O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle April 8

Really like that '57 Imperial Robert - Thanks for creating this interesting and informative thread.  

Robert:  Stop by F-33 in the Blue Hall, again, and say hello!  Meantime, I'm always looking for more variety for my layout, which is limited to 1950 and earlier.  (Oh, yeah!  At reasonable prices, too!)

Paul Fischer

AE is my favorite as well. Although Brooklin has a huge following, their level of detail is half that of AE, at almost twice the price.

I really don't understand the origins of 1:43 scale.  I know that it's really popular, but how did that scale catch on?  Since there is O gauge in 1:48 or 1:50 scale why didn't these sizes take hold on the popularity scale (no pun intended, but enjoyed)?

Is it just that 1:43 being a little bigger made it more attractive?  Was it that it had a heavier and more substantial feel to it that led to it's popularity?  Is there another hobby that is 1:43 that fed into this size?

Alan

1/43 Diecast cars were first produces in Great Britten for the toy market, that scale was chosen because 1/43 is British  O scale.

Richard   that 1957 Imperial was the car that blew my mind when I first saw it in the show room when i visited my grandfather's office at Modern Motors Sales and Service  on Dorchester blvd in Montreal   I was just  8 years old ,  ... I really wanted  my father to  get it  but  he unfortunately had to be a bit more prudent and we end up with a 57  Dodge   .......  It was not until 1980  that I  was able to get myself  the Le Baron , by then it was no longer an imperial, but just another  Chrysler product    I  kept it for 13 years   ...............    I can however  see that Imperial Le Baron sitting in the show room   ... thank you for posting the picture of yours

Name the makers of G B 1:43 vehicles.

Bob

Dinky, Corgi, Matchbox Yesteryear, and Brooklin.  Other than Brooklin, most now are made in China.

Those are pretty much modern day names and I wouldn't say they were made as " O scale ".

How about 1:43 made in other countries? Vitesse, Collector Classics, Solido   and Rex Toys to name a few.

My opinion is that 1:43 vehicles were never intented to be used as O scale vehicles for trains and still not marketed as such.

Back when the names I mentioned were made, they were made for collector's that didn't want to small or to large or toys like Dinky and Matchhbox.

Bob

1:43 car models were made for kids to play with, and for adults that started collecting them. They were not made for American men who played with Lionel trains...which is a fact that many forum members seem to have a hard time understanding.

As I understand, 1/43 scale was the British "0" scale some years ago.  Not sure if that was because the track would be 5' gauge  if modeled in 1/48, which became the American standard for "0". trains, in the USA we ave accepted 1/4"= 1ft which is 1/48.  So the British standard for motor vehicles became our standard because of the number of American vehicles that were built over there.  At one time "0" gauge modelers actually had trains built to 17/64 scale to try to make the 1 1/4" track gauge look more correct.  By the late 1930's cooler heads prevailed and we established our present 1/4" to the foot scale.

Funny thing is that heavy trucks and construction equipment is in 1/50 scale.  Not sure how that got started.  But I have, on my layout, successfully integrated 1/43 cars and 1/50 trucks and they look OK together.

there have been various attempts to introduce 1/48 scale vehicles to our hobby, perhaps most recently by Atlas.  They never seem to become popular and usually the line is dropped.  I have one of those Atlas 1/48 cars, a Ford Model A, and the only way I can make it look realistic on my layout is to park it on top of a distant hill where there are no other cars around it.

Paul Fischer

British Gauge 0 is 7mm to the foot. The scale ratio is 1:43.5. That's why 1:43 vehicles were created. The size became a popular toy vehicle market which flourished beyond the toy train market in the postwar period, but was led by British and other European manufacturers.

And for those who seem to have forgotten or never knew, HO gauge was derived from Gauge 0, cutting those standards in half, or 3.5 mm to the foot and 1:87. The scale/gauge name comes from that reality. Half of O gauge.

To make matters more confusing...our O gauge track is actually closer to 1:44, not 1:48. So you see, a 1:43 car model looks great parked on our track.