Exact 1/48 scale automobile models

There aren't many 1:48 models out there.  I have noticed that some of the many available 57 Chevies are smaller than 1:43 - you might check around.  One or another might be 1:48.

Regardless, I much prefer 1:43 for cars ont he layout, the roughly 10% larger than scale size does something that small a bit of good: they look better to me, and I use that scale almost exclusively.  

I have not tried to make my own scale model cars in epoxy  - I have cast some epoxy building facades, etc., and its messy and not worth it in most cases, at least for me.  I did make some scale models (TR-2, XK-120, Daimler 250 (ne Dart) ) out of wood sealed and sanded and painted.  They looked okay but were a ton of work . . . 

Except for my Corgi trucks, most of my vehicle are 1:43 scale and I am quite happy with them.

I have never done any casting, and am looking forward to seeing pics of both your scratchbuilt car and the casting process.

Jim

pro hobby,

With all due respect, good luck on your expedition. I've been in this hobby since 1947. What you are wanting are next to impossible to find. I sold my collection of eighty-five 1925-1937 1:48 diecast cars & trucks in August of this year. It took me the better part of twenty-five years working four hours each day to put my collection together. Learn your time zones and be prepared to call worldwide.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

The only manufacture that made 1/48 scale vehicles or very close to it was the Franklin mint. You see collections of these on the Bay now and then...

It seems many of us on this site have in the past expressed a wish for more 1/48 scale vehicles.  I have a list of cars I myself would like to see (no convertibles), and it does include the '54 Chevy sedan.  I hope you can get this going.

Didn't Atlas as well, a couple years ago?  Weren't they going to start with a '49 Ford?  I wouldn't even mind if the cars were made of plastic.

News to me...and I have 11 different ones. The only brand that the guide "American Wheels" lists as 1:48 are cheap-looking convertibles made by New Ray (aka NuRay).

I too would love to find 1:48 scale automobiles.  The trains are my focus, not the cars, and 1:43 cars close to the track make my trains look less massive.  I would even like more 1:50 cars to better match the trucks and other heavy equipment.

Good luck with your project.

Atlas looked into doing this a few years ago and dropped it when they realised they would have to charge $45. per car to make any profit. Believe it or not, the number of "O" train folk are a "drop in the bucket" in the 1:43 car model market.

It certainly would be nice to see some 1:48 scale autos. I'm curious as to how you settled on the '54 Chevy? The '55 is certainly more iconic among hotrod car enthusiasts  and movie fans because of their prominent role in "Two Lane Blacktop" and "American Graffiti."

That said, if you do a "54 I'd certainly want a couple.  

On thinking about this, some more, if I had to have them, and was really determined, the only way I would go would be to 3-D print them.

But again, I prefer 1:43.  While I don't have a '54 Chevy sedan, I do have two 1:43  '54 Pontiacs.

The 54 Chevy was selected because there are not many renditions of the early 50s cars.

Everyone seems to produce the 57 model in 1/43 scale.

Brooklin made a '54 Chevy wagon. which I have, and a 2-door HT. Athough '55 was the "major change" year for most cars, I think the early '50s cars had a "innocent" look (if that makes any sense). The '54 Chevy, like the '54 Ford, was the final tweek to a 3 year-old design. After that, there were more drastic year-to-year changes for the next 5 years.

Give it up about finding a 1954 Chevy or other 1:48 cars.

Franklin Mint cars are 1:43.

Here's a Brooklin and mystery Chevy.

Bob

This driver refuses to move until you take back your comment about his cheap-looking New Ray Buick!

What's "magical" about 1:43 scale, but not 1:48?  Is there some collectors group that has 1:43 standard, much like NMRA has DCC and other standards that manufacturers tend to adhere to for compatibility and interoperability?

Yep.....1/43 is a long established European scale for car models. One of those things......already a popular scale so the mass producers jumped on it.

I'd love to see a line of 1/48 50's era cars and trucks.

