Which scale do you choose to model in? A large scale allows for plenty of wonderful details, but also requires a lot of space and consumes a lot of time.
Smaller scales allow construction of large building complexes, great landscapes and more, but many details will have to be omitted due the small size.
The most popular scale among model railroaders are HO scale, 1:87, which many feel allow for a good balance between allowing lots of details and yet still fit into our homes. For those preferring to focus on larger buildings and a more realistic landscpae, N scale – 1:160, is available with lots of readily available models. For those who prefer the more detailed models, 1:48, 1:32 and even 1:20 provides opportunity to superdetail.
For modellers of military subjects, the popular scales of 1:35 and 1:72 allow for the same choice between detail and grandour, while ship modellers usually choose between 1:350 and 1:700 scale for mass-produced kits.
I have chosen to model my American metropolis in 1:87 scale because of the great supply of building kits, vehicles, trains, figures and thousands if not millions of other offerings from a continually growing industry. But even in this relative small scale, the skyscrapers take up a lot of room. Let us have a look at a selection of high-rises:
The Home Insurance Building in Chicago was completed in 1884 and was the first tall building to use structural steel as a framework. That made the building very light compared to contemporary brick buildings and the Home Insurance Building is usually considered the first real skyscraper.
The 12 stories of Home Insurance building was in total 180 feet/ 55 meters high which would make it 25 inches or 63 centimeters tall in HO scale. Large, but quite manageable.
Another interesting skyscraper to model would be the famous Flatiron Building or Fuller Building in New York City, here seen under construction in 1902, courtesy of the wonderful Shorpy website.
The beautiful triangular building stands 307 feet/94 meters high, equalling 42″ or 108 centimeters in HO scale. Quite a large building for this scale, but still possible to fit into a normal home.
Not long after the completion of the Flatiron Building, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, also in New York City, set a new record for the highest skyscraper in the world.
Consisting of 50 floors, its classically-inspired spire reached 700 feet or 213 meters into the sky. A model in HO scale would be 8 feet/244 centimeters tall, which could just about fit inside a normal home with somewhat high ceilings.
If one were to consider making a model in HO scale of the ultimate skyscraper in the world, the Empire State Building in NYC, a large workshop would be necessary.
The Empire State Building was completed in 1931 with no less than 103 floors. Including the antenna spire, the building is 1,454 feet or 443 meters high. In 1:87 scale, the model would be no less than 17 feet or 5 meters high!
Clearly, modelling the largest skyscrapers is better left to the smaller scales. But prototypically-proportioned skyscrapers up to about 430 feet/130 meters would easily be possible to fit into a normal home or model railroad layout in HO scale.
Currently no mass-produced kits that large are available, with the exception of Custom Model Railroads, which offer kits to be combined into almost any height. After completing my Walthers Cornerstone kitbash skyscraper, I will probably try one of those kits 🙂
Epoch 