Measuring Tips for Using the Right Scale Ruler

It’s happened to all of us before – you’re in the middle of a scratchbuilding project and you grab for a scale ruler to measure a piece of wood, cut it and – it doesn’t fit! Why? In your haste to make progress, you accidentally grabbed the wrong scale ruler on your cluttered workbench! In this video tip, NMRA Master Model Railroader, Gerry Leone, shares a secret that will help prevent such a mistake in the future.

Having a scale ruler handy is essential to model railroad layout planning and structure scratchbuilding.

Sneak up to your wife’s beauty products stash or, better yet, go to a nearby drug store and get a bottle of red nail polish to mark your scale ruler so you’ll easily be able to identify the proper one every time. You might ask – why nail polish? Well, because it doesn’t peel, flake or chip off. Gerry simply daubs on a little polish on the metal ruler to underline the scale so it can be quickly and confidently identified. And it will last for years because, as Gerry points out, it’s “tough as nails!”

Just one more trick from the experts to help make your scratchbuilding projects go more easily and efficiently, preventing product wastage and frustration, by easily identifying the correct scale ruler! For an even more precise measurement, nothing beats a caliper. Learn how easy it is to use a caliper on your model railroad from the pros.