1/43 is the scale for O-gauge toy trains made in Europe (and MTH's European series).  Long ago folks started making deicast cars in that scale, and it took hold: many more people collect 1"43 cars in Europe than buy them for model railroading - the market is much better and very well established, so the manufacturers are not about to change.  As to adding a line of 1:48 cars, too - why? the sales would be tiny compared to their 1:43, so they just stick with them.  

Nothing magical.  I know it's hard to comprehend, but there ARE other hobbies/hobbyists out there besides model railroading and its own idiosynchrosies.

Diecast anything promotes a wide range of collectors/hobbyists.  Autos, trucks, farm equipment, military this-and-that, commercial planes, emergency vehicles, etc.,etc.,etc..  They have their groups, clubs, societies, meets, markets, forums, etc.. 

That said, 1:43 as Lee and others have mentioned above, was long ago established by forces beyond our 1:48 group-think.  1:50 is actually closer.  Either of those can be accommodated with a bit of 'forced perspective' tolerance; Biggers to the front, smallers to the rear.  Heck, there's been articles abounding in model railroad publications that promote the use of 1:87 (HO) and 1:160 (N) products...buildings, autos, even static trains-on-a-siding-way-yonder...in a forced perspective arrangement that fool the eye just fine, thank you.

The folks that have the better shake of things, re this topic, may be the S (1:64) scalers.  The Hot Wheels products...collectible in their own realm...are usually spot-on for S scale.

A '54 Chevy???  Good grief, Charlie Brown, the most memorable thing about that year/model was that my piano teacher, Ms. Pratt, would pick me up from grade school once a week in her '54 Chevy to drive me home for my piano lesson.  whoopee.  Until you mentioned this item, it had been as memorable as the book of Czerny fingering exercises that she foisted upon me.....

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

KD

The choices of 1/48 vehicles are both limited and expensive when they could be found. My layout has many 1/43 scale cars , a couple of 1/48 trucks, and they all look in place. The difference between 1/43 and 1/48 scale is like 10%.  IMO not very noticeable on a O gauge Layout. Remember a layout is viewed in the context of the whole and not by closely scrutinizing the individual pieces. Also if you use Woodland Scenics, Model Power, K-Line or Lionel figures they too are not true 1/48 scale but as long as you are close to scale it shouldn't be significant .

Here's a photo of a 1/43 1954 Chevy Bel Air made by Motor City. It's the most expensive die-cast car I ever bought (even though I paid less than half the new price). I bought it because my mother had a '53 210 in the same colors. I used to ride around in it when I was a little kid. I'd watch the steam engines go by on the Grand Trunk Western when we waited at railroad crossings. It's a nice model, but I'm not about to populate my layout with cars at the price of 1/43 collector cars!

As a parallel, take a look at what goes on in 1/48 plastic scale modeling - particularly military themes.  For subjects that are not available there is a huge cottage industry of resin 1/48 vehicles.  These tend to be unfinished requiring the level of detailing that is part and parcel of the hobby - good eyesight and steady-hands.  To be blunt, this is at odds with the typical O-gauge railroader.  So it's much easier to buy finished 1:43 or 1:50 vehicles and rationalize scale mis-match with forced-perspective or whatever. 

In my opinion, if you are going after the O-gauge train market, you would need deep pockets to create a critical mass of vehicles.  Military-themed railroad layouts exist of course but they are few and far between to leverage existing 1/48 scale vehicles.

Some Dinky and Corgi made before the 1970's were pretty close to 1:48.  You really need to use a scale ruler and measure them.  The specs of many cars can be found on the internet.

3D printing does wonders for problems like this...

1:43 is the most popular scale to collect, outside of the US. The 2 larger scales are the most popular scales here. The vast majority of collectors are not involved with model trains. How things got that way is a moot point.

Maybe if he got whitewall tires for it and got rid of the Jeep windshield.

New Ray's products may be listed as 1:48 in some guides (some list them as 1:43, too) but that company seems to fit the model to the size of their molds.  Cars that were smaller are made a bigger scale - some New Ray are 1:45 or so, and cars that were big (late '50s Caddies, etc) are as small as 1/55 scale.  

