N scale in Japan/Europe/Uk

[buckingham]

Ebay always has a variety of buildings for sale, Kato, Tomix, Kibri, Vollmer, Faller.  My understanding is that there is a difference in scale even tho they are all referred to as N scale. So if i try to mix, say Faller, with kato am I getting 1/160 with 1/150?  Kato and Tomix engine and rolling stock are 1/150 so would there be any significant drawback to using some 1/160 buildings?  I understand that some Uk models are 1/148. Is that correct?

[bill937ca]

Shinkansen are 1/160

Other Japanese trains and trams are 1/150

 

Sizes will vary a bit but then prototype sizes also vary. It is easy to find two story buildings beside three story buildings of the same height. Buses vary in length and overall  size  as do trucks.

 

The difference between 1/148 and 1/150 is less than 1%.

 

[buckingham]

Thanks @bill937ca.

But if I am mixing 1/160 with 1/150 , the difference is ~ 6.7%.  Wondering whether that would be significant.

 

[railsquid]

Not really, I have a mix of 1:160 and 1:150 buildings and stock, the difference isn't at all noticeable. Realistically the only way you'd notice a difference is if you had a model of exactly the same object in two different scales side-by-side.

[cteno4]

Yeah I think squid is spot on you will only notice the difference with 2 of the same or very similar things next to each other and you rarely see this. The only thing I have noticed this is with automobiles that are right next to each other. Sometimes a larger 1/160 vehicle can look a bit small next to a smaller 1/150. I think this may be due to our visual memory probably being very attuned to vehicle size as we see them all the time and our brain is very acute at registering vehicle size as we use it when driving to estimate distance and speed of cars around us, especially head on we look a lot at the change in size to estimate speed as it’s hard to use external reference points for this head on.

 

my solution is just use 1/150 vehicles! Easy and cheaper as a lot of Japanese 1/150 vehicles! 

 

Buildings and other scenery stuff are so variable in real life as Bill mentions it works.

 

jeff

[buckingham]

Thanks @railsquid and @cteno4