Are Kits by Custom Model Railroads Under Scale?

There as been some discussion about whether the N scale kits produced by Custom Model Railroads — to which I have no affiliation, by the way — are under scale.  This is based on the reaction of readers here after seeing the CMR kits near structures produced by Design Preservation Models (now Woodland Scenics).

To me, the CMR kits also felt under scale — at first glance the floor height appears to be 7 scale feet or so when compared to other commercial kits. So, I did a bit of investigative work on floor height.

It seems that CMR is probably using one of the more prototypical measures compared to several other companies.  This is sort of like comparing apples to oranges because I don’t think some of these other manufacturers are in the same category of CMR, but this is what I’ve found.  Note: I am measuring story height from the bottom of one window to the bottom of the window above it.  That is essentially a point to point measurement using the windows as a guide since those would be consistently placed from floor to floor.

Custom Model Railroads (St. Paul Building) – 9.5′
Design Preservation Models (average of several buildings) – 10.5′
Model Power (Jackson Meat Packaging) – 13′
Walthers (American Hardware) – 12′

To further the comparison, I also measured the door height on the same structures:

Custom Model Railroads: 7′
Design Preservation Models: 8.5′
Model Power: 9′
Walthers: 8′

Typically, a commercial structure would have a floor height or 9-10‘ (maybe 11′) and an exterior door height of 7-8‘.  For a high rise like the St. Paul, I would actually expect floor height to be at least 10′ and exterior door height to be 8′. From that standpoint, I believe the CMR kits are in scale, but tend to be on the lower end of what would be prototypical.

But to CMR’s credit, I think the real issue is that so many N scale kits are well over scale — including the Asian/European kits that tend more toward 1:150 scale. I think we’ve become accustomed to seeing these larger kits and accepting them for N scale when they really aren’t.

Overall, I’m just fine with CMR’s interpretation of N scale and I’ll purchase from them again.

Filed under: Products, Structures , Custom Model Railroads, model, model kit, model railroad, model railroading, N Scale, scale model, scale modeling, structure

The Real Donaldson’s Department Store: Prototype for the CMR Kit

Keeping with the current series of posts highlighting the N scale kits by Custom Model Railroads, let’s take a look at Donaldson’s Department Store.

Again, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, this department store was known as “The Golden Rule” store prior to 1961 when it was renamed to Donaldson’s Golden Rule and eventually just Donaldson’s.  The building was built in 1886.

Filed under: Prototypes, Structures , Custom Model Railroads, prototype, St. Paul, structure, The Golden Rule

The Real Fidelity & Guaranty Building: Prototype for the CMR Kit

Since several of us seem to have an interest in the kits being produced  by Custom Model Railroads in N scale, I thought I’d continue to provide information about the buildings they’re using as prototypes so that you have reference for color or super detailing.

For this post, I’ll cover the CMR kit for Fidelity & Guaranty Co.  The prototype for this kit is in Baltimore, MD and the full name of the building is the United States Fiedlity and Guaranty Company Building or USF&G.  Many of these kits seem to be directly tired to St. Paul, MN.  Interestingly enough, the USF&G was purchased by the “Saint Paul Companies” in 1998.

I am a fan of the prototype color scheme instead of what CMR used in their version so I will most likely use this when I get to building this kit.

Note, if you Google the USF&G or Fidelity & Guaranty, I believe the USF&G “building” was actually a complex and in many cases, the taller building to the left of this photo will come up.

Filed under: Prototypes, Structures , Baltimore, prototype, structure, USF&G