Again, I much prefer the 1:43 cars for most places on the layout, but being smaller scale, New Ray cars make dandy vehicles for me to put in the backdround to force perspective, and I have half a dozen or so on the layout in that way.  Here is that very same New Ray Buick with the Hallmark Christmas ornament Airstream trailer, in a far corner of the forest, looking very good.  

I, and my brother,  learned to drive on a 1954 Chevy 210 four door sedan.  It was

used extensively driving all over the mountain west, grinding up pre-interstate passes

with the two speed Powerglide.  My brother later married while in college and used it then, until his wife bought a new Corvair.  The reverse pawl broke and the transmission

had to be rebuilt while my mother was still using it, and she, and I, were careful to

never own another, not so,  "automatic".  However, it was otherwise very reliable,

made long trips troublefree, and is the one car after 1940 that I will bother to look at

in vintage car shows, sometimes tempted by three speed two door versions for sale.

While few of the '55-'57 Chevies have escaped "hot rodding" and otherwise butcherizing, many of these have.  Glad I haven't happened to see that Motor City model, if it is expensive.

What we in the model car industry call 'BOX SCALE'........IE.....designed more to a constant weight, the amount of materials and 'to fit in the same box' as the rest of their product.  Agreed that under $5 die cast can vary wildly.....which is OK if you go in knowing that.....you may find a few exact 1/48 scale models!!

Revell plastic model company tried to start 1/48 scale line back in the 1960's. They did a 55 Ford pick up with motorcycle and a few tractor/trailer models. But it never really took off like they wanted......wish it had....we'd have many today if it had.

I remember that Revell model, Dave.  A friend had one.  It was a small model compared to the 1:24 and 1:25s we normally built and we didn't like it back then.  

Colorado hirailer, I think your experience with that ;54 Chevy may be why I'd like to have one or two (I'll take 1:48 but would prefer 1:43).  It's not only not a glamorous car, it may be one of the least-glamourous sedans of the '50s, but it was a great workhorse and if well cared for would last and last.  I would like to find a plain-Jane '54 Chevy sedan for my layout, it would be so perfect for it.  

I recall Atlas O announcing a 1/48 auto some years ago, and it died due to costs or return on investment.

Rusty

A shot of the Revell Ford pickup box cover.

This 1966 Impala is very close to 1/48.  It is a vintage model by Gamdakoor Sabra, faithfully executed but not extensively detailed.  Made in Israel, it scales 18'8" on my scale ruler, and the real thing was 17'9" per "Sixty Years of Chevrolet" by George Damman.  Note that the driver's side has paint bubbles and real rust, just like the real ones!

Renwal was a manufacturer of 1:48 car kits. I have a '40 Ford sedan and a '32 Ford coupe. Both were quite nicely done, but, alas, some of the chrome plated plastic on the bumpers is pealing. But, heck, these are 45-50 year old pieces. They also did a Model T and a '31 roadster. Suppose some might show up on ebay occaisionly.

Thought Revell did a '56 ford tractor and gooseneck trailer and a Kenworth Bekins moving van, both in O Scale. Have a recollection of working in my fiendish model building laboratory in about 1955 or '6, on these kits......as a kid!

Yes, they were looking at a '49 or '50 Ford sedan. The profit point for them was $45., which they felt was too high. I saw the prototype at York that year, and the detail, IMO, was more like a $15. model. Even if they had produced it, who wants a layout full of '50 Fords?

I would love to see 1/48 scale auto's and trucks. The 54 Chevy would be one I remember the most. I came home from school one day and found my dad had purchased a beautiful 54 Bel Air Convertible Red. I remember him taking me to the boardwalk and the Guys n Gals all dancing to Rock Around the Clock..... I still like my first car I bought in 61 a 2 door hardtop 54 Mercury. Good luck in your undertaking .If I am modeling in 1/48 scale  trains why would I not want to have 1/48 model cars and trucks.