Hello S Scale; Goodbye HO? |
FEBRUARY 2003
With an arresting title such as that, I will get right to the point: I am poised to become an S scale modeller, and my days of involvement in HO scale are numbered.Having turned forty a couple of years ago, I am at the age where eyesight has become an issue. For the first time, I need to use an Opti-Visor in model construction. This deterioration in vision is common at this stage of life. In the words of my eye doctor, "too many birthdays" is the reason for the inability to focus on things up close, which was effortless at earlier stages of life. There is no amount of close-up work or reading which can harm your eyesight, and there are no exercises which can be performed to arrest the trend. Failing eyesight is a part of life.
Standing in my layout room, looking at the HO locomotives and rolling stock which surround me, I find it requires too much effort to see the details. All the time I have spent on full underbody detail has been for naught. Same goes for the reweigh dates. The engines and cars look ridiculously small.
For a couple of years anyway, I have been considering one of the larger scales such as S or O. During visits to Aberfoyle Junction and the Copetown Show, I have come to appreciate the heft of 1:48 and 1:64 models. They do not require as much effort to appreciate, and their larger mass makes a better approximation of the prototype.
I confess that other motivations are at work in my decision making. I am immersed in the study of railways—to be specific, the CNR scene in Southern Ontario 1946-59—continually. My work is largely the collection and dissemination of useful information. With the popularity of HO scale, I find not only that I have become overwhelmed in trying to keep up with the available products, but that the sheer number of choices is mind-numbing. One could spend a lifetime happily building all the fine Westerfield or Sunshine Models kits which are on the market, and never spike down a piece of track. The idea of a fresh start in a scale which has relatively few items available is appealing.
Given that I was interested in S and O scales, it only took about an hour of research to determine the more attractive choice for a CNR steam modeller. While there are more products in general available in O scale, the existence of a fine brass kit for a CNR Mogul (from S Scale Loco & Supply) and the promise of a CNR K-3 Pacific kit later this year (from Andy Malette) were enough to sway me in that direction. Upcoming resin kits for CN wood cabooses, flat cars and Fowler boxcars (Ridgehill Scale Models) only added icing to the cake.
As with any positive change in life, opening a new door is fun, but closing an old one is not. While I am embracing the prospect of working in S scale, I am not happy about leaving HO scale. After 30 years as a serious modeller in HO, I have aligned my thinking toward this scale. Over the years, one becomes accustomed to the things which are available—certain brass models, resin kits of CN prototypes, excellent steam era vehicles from Classic Metal Works to name a few—and modelling choices are made on this basis. Further, the locomotives, rolling stock and structures which represent painstaking effort also represent something else: the dreams of a modeller. Everything I have created in miniature has been part of a process toward a dream layout or special scene. It is not easy to part company with such pieces.
Yet, part company I will, with at least some of my HO scale equipment. A large number of structures created for past layouts will be on the way out the door. In recent months, I have purchased dozens of resin kits of foreign road cars from a variety of manufacturers; these will be assembled and flogged on eBay. I will hold onto my CN locomotives and rolling stock for the time being. Further, I will see through certain projects, such as modifying a Bachmann 2-8-0 to represent engine 2476, because these are important to me regardless of modelling scale.
And what of the layout? I am a father of two young boys now, and somehow the construction, operation and maintenance of a medium sized (350 square feet) home layout is a chore which I can do without. More to the point, railway modelling is not as important to me as it was three years ago. I relish the thought of maintaining a small collection of important pieces, with perhaps a simple semblance of operation. In the immediate future, I will dismantle the benchwork for the two branchline towns on the layout (Thornbury and Meaford). For the foreseeable future, I will enjoy running trains around the room with my sons. When I have completed that first S scale engine, however, it will need a place to run, and the HO track will likely be lifted.
In terms of modelling direction, in HO scale or S scale, I envision creating specific scenes, one to one (see the Topic on modelling a single town). In that regard, there will still be a place for HO scale in my modelling life. I want to build the Allandale roundhouse someday, in HO scale. I want to model the commercial district at Essa Road, and the availability of fine die-cast automobiles in HO scale will make that an attractive prospect. In S scale, I will likely choose a place like Harriston, and put the Mogul and Pacific to work pulling branchline trains on the Owen Sound Subdivision.
In a conversation a few days ago, Al Lill playfully warned me that a purchase of a S scale steam locomotive kit would be a dangerous step... which is precisely why I am going to take it.
Ian Wilson
February 7, 2003
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