Model airports for model railroads?

alocsin · 12-29-2011, 06:48 AM

Do you know of anyone who has incorporated an airport into their model railroad layout (other than Miniatur Wunderland, of course)?

I'm interested in doing that with my own railroad layout and am wanting to see how others have done it. Thanks.

Commuter · 12-29-2011, 09:28 AM

I have not; but thought about it some years ago when into model railroading. First of all, what scale is your railroad? A small portion of an airport; part of terminal with one or two planes at it, the end of the runway with a plane there, frontage of terminal; these are thoughts. Depends also on the size of your layout and how much space you have.

alocsin · 12-29-2011, 10:07 AM

My railroad is HO (1/87). I was thinking of building a piece of the main terminal in 1/87, but beyond that, you'd be able to see a distant runway with 2 or 3 1/400 planes waiting to take off.

Obviously, even if models were available in 1/87, using that size on a layout would take up too much space.

Commuter · 12-31-2011, 05:24 PM

Sounds feasible. Good luck with incorporating a bit of an airport into your layout. Be sure to post a picture or two.

alocsin · 12-31-2011, 06:28 PM

Will do, thanks. While you're here, do you know of an inexpensive source for 1/400 diecast airliners?

SaabsOverSAW · 12-31-2011, 07:39 PM

Just did a quick search and found that T-scale trains are in the 1:450 scale, so I think that you might be able to pull off a realistic display using 1:400 planes.

alocsin · 12-31-2011, 08:43 PM

Ah yes. T-scale is a strange scale, and not considered one of the regular production scales because it never caught on. It's only available from one or two Japanese manufacturers, who have produced maybe 5 or 6 locomotives, most of them Japanese.

But you're right, it would fit in with a 1:400 airport. You could also model an entire city in that scale on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.

Flight fan · 01-01-2012, 08:07 AM

I've seen a rail module with a small airfield on it, along with a Swedish Spitfire i think it was.

alocsin · 01-01-2012, 10:40 AM

You wouldn't happen to have the website name, Flightfan?

Flight fan · 01-01-2012, 10:45 AM

Im not even sure they have a website. I've seen it with my own eyes at a couple of shows.

Commuter · 01-04-2012, 02:26 PM

Alocsin;

There are numerous places to get the aircraft you are looking for. JetWay Models, Waffle Collectables, Jet Collector and Diecastaircraft are a few. They all have good websites and give great service.

alocsin · 01-04-2012, 06:26 PM

Thanks for those names. I only knew about JetWay and will check the others out.

LOT 737-300 · 01-07-2012, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alocsin

Ah yes. T-scale is a strange scale, and not considered one of the regular production scales because it never caught on. It's only available from one or two Japanese manufacturers, who have produced maybe 5 or 6 locomotives, most of them Japanese.

But you're right, it would fit in with a 1:400 airport. You could also model an entire city in that scale on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.

It's still around, only one major manufacture, though there is a British outlet that also makes a BR Class 43. There is also a lot of work out there for brass and plastic shells of North American, Australian and British prototypes (E8A, F7A, Deltic prototype and so forth.) So for RTR stuff, your best bet is definitely the Eishindo stuff, which at last check is the 103 Series (discontinued, various liveries), Hankyu 9000 Series, and the KiHa 40 and 47. They also made a Garden railway in 1:32, and a VERY disappointing looking ICE 3.

I actually am working on a mixture of a T-Gauge double oval with a 1:500 scale air museum on the outside of it.

I have a neighbor who has been with N Gauge since the beginning (hell he likely has a issue of model railroader that talks about Lone Star's Treble O scale with those rubber band drives back in the early 60s

), and according to him it also was a slow start at first.

I can tell you, with the way it is, it is a tough scale to sell, not to mention that in the US last I've heard from a retailer at a train show, the distributor sells to retailers at the same price as he does to everyone else.

It also started fairly affordable too, and sorta, for what you get, still is, but damn, with the current exchange rate with the strong Yen, it made T so much more expensive!

You can find some Cessnas from herpa in HO, problem is, that at last check, unless something changed, virtually all of them are under the German "D" register. Otherwise, you'll have to get creative with what else you can find, including figure out how to get convincing landing gear on some of the 1:100 scale stuff (though believe me, it will be very big, so best to stick with small commuter props no larger than a SAAB 340 if you want to keep things realistic, and leave out the runway too (or at least don't model the whole thing).)

alocsin · 01-07-2012, 11:46 AM

Thanks for all that info, LOT. But wow, a railroad with an air museum. That sounds fantastic. I'd love to see photos of it.

Thomas32125 · 01-09-2012, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alocsin

My railroad is HO (1/87). I was thinking of building a piece of the main terminal in 1/87, but beyond that, you'd be able to see a distant runway with 2 or 3 1/400 planes waiting to take off.

Obviously, even if models were available in 1/87, using that size on a layout would take up too much space.

Herpa released some 1:87 Cessnas:

HERPA Miniaturmodelle GmbH - Online - Produkte

SaabsOverSAW · 01-09-2012, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas32125

Herpa released some 1:87 Cessnas:

HERPA Miniaturmodelle GmbH - Online - Produkte

The N- registered (silver) one is available over here for only $20: Product Detail - AirplaneShop.Com

alocsin · 01-09-2012, 07:04 PM

Thanks you Thomas and SaabsOverSAW. These look great.

Did these just come out?

Are they diecast or need to be assembled?

ralph morton · 02-25-2012, 05:18 AM

Many years ago a British model railway magazine showed a layout where a couple of 1-144 Airfix or Revell airliners in Lufthansa colours sat on a corner of a German outline N guage layout (I think at the time Lufthansa operated its own streamlined railcar units between Cologne and Frankfurt, and these were available in N guage from Lima I think). Some N guage cars, buses and fuel tankers were added to the airliners for effect.
Not quite Miniatur Wunderland but the scales are close enough. It is also possible of course to create "false perspective" by mixing scales. In the famous Father Ted sketch Father Ted tries to explain to Father Dougal that some cows are smaller because they are further away...

. So one could have an N guage layout with the rail part in the foreeground and the airport in the background. This technique is used in tv and film layouts as well, notably the Gerry Anderson shows.

mod_ler · 03-02-2012, 08:24 AM

The Cincinnati (Ohio) Historical Society has a large S-Gauge model railroad layout in the Union Terminal that includes a model of the Art Deco Lunken Airport, circa early 1940's. I have a photo of the model airport terminal, but I can't figure out how to post it.

fazeman · 03-02-2012, 11:05 PM

Alocsin,

If you're still around, check out https://www.justplanefun.com/Herpa-W...t-p-12189.html. Herpa Wings also carries individual 1:87 models so they can be added to the airport portion of your railroad diorama.