1:50 scale trucks w/ 1:43 cars???

They can look ok. As long as they're not parked right next to a 1:43 car. You wouldn't want to mix 1:43 and 1:50 trucks in the same scene, then it becomes quite obvious that something is amiss. And the other problem with vehicles in general is despite the scale that the vehicle is sold as, the can vary a lot. I have vehicles stamped as 1:43 that are almost 1:35 and as small as 1:55. This can really complicate things. The bottom line is you will have to be the judge as to what you think looks good. I use figures larger than scale. They just look better to me, maybe I just like the exagerrated look.

I agree with Charlie, you have to give it the eyeball judgment. You can't generalize in this case.

The fire company I belong too had a 1968 American LaFrance pumper.  It looks small compaired to todays equipment.  Anything close to scale size looks good on a layout.  just don't put Hot Wheels or Match Box cars on a O scale layout.

If, possible try to use perspective in placing larger items closer to the viewer and smaller items further away, into the background of the scene.

How do the items look in relation to one another and surrounding objects.

Ralph

Here in O scale, some of the 18 wheelers are huge, and seem grossly oversize, and

I think they must use a dart board to select a scale, and then slap on the box what

they think will sell.   My fire engines are Matchbox 1/43rd, but pre-1940, so are small (and dated) and not going to be appropriate for current railroad modeling.  Unless you are buying them live, and not off the net, it is kind of caveat emptor.   The advice above is good.

Upon further research, I stumbled across an older post that detailed this subject very well:  

https://ogrforum.com/t...n-your-layout?page=1

There are some great pictures here that really summarize the "debate".  I think I'm going to stick with 1:43.  I don't have a lot of opportunity for 'perspective" so things need to be close.  I found that where the mixing and matching breaks down for me between 1:43 and 1:50 is when you add figures into the mix.  A 1:43 car next to a 1:50 truck looks kind of OK to me, but put a few people around it and then it starts to get weird.  Most of my cars will be 50's era - maybe a 1960 here or there, so I do have a few choices, but most are out of era by about 10 years.  I figure the service life of a fire engine to be at least 10 years, so it should all work out.  

Thanks guys!

-Eric

Yat-Ming has some really nice 1:43 fire trucks from the early 20th century.  Check eBay.  Prices are pretty good.

I have decided to set my layout in the year of 1950 so there are plenty of prewar autos that can coexist with early postwar period. I also want to run some limited diesel...a couple of FAs mixed in with the steam. Interesting thing is, I am running O27 so I could probably use S Scale vehicles and structures and no one would notice the difference. A lot of the problem of scale differences can be minimized by positioning of vehicles.

Why they can't just do 1/48th scale and be done with it is beyond me. Oh, and where in the world did 1/50th scale come from?! Big advantage to S scale is that everything that claims to be S is pretty much true 1/64th scale. In case you haven't noticed...our track is way out of gauge for 1/48scale as well...

I recently decided I like 1/43 cars and pick-ups and 1/50 rigs. I like the look of 1/43 cars with O scale equipment and buildings - my 1/50 cars look too small to me on the layout.  However, it does help to group cars with the same scale together in the same area of the layout.

I have a 1:50 Mack fire truck, I picked it up from Die Cast Direct for around $20 - amazing detail for the price.  Bad picture, but it's in the background beside the gas station.

My 1/43 automobiles and pickup trucks look great but I have only one 1/43 semi. Unfortunately, it looks like it's pulling a boxcar and kind of overpowers the buildings and streets so it's stowed under the table. My fire brigade is 1/50 and suits my needs just fine.

I am a big fan of mixing the scales that way: 1:43 cars along with 1:50 trucks.  It is the only way I recommend.  

I talk about why, with pictures, in my second 'Streets book (Modifying and Scratch Building . . . ).  Check out particularly page 71, which has photos.  1:50 trucks with 1:43 cars just look better to me.  BTW you don't have to buy the book, you can download it from my website if you just want to look.  

I have several mixed scale vehicles. That all seem to work well. I have several Corgi and at heart Fire apparatus and they all blend well. 

I have displayed 1:43 scale vehicle on my diorama which mostly has 1:50 scale die-cast models. Though my theme only has contemporary 1:50 scale vehicles, here are some images of my 1:43 Scale Mini Cooper from the MTH Roadsters Collection on a 1:50 Scale Peterbilt 335 tow-truck from TWH Collectables. I tell myself that the model I have is the larger MINI Countryman SUV.

I had more vehicles but the pickup trucks & the newer sedans seem to be really big on 1:50 scale equipment. It was difficult to estimate the relative size of the 1:43 vehicles from online descriptions & even at some hobby shops unless there are 1:50 models close by to compare it against.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan