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In praise of
1/24th scale

Big enough to allow heaps of detailing, small enough to fit on a bookshelf. Light enough to move single handedly, rugged enough to be produced with a non-specialist toolbox. Commercially supported. If you are seeking to produce a single building there is much to praise in the easy to calculate scale of 1/24th, (aka ½”scale i.e. ½” =1ft).

A garden railway trackside building from ?????/ in ?1/24th? scale

Although 1/24th is a crossover scale , providing a bridge between the Garden Railway G scale modellers and the world of dolls houses, it is fair to say that expressing it as 1/24th is approaching it from the dolls house side of the fence. This is certainly how I came at it. It was only later, as I started looking for materials and fittings, that I realised there was a parallel railway universe looking for big weatherproof trackside buildings.

( For the purposes of this article I have treated 1/24th scale and G scale as equivalent - for a fuller discussion take a look at the G scale extract from Miniature Builder article "Up and Down the Scales" .)

An example of 1/24th scale used outdoors in the Irish model village at Clonakilty

My own modelling background was in military modelling - mostly figures plus a bit of diorama settings and vehicles. But as a father of daughters it was almost inevitable that at some point I would have to try my hand at a dolls house. As someone never satisfied with a simple solution, the building I wanted to make for them (Georgian mansion) was never going to be feasible in the standard dolls house scale of 1 inch to the foot. Certainly not if I was to remain faithful to the creed of true-to-scale.

Three stories, high ceilings, basement, pitched roof - at 1/12th scale we were heading for over 5 feet tall - my girls would never be able to reach the top bedrooms and I would never be able to move it. The swinging doors would be massive and to produce a decent room size it would stick out much too far from the wall.

It is not just the practicalities though which made me turn my back on the standard scale. I was trying to produce a model which my girls could play with and they had no dolls or figures of the right size. They probably didn't care about scale {of course they didn't you lummock head; Ed's wife} , but I did. I thought it would offend me every time I looked at it. As it turned out I ended up fudging the scale in the interests of accommodating Playmobil figures - although the height is about right they are very wide so the doors are out-of-scale and the ceilings are rather high to make it easier to get hands in and out the rooms.

As a modeller reared on 1/72nd and 1/32nd there are additional attractions. My approach to modelling is that I am trying to recreate a realistic image of a prototype which exists in one medium by producing a small sized version in another medium. If you are for example producing 4mm/OO/HO buildings you clearly cannot make your model house from miniature bricks. You have to use plastic or paper and paint to produce a model effect. However, if you seriously wanted to make a 1/4 scale house you would almost certainly want to use miniature bricks.

A dormer window constructed using bricks and tiles from Richard Stacey

At 1/12th scale there is still a temptation to do this and a manufacturer like Richard Stacey will be happy to sell you tiny bricks for you to stick together with fine grain mortar. A look through his website shows that in skilled hands some really fine results can be achieved.

There are plenty of furniture and staircase makers working in 1/12th who use real wood which is finished by sanding and staining just like the real thing. I'm not entirely convinced of the wisdom of this as I believe the surface textures are doomed to be wrong in all but the very very highest quality of work ( but that is a subject for another day). At 1/24th scale I believe that temptation has virtually disappeared.

St Peters in Rome, as displayed at the Minimundus Park in Austria

This is not a universally held view however. The highly professional Austrian Minimundus operation has this to say on the subject "A second reason why our models look so realistic is that we primarily use original materials, like marble, sandstone, basalt, tuff, etc. - insofar as it is technically feasible". Since they say they have 300,000 visitors every year and have been open since 1958 they might well be right. Maybe that is the difference between a model of St Peters Rome in a garden setting and a model of a cottage displayed on top of my bookcase.

A 1/24th scale dolls house from Cynosure of Exeter

A look at the dolls house magazines gave me some comfort that I was not alone - even though I was in a distinct minority. Over the past ten years or so it is fair to say that 1/24th has consistently appeared to be the up and coming dolls house scale, but has never (yet) achieved the breakthrough I believe it deserves. Consider it as the Liberal Democrats of the Dolls House world, but operating within a one party state.

Connie Campbell's half-inch house.

If the production of a house is just one step in producing a fully furnished miniature, it has to be admitted that the scale is not to everyone's taste. This is well expressed by Connie Campbell, a prolific US miniaturist " This was my first effort in half inch scale. I love the little house, but I would never build another in this scale! It is much too tedious, plus there is very little furniture and accessories available at a reasonable price." Despite her reservations about the scale she has told The Miniature Builder that she is now having another go - tempted by an English kit.

One maker who has consistently caught my eye is Jeremy Collins of Gable End Designs . Although a lot of his standard offerings are 1/12th scale take a look at his 1/24th special commission of a Georgian style vicarage http://www.gable-end-designs.co.uk/vicarage.htm. Although I have only seen his work featured in the dolls-house magazines, it seems to me that he is a perfect example of a modeller of buildings for their own sake ; something The Miniature Builder is of course committed to promoting.

