel) that because of the deminutive nature of the displayed armour that the knights were very small in stature, which was totally incorrect because real armour known to be worn into combat or by historical person’s was much larger than the reproduction pieces. The history channel went on to explain that King Edward (long shanks of Braveheart notariety) was a tall man himself at well over 6 foot tall. I think I recall them saying 6’ 2" but I could be wrong. They also rationalized that the average man must have been a good height because judging from the length of the long bows and the length of the drawer required to shoot the arrow any distance.
Yep Matt, I would not want to be stuck in a tin cabin that was 6x6x7 foot next to a hot back head all day. Especially during the summer in New Jersey during summer! I got to stand in a cab that small last time I was in Lahina. They had one on display but it was an outside frame 0-6-0 (I’ll see if I can find some of the pics I took of it and post them) and just fiting through that door was a challenge for me.