Diecast Vehicles on Your Layout??

Very nice fire house.  Those are beautiful model fire engines.

Lee, you mentioned the New Ray 1/43 tractor-trailers. I was seriously considering buying a number of those, as they're so much more affordable than most O scale-ish trucks. They offer 35' van trailers which would seem to make good flatcar loads for the 50s-70s era. But, if they're huge, maybe not. Does anyone have a pic of a New Ray truck mixed in with other diecast? Thanks in advance,

Alan

Speaking of Die Cast, Recently some RexToys Die cast Automobiles 1/43 have become available at several dealers and on the bay. The story told to me yesterday is that the person who owned RexToys passed away in 1990 and the company (based in france) went out of business. These Die Cast Vehicles (circa 1930-1940's) have recently surfaced. I have purchased about a dozen of them and really like their Quality being all metal with rubber tires (although pricey at 30-40 Dollars). Some of the Die Cast Dealers are comparing them to the top line Die Cast being produced today. I really like the 1940 Packard yellow Taxi's and black and white police cars. I have noticed and been told by several dealers that they do not have many left and there will be no more. Just posting this in case anyone is looking for additional Die Cast Vehicles. Regards, Casey.

Really nice of you to say so, Dewey. Thanks very much (and it is enjoyable to try to be helpful.)

Gentlemen,

I really appreciate all of the tips and photos you posted.  This gives me a better understanding of what scales "play" nicely with others.  You guys have some amazing layouts.  I enjoyed staring at the photos and being mesmerized by the creativity.  Keep them coming! 

The New Ray '53 Mack tractor trailer is not monstrous - I have a number, as for example the ones I converted to Superstreets, and they seem to fit on my layout nicely.  I like that model a lot.  

Below are photos of the New Ray 1:43 model of a more modern Kenworth that I said is too big for my layout.   It is in among all 1:43 cars on the street shown.  I will let your decide if it is right for you. I think it 1:43 scale - not a bad model, just a monster truck in the real world.  Shown with it in the four pictures below are: first, face to face with one of the gigantic (four across seating) Fiat Auto race transporters (this is an Exoto 1:43 model of the Ferrari 1956 Targa Florio team).  Next, face to face with a 1:50 Corgi cab over, then with a VW bug, and finallyand finally, just on the street.

As I said earlier, I prefer 1:50 models for big trucks and 1:43 for cars.  The 1:50 Corgi looks big in comparison to the cars but not quite too big.  I like the Kenworth though, but it IS big, isn't it?  The price was sure right. It cost about 20$ and came with a nice trailer matching its container, about the size of it, that it tows.

Thanks so much, Lee. That shot of the Kenworth staring down the 1:50 International cabover is the sort of thing I was afraid of. (As would be the driver of the International. )

I was actually thinking of the '53 Mack you mention, as well as a Peterbilt from the same era. Asheville Die-Cast offers them for only $12, which is a fraction the price of most semis in near O scale. Here's the Pete:

http://asheville-diecast.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=22563&category_id=345

Lee,  I like the Bartoletti Transporter with the Ferraris.

As a matter of fact, I just got an Exoto Bartoletti Transporter and a Bartoletti II Cobra Transporter in the mail.   Now the search in on for cars for these two transporters.

The Exotos are quite pricey, but Exoto does have a factory outlet store that offers some of the models for about 1/2 price!  Here is a link to the Exoto Tifosi website, if anyone is interested, http://www.exototifosi.com/s/2/ProductList.aspx?Language=en&AttributeType=Category&AttributeId=271&showAll=true

By the way, Exoto Tifosi has a 1969 AIR Racing Team Gift set on sale (another set that I'm seriously considering ).  AIR was James Garner's (Maverick, Rockford Files, etc.) racing team that Garner owned from 1967-69.

Jim

I thought I add a few photos to help with the comparisons.

Photo 1:

1:43 Police Car

1:43 New Ray medium duty truck

1:50 Corgi fire truck

While I wouldn't place the medium duty truck next to the fire truck, you can see in Photo 2 that the police car and fire truck do work just fine next to one another. I hope this helps.

Thanfully I searched for this topic before I created my own!!  This is a HUGE help.  I'm starting to slowly collect the diecast for my layout and I briefly remember finding this thread on google.  The pictures definitely help.

Frank,

I really like the first picture, it looks amazing!!!

Where do you guys get all of these cool looking buildings??? 

I completely agree!  Again, where do these buildings come from??  Homemade?

The newest addition to my diecast collection from Diecastdirect.com. A 1958 Nash Metropolitan made by Dinky.

Also got a 1956 Corvette hardtop made by Dinky.