Are matchbox cars good for HO layouts, Can i convert horn hook couplers to knuckle couplers from old tyco cars
Matchbox cars are to big for HO scale. HO scale is 1-87 and matchbox cars are 1-64. the couplers can be changed but it is a lot of work and you still have to contend with plstic wheels. Mike
Matchbox cars and trucks are no particular scale. They are sized to fit a certain package size. Some of the older ones used to actually tell you the scale, it was embossed on the bottom.
Tyco cars can easily be converted to Kadee or other brands of knuckle couplers. Any questions more specific on this?
As for the couplers, well, “it depends.” I’ve got a number of really old Tyco/Mantua cars that I’ve converted. The first few were a challenge, because I was returning to the hobby after 40 years, and all the technology has changed. Also, mine are metal-frame cars with metal truck-mounted “Talgo” couplers. After a while, I learned to use the new tools I’d bought (a Dremel and a 2-56 screw tap) and I can do one of these pretty easily now.
On the other hand, the newer Tyco’s have plastic parts, and Kadee does make drop-in replacements for these. So, depending on what vintage your cars are, you may find the job tricky, or you may find it easy. This is also affected by your eyesight and the size of your fingers, by the way.
In either case, you should get the Kadee coupler gauge and the trip-pin pliers so that you will end up with couplers that are properly aligned and adjusted. It’s a small one-time expense that will save you a lot of grief down the line. (Yeah, I know. It was a two-time expense, because my wife “cleaned up” my workspace and I never found my first coupler gauge afterwards.)
The Matchbox / Hot Wheels cars look like S scale to me. Some of the their medium / heavy-duty trucks are useable. The cars are all too large…
It used to be if you wanted vehicles you had basically 4 choices.
- Out of scale Hot Wheels / Match Box cars.
- Cheap HO scale Life-Like / Tyco / Bachmann cars with less detail than the above.
- Expensive scale HO cars from mostly European sources. Many are in the 7-25 dollar range. Quality ranged from good to great.
- Cars requiring assembly and paint.
I may have missed one but you get the point.
Wal-Mart now has scale HO cars in small plastic boxes from a company called Malibu for under 2 dollars that are the current rage. LHS’s sell the same cars under the Model Power brand along with some models not available at the Mart. Last time I checked the LHS price around 4 dollars. Still a deal.
Jim
Matchbox cars are not to scale, they are oversize. Some of their trucks are closer to 1:87–and I have occasionally used them–but most of the cars are closer to 1:72 or 1:64. However, if they look ok to you, and you are happy with them…it’s your layout, after all.
The old Tyco horