I am looking at doing a scene of a German rail yard, and was wondering what scale of track to use to for 1:35 Cyber-Hobby train cars. If I can get away from using the plastic rail and base it comes with it would add that touch of realism to the build. Any help would be fantastic, thanks in advance.

Hi,

If you are refering to 1/35 none of the train gauge is accurate being G the closest IIRC.

Why not using the kit rails and ties making a new base with cat litter or specific products to simulate the ballast ?

Hi TUGA, thanks for the reply. I think your suggestion is the best option to go with. Kitty litter can be very convincing.

HI,

If you check at RailRoad Modeling here at KitMaker Net you can find several topics dealing with the subject.

HTH

Hey Steve, when using kitty litter make sure it is the brown stuff. The gray colored stuff is made from clay and when glued down turns mushy, also when trying to paint it. Also, find track that fits your wheel base. I had some plastic ties with brass rails and had altered the wheel axles on one of DML's flat beds to fit it. I had to switch rails as the loco could not be altered because the wheels were mounted on the outside of the frame and the first rail car now fits nothing. So now thanks to Milvehfan I have a new one coming. An expensive way to screw up and lost time on my pet project.

Dioman...duly noted. And great advice on the kitty litter....I had no idea about the difference in them. Thanks for the heads up. If I had screwed that up, my wife and daughter would have heard words coming from the workshop they had never heard before!

Hey Steve, you're welcome. I went through the school of hard knocks on that one, and really don't want anyone to have to repeat the process like I did. Only thing I salvaged was the Stuart tank and the track clean up was a P.I.T.A.!

This reply is late, but may be of help. There is operational railroad modeling in 1:32 (AKA Scale One), mostly in Germany (Marklin brand dominates) and England, where some guys had started taking it ourdoors a long time ago. This uses a track gauge of 45 mm, which is what LGB chose (due to it's existing use outdoors) for their "G" scale models of German and Austrian prototype meter gauge trains, and why these have the odd scale of 1:22.5.

Although this is true G scale, today the term is widely (and incorrectly) used to describe anything running on 45mm gauge track, whether it is 1:24, 1:22.5, 1:20.3, 1:29 or 1:32 in scale. It's a complex story and you can find the history online if you really care.

Standard Gauge railroad track is spaced at 4' 8 1/2", or 1435 mm. Russian track is usually 1520 mm or 4' 11 1/2", called 5' gauge for convenience. Standard Gauge in 1:35 is 41 mm. You could make your own track by buying the rail and ties, or making ties from basswood or other strip. You would also need spikes and you'd have to make your own "rail gauge" to keep the rails parallel and at the correct separation as you lay them, and there is a special plier for inserting the spikes.

I'm planning on widening the gauge on some plastic 1:35 railcars and adding 1:32 metal wheelsets to run them on Gauge One track. For engines you would need to find an appropriate 1:32 motor chassis that will fit under your 1:35 superstructure. It's possible that 1:35 could become a recognized model railroad scale in the future, but for now it's restricted to static models.

I do believe I noticed that one manufacturer is producing more accurate 1:35 track, with metal rail.

Charles