Road vehicle scales

[Will Vale]

Hi there,

 

I've recently acquired a handful of 1:76 road vehicles as candidates for my layout - a mix of different manufacturers since I'm not really familiar with the market at all. The layout is modern image, but there isn't that much modern image stuff in 1:76, so what I ended up with is:

 

* Escort XR3i (Oxford Diecast, modern-ish)

 

* Morris Minor traveller (Oxford Diecast, parents' car when I was little)

 

* Morris Minor convertible (Pocketbond, ditto)

 

* MAN artic. in Turners of Soham livery (Oxford, based just down the road from where the layout is set)

 

* Leyland Roadtrain (Base Toys)

 

These are all labelled 1:76, but they're really diverse in size - the artic is enormous, the moggies and Escort are tiny. Obviously I know that modern trucks are big, and old cars are small, but the truck dwarfs my wagons, and the cars look almost too small for a 1:76 person to get into. Are the scales right? Is it just that I don't have a good appreciation of the sizes of different vehicles? I can sort of see that the truck's trailer is not far off ISO container dimensions, but taller - presumably because it's refrigerated and isn't a removable container, so it can be larger, other than that they all look a little odd in combination with each other, figures and trains.

 

I realise this may be a "file under stupid" kind of question, and I hesitated to post it. Any advice or reassuring cries of "they're scale, don't worry" would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Will

[Il Grifone]

I'm not sure of the exact dimensions of the cars quoted, but these can often be found on Google.

 

As a rough guide, a car is usually between 10- 15 feet long. (A Morris Minor is somewhere in the middle.) (American cars are longer 18-20 feet not being uncommon.) For an artic. we are looking at a cab height of the order of 9 feet.

 

Sorry to be imprecise, but it's a problem I've had myself with vehicle dimensions.

[PhilJ W]

The modern diecasts are generally close to if not exactly 1/76 scale. The one exception is Corgi Trackside who have for some reason made their smaller van and car models in 1/72 scale, not that it matters very much as the models themselves are pretty dire and most are covered by other manufacturers. Modern cars are today a lot larger than their predecessors, compare the current Mini with a classic Mini and the size difference is startling. Models of modern cars in 1/76 scale are few and far between and the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future. The mass of 1/72 scale modern cars that were available are starting to reduce as manufacturers cease production in favour of other scales/products. The Cararama factory for example now produces Oxfords diecasts for them. Other manufacturers such as Yat Ming have moved on to larger scales and a few other's were not generally sold in the UK.

[melmerby]

I wonder whether the 1:72 scale is a hangover from model aircraft as they were often to that scale?

 

Keith

[PhilJ W]

I wonder whether the 1:72 scale is a hangover from model aircraft as they were often to that scale?

 

Keith

1/72 is one of the few model scales that is truly international and is probably the most popular with all types of models, you can even find rolling stock and locomotives in this scale.

[Will Vale]

Thanks for all the tips and details - I wondered why the Cararama cars were so hard to find, now I know.

 

The Oxford Morris Minors scale out to 12 feet long, the Escort is about a foot longer. The big MAN truck is about 10 feet to the top of the driver's door, maybe another foot and a half of height in the air dam on the roof. Looking at Wikipedia, the cars must be about right, and I found a MAN brochure which shows the truck is bang on scale.  Interestingly, Wikipedia also says that 1/72 dates from 1930s model aircraft.

 

So it looks like I don't really have to worry (although my slightly under-scale bridge looks a bit silly with the truck on it) and it was an issue of perception. They still look odd to me, perhaps because as a passenger I don't often see small cars and big trucks in close proximity to trains. Especially difficult since our loading gauge is different here (not to mention the track gauge) and I didn't pay enough attention when we still lived in England. I suspect there may also be a subconscious expectation that model cars are the same size as the "fits the box" Matchbox and Siku ranges, ingrained from an '80s Matchbox childhood

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Thanks for all the tips and details - I wondered why the Cararama cars were so hard to find, now I know.

 

The Oxford Morris Minors scale out to 12 feet long, the Escort is about a foot longer. The big MAN truck is about 10 feet to the top of the driver's door, maybe another foot and a half of height in the air dam on the roof. Looking at Wikipedia, the cars must be about right, and I found a MAN brochure which shows the truck is bang on scale. Interestingly, Wikipedia also says that 1/72 dates from 1930s model aircraft.

 

So it looks like I don't really have to worry (although my slightly under-scale bridge looks a bit silly with the truck on it) and it was an issue of perception. They still look odd to me, perhaps because as a passenger I don't often see small cars and big trucks in close proximity to trains. Especially difficult since our loading gauge is different here (not to mention the track gauge) and I didn't pay enough attention when we still lived in England. I suspect there may also be a subconscious expectation that model cars are the same size as the "fits the box" Matchbox and Siku ranges, ingrained from an '80s Matchbox childhood

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

 

 

 

You might be able to get some models in NZ that are hard to come by in the UK. Real-X are made mainly for the Japanese market and consequently many have right hand drive and are of prototypes that are common in Europe even if under a different model name. If you are modelling NZ railways have you ever considered 'S' scale? (1/64). The NZ gauge of 3' 6" comes out at very near 16.5 mm in that scale and there are masses of diecasts in that scale also.

[HLT 0109]

I think one can afford to be flexible with the scale of road vehicles on a 00 gauge layout. Unless the layout is small, I feel there is an advantage in using H0 scale vehicles towards the back with 00 scale in the foreground. The problem is that the one thing we cannot scale, is distance and I am beginning to think that too many 00 scale vehicles and buildings detract from the railway. It is a difficult balance but I have an H0 Jaguar on my moorland road towards the backscene and it looks right - the road can also then be narrower giving better perspective. I am also toying with the idea of scratch built buildings towards the back of my layout to HO scale or perhaps a little smaller.

 

Harold.

[grw184]

Will

 

I've been thinking the same way... similar collection to yours of Oxford, Carama etc esp. earlier ones like Ford Anglia, BMC Mini/1100 etc, they really do look small up against (eg) an EFE double decker <until> I found myself walking past a second-hand dealer in the wrong end of Bristol, I now realise just how small British cars actually were then - sat in the front of a real 1100 (he's got a dream of a restored Humber Super Sceptre - that's not small though!) thinking back to when Dad, Mum, 3 kids and luggage used to take the slow route to Cornwall in one of these!

 

GRW184

[Hippo]

Don't know if it helps. But the Turners of Soham Artic is based on a MAN TGA tractor unit, which would have a running height of around 13-14ft, The trailer is a standard 45ft reffer, so all in all you would be looking of a total length of 55ft.

 

Hope that is of some help

Cheers

Owen