First Gear 1:50 scale trucks

I've looked at these before.  They are expensive and highly detailed, so I would hope they are 1:50 as advertised.  Unfortunately the vehicles they show are too new for my 40s layout.

In this shot the earth mover, road scraper semi with blue covered trailer and the HI TD-15 Crawler are First Gear 1:5.  The tractor w/flat bed, flat bed track, and dump truck are SpecCast 1:50.  The two model A's in front are Atlas 1:48.  The rest are 1:43.  They all mix well together.

Ron

Nominally we model in 1:48 (1/48 ft = 1 ft on the model)     Or 1/4 inch on the model is equal to 1 ft on the real thing.

So 1:50 would be too small but not much.

On the other hand most of the diecast and nice vehicle models that have been offered are 1:43 which makes them too large.    I am used to seeing that so it does not look off to me.    However, I have a few 1:48 scale vehicle models and when placed next to a 1:43, look too small or the 1:43 looks oversize.  

There have been some 1:48 vehicle models made.    AMT made a line of plastic kits which I have a half dozen of unbuilt for 1948 fords and some others.    Also not too long ago, Atlas I think imported 3-4 vechiclles that were 1:48.      There was a "modern: cab-over truck, and the rest were late 40s or earlier.

So it is what you can live with and what you are  used to.     I guess the caution would be to not put 1:50 vehicles near 1:43 vehicles on  your layout where the difference is obvious. 

To my eye, the flatbed and the yellow dumptruck look too small next to the 57 chevy  and the 41 ford.     Those are decent size trucks and should tower over pickups and sedans.    

The red PCC is 1/50, the green one is 1/48; there is a very noticeable difference:

They advertise 1:50 and the advertised dimensions for Mach truck with lowboy are 2.25”w x 3”h x 16”L. Seem reasonable but larger than some 1:48 vehicles.

PRRronbh writes:

“In this shot the earth mover, road scraper semi with blue covered trailer and the HI TD-15 Crawler are First Gear 1:5.  The tractor w/flat bed, flat bed track, and dump truck are SpecCast 1:50.  The two model A's in front are Atlas 1:48.  The rest are 1:43.  They all mix well together.”

In your first sentence, you mention 4 First Gear vehicles, yet I only see 3. Are you counting something twice?

The IH TD-15 crawler is on the flatbed.

Ok, didn’t realize that they were 2 separate items. Also didn’t know a bulldozer was also named a crawler. Thank you, CAPPilot.

These are some of the First Gear 1:50 earthmoving equipment pieces. For the most part, the size difference between 1:48 and 1:50 is hardly noticeable, really, IMHO. These pieces are beautiful; well detailed, and they look great with O scale cars. The grader and scraper you can still find; the other two items are now hard to find, and pretty expensive. The dozers are the larger AC model TD-21 (as opposed to the smaller TD-15 shown above in the photo posted by PRRronbh .

Simple math indicates that:

1:50 - 1:48 = .02 difference

1:48 - 1:43 = .05 difference

Thus, the increased size of a 1:43 vehicle will be more noticeable than the slight smallness of a 1:50.

When I was doing 3-rail, having to settle for 1:43 vehicles sucked. I did NOT like the way they were too big. Their oversize is made even more apparent when used alongside "traditional" 3-rail equipment.

To me, 1:50 would be just about perfect for scale O.

As for "traditional" 3-rail: Personal experiments indicate that 1:64" (S scale) figures and vehicles look very good next to "traditional" 3-rail. To wit, these 1:64 figures and vehicle alongside a "traditional" 3-rail  6464 boxcar and a Marx 3/16" gondola:

And here's a "traditional" Lionel PW 2065 with 1:64 S scale figures:

Andre

@laming posted:

Simple math indicates that:

1:50 - 1:48 = .02 difference

1:48 - 1:43 = .05 difference

Thus, the increased size of a 1:43 vehicle will be more noticeable than the slight smallness of a 1:50.

When I was doing 3-rail, having to settle for 1:43 vehicles sucked. I did NOT like the way they were too big. Their oversize is made even more apparent when used alongside "traditional" 3-rail equipment.

To me, 1:50 would be just about perfect for scale O.

Andre

I would agree with this assessment. 1:50 and 1:48 are essentially interchangable. 1:43, on the other hand, is very noticeably larger, and doesn't blend in very well with O scale trains. Some folks wouldn't mind it as much, of course.

Thanks for all the great input. I was able to find data for the Mack Granite and it appears that the First Gear model is 1:50 based on the published dimensions. The only other vehicles I currently have are Menards which check out closely to 1:48.

This is a Sword model…..1:50 scale….looks right at home to me.
Donald

I would agree, and an incredible model!

@laming posted:

Simple math indicates that:

1:50 - 1:48 = .02 difference

1:48 - 1:43 = .05 difference

Thus, the increased size of a 1:43 vehicle will be more noticeable than the slight smallness of a 1:50.

When I was doing 3-rail, having to settle for 1:43 vehicles sucked. I did NOT like the way they were too big. Their oversize is made even more apparent when used alongside "traditional" 3-rail equipment.

To me, 1:50 would be just about perfect for scale O.

As for "traditional" 3-rail: Personal experiments indicate that 1:64" (S scale) figures and vehicles look very good next to "traditional" 3-rail. To wit, these 1:64 figures and vehicle alongside a "traditional" 3-rail  6464 boxcar and a Marx 3/16" gondola:

And here's a "traditional" Lionel PW 2065 with 1:64 S scale figures:

Andre

And the lionel lines tractor trailers from the 1990s along with the trains and trucking tractor trailers are close to S scale so for traditional lionel this seems right.

For Me I have focused on 1:50 scale tractor trailers.

The above are Diecast Masters 1:50 scale tractors.

The latest Lionel "40ft scale" trailers seem more 1:43 scale than 1:48/1:50 scale.