A tiny fraction of the Dutch miniature town of Madurodum....all built profesionally to 1/25th

The selection of 1/24th as a scale for buildings of this size displays clearly its Anglo American and woodworking heritage - dedicatedly imperial in its measurements. The obvious metric alternative of 1/25th is used for some professional architectural models and if you are happy working in metric then just carry on. Could you tell the difference by eye from a 1/24th model? Does anyone except the maker care? Using the strange hybrid scaling beloved of so many railway modellers I suppose you could also think of it as 12.5mm to the foot. As ever, you are welcome to write to editor@MiniatureBuilder.co.uk on this and any other subjects.

Since the G in G Scale stands for garden the techniques and materials for 1/24th Model Railways, and for Model Villages/Towns, are inevitably different to those employed in the Dolls House world. Take a look for example at American manufacturer Stoneworks who offer real stone pieces and a range of reusable formwork and casting masters for use with their Quikrete® Vinyl Cement product - modelling miniature buildings in cement (www.rrstoneworks.com). Look also at the construction page within the Dutch Madurodam website which discusses their preference for synthetic materials, brass and wood. www.madurodam.nl

Lighter materials can of course be used and one interesting idea, cribbed from Stephen Bazire's website (http://www.ukppg.org.uk/southwold-garden.html) displaying his Southwold railway, is to use a perspex box covered with balsa and corrugated plastic - which he claims to produce a robust structure. He adds that he uses copious amounts of Cuprinol in construction and finds "Ranch" paint very long lasting (at least five years so far without deterioration). One of his stations, Wenhaston, has a village made from the British Outline Building kits, heavily adapted, and with a better tiled roof.

The raw materials for the miniature building trades – construction, joinery, wall finishes, roofing, flooring, etc - are all available in this scale, though the range is not as wide as in 1/12th or 4mm/OO/HO scales.

One of the more irritating features of shopping for model building components is that several retail and web outlets feature products without identifying the manufacturer. In featuring products within The Miniature Builder we will try wherever possible to make clear the source of products. You can then choose who to buy them from.

Complete kits are produced by

www.grandadstoys.fsnet.co.uk/ 24thhouse.htm

Pola A range of central European prototypes from Swiss manufacturer, part of the Faller stable. For my taste they all look a bit too clean and shiny but they could always be weathered. My favourite, and the most exportable to other landscapes, is the "timber storage place", an open fronted shed complete with stacks of cut timber . View their catalogue via the website of US retailer http://www.charlesro.com/pdf/pola2004.pdf

I've not seen the British Outline Building kits in the flesh but they certainly look to be very attractive as displayed on the Garden Railway Specialists website http://www.grsuk.com. I particularly like the Welsh Farm cottage. Unfortunately the way their site is constructed does not make it possible to display any extracts here for you. Are GRS the manufacturer here or just a retailer?

Freelance Buildings a limited range of UK trackside prototypes , with a couple of stone cottages.

Windows and doors in this scale are produced by Houseworks (US) - wooden , Precision Products (US) - plastic, Grandt Line (US) -plastic , Garden Railway Specialists of Princes Risborough (UK), Model Building Supplies (Canada) .

Precision Products windows Grandt Line doors

Embossed or moulded sheets for walling, flooring etc are produced by Model Building Supplies (Canada) Pola have a couple of stone pattern sheets. American manufacturer Stoneworks who offer real stone pieces and a range of reusable formwork and casting masters for u ---- casting master sheets (Precision Products), 15" x 15" x .025 styrene plastic sheets are reusable.

"Real" bricks and tiles are produced by Richard Stacey (UK)

UK Stockists of some or all of these products include

Garden Railway Specialists of Princes Risborough, http://www.grsuk.com. for Freelance,

Scalestreet (web only) who can supply in the UK many of the Canadian company MBS's embossed sheet products,

http://www.ontrackscart.co.uk/faller/faller_mainindex.html

UK Garden Railways www.ukgardenrailways.co.uk(web only) for Pola buildings ,

If you are based in North America, mainland Europe or elsewhere and know of good sources in your patch , or know of other suppliers or outlets in the UK, do let us know and we will add your information. [ editor@MiniatureBuilder.co.uk ]

www.charlesro.com - huge US railway retail site

Scalestreet

High quality brick paper and printed house fronts in all scales including 1/12th, 1/24th, 1/32nd, 1/48th, 1/76th and 1/87th . If standard sheets do not meet your needs, bespoke products are available.

Scalestreet also offer a wide range of MBS moulded styrene sheets in 1/24th scale and other 1/24th items .

Specialists in brick and stone products. Almost anything achievable in full size brick and stone can be reproduced in miniature using their products, all cut from natural materials.

weathered tiles

All products available in 1:12 scale ; many are also available in 1:16, 1:19 and 1:24 scales. www.richardstacey.com

Scalestreet

Scalestreet also offer a wide range of MBS moulded styrene sheets in 1/24th scale and other 1/24th items .

Specialists in brick and stone products. Almost anything achievable in full size brick and stone can be reproduced in miniature using their

products, all cut from natural materials.

weathered tiles

All products available in 1:12 scale ; many are also available in 1:16, 1:19 and 1:24 scales. www.richardstacey.com

Scalestreet

Scalestreet also offer a wide range of MBS moulded styrene sheets in 1/24th scale and other 1/24th items .

In praise of 1/24th scale

Scalestreet

Scalestreet

Scalestreet

In praise of
1/24th scale