Can Menards HO Scale American Power and Light work for "S" gauge?

I have the ho version for my ho layout and it is great. If you put the building in the  back of the layout it should work great for S scale. 

Make sure you order the transformer from Menards to power the lights. 

Dave

I have about 6 menards buildings in O gauge (power plant not being one of them). 

I recently looked at the HO buildings, and contemplated how they would scale up for S, and ultimately, to my eye they were to small.  It seems to me, that an industrial building is generally proportioned bigger than the train, not smaller, especially when a train is going through it, or next to it. The only O buildings that look blatantly out of size to me in an S world are residential buildings. Menards O gauge factories, plants, engine facilities and barn all work in my mind because there is no set or standard size common to all structures of that nature, generally no two barns are a set size in hight, with and length.  This leaves open the ability for a lot of plausibility with incorporating smaller O gauge structures into the S world. The only real issue for me is the doors. Windows on industrial and commercial facilities and be huge, and bay doors are of all sizes, but people doors....not so much.  I don't much care for how the actual numbers work out to be S scale (L*W*H) but that to my eye the train and building seem proportional (more or less).  

A Menards example at the top, barn meant for O gauge, but to my eye works well with S.  

Ben

Mark, I have all my diesels packed at the moment. I have an AM Northern and a Lionel Flyer Mikado on the track. Both will clear 3.5" from the rail head. What I would do is lower the track as it enters the opening so the rail head is even with the bottom of the structure. Alternatively raise the ground the building sits on to achieve the same result. I would also raise the ground on the side with the roll up doors almost to the top of the stone foundation so the S  scale trucks do not appear too much out of proportion. It should look fine on the layout.

Mark,

I saw these buildings at our  local Menards when I was out yesterday. I thought that they were S scale and looking at the people that are with them they sure looked S to me. I did not have a ruler to check how tall the people were but to me I thought S, then I saw them labeled as HO. Really nicely done buildings and already lit.

Ray 

I have never entered a Menards store nor seen any of their HO nor O scale structures. Menards' website suggests that their westernmost store is in Casper, WY, but my only drive-by contact was in 2010 in South Duluth, MN, while attending NASG's national convention. Menards was not known as a model railroad merchant then.

In the next three weeks I will have the opportunity to visit one or more Menards stores as I ride Amtrak to Wisconsin for November's Fall S Fest. I will ride the Empire Builder from Portland to La Crosse and drive a rental car to Watertown/Oconomowoc. Menards stores in La Crosse, Onalaska, Baraboo, Madison and Pewaukee all appear to be potential stops close to my intended route. My question is whether all Menards stores have a train department? Will the larger towns will have larger inventories, or will the smaller towns be less picked over? How much I can buy will depend on what structures I find available and how much S merchandise I sell at the show. I will bring plenty of out-of-production AM and SHS, but little or no Flyer.

A recent downsizing from a 2,300 square-foot house to a four-room apartment is the reason for my transition from S scale to On30. I have plenty of experience converting structures from one scale to another, and my project this weekend is turning a B.T.S. East End Grocery 1/64 scale kit into a 1/48 scale fish 'n' chips cafe at the end of a fishing pier. Enlarging two door openings and expanding the spacing of tarpaper roofing strips are the primary changes.

Gil Hulin

Gil in Oregon posted:

....My question is whether all Menards stores have a train department? .....

Gil Hulin

Hi Gil,

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but here's my thoughts. 

I live about halfway between the two easternmost stores and I don't get over to them that often, but it looks like the train items are mostly seasonal.  You might also try looking online where you can search on the Menard's site for "train stuff" to bring up all the train items.  If you look at an item you can always search the different stores to see if they stock it.  You can also order it for pickup at a store so you don't have to pay postage.  I've done that on occasion.

Good Luck!  Mike A.

Mark, aka BANJOFLYER,

Well you've done it again!  Tempting me to make another purchase.  You must like seeing me spend my money!  LOL

Those lights on the exterior are soo cool!  Resistance is futile.  HaHaHaHa!

Mike A.

Gil,

Madison East is the smallest store in our area, a week ago they had nothing. Their toy area is small when they get it going. Best bet close to your route in the Madison area would be Monona. They were setting up a full side of an aisle two week ago. They had the HO power and light when I was there. I agree with the post above, a bit small for S but for perspective, should be fine.  

Safe travels 

Gil, can you shoot me an email, should be in my profile. 

Ben 

Around her the Power Plants are Massive in size, and the delivery doors are oversize to allow the huge parts for the generators to be brought into the building.  Have you considered using the O Scale Menards power station?  Around here the Power Station buildings dwarf anything near them in size.

See http://www.cggc.cc/attachement...ab74f8160c539c20.jpg as an example

LittleTommy

Gil in Oregon posted:

[...] My question is whether all Menards stores have a train department? Will the larger towns will have larger inventories, or will the smaller towns be less picked over? [...]

Gil Hulin

Hi Gil,

While all of our stores will have an allotted amount of space for train items (most stores are currently setting the displays now or have done so already), it is very unpredictable how much stock each store will have or if they are sold out.

Ultimately, ordering online and shipping to your home or a store is the only way to guarantee you will find the item(s) you are looking for as Mike A. alluded to in his post above.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

I wonder if the O Korbers power plant would be good?

Clem 

Clem wrote "I wonder if the O Korbers power plant would be good?"

The style of the Korber kits is very similar to the older structures in the power plants in Niagara Falls Ontario, which rely on hydropower rather than coal.  

I have the Power Substation structure see https://mrmuffinstrains.com/co...s/products/kor-917-k

and have an HO transformer station see  https://www.walthers.com/power...quot-14-x-13-x-8-5cm next to it 

Then I have HO scale tranmisson towers leading away from it  see https://www.walthers.com/high-...t-6-4-x-6-4-x-23-8cm

It looks pretty good on my layout.

Since I don't have coal to be delivered to a hydro power plant-I have transformers or other large parts delivered by rail  see https://www.walthers.com/transformers-2fdbb2

LittleTommy

I have placed the O gauge Morton Salt Factory on my train table......It is outstanding......yes it is big but when you compare the people, doors, windows etc it is the same size as the Gilbert buildings.  After thinking about it I have decided that after 20+ years its time that older buildings can be replaced with something else....... so goodbye to the mystro factory and the beans and frank stand is closing.......now I will have room to place the kraut factory and maybe the white owl/lawyer office building.

My "S" layout is very small, but many of the buildings are "HO" Woodland Scenics Ready-Build structures. Some HO looks too small, some just right. My "test" is to view it with S automobiles and people figures. If they look OK, I'm good to go. 

I started noticing that different brands of HO buildings seemed to be different sizes. I also asked members of a huge S modular layout at a show what they used. They pointed out a number of HO buildings that sported S size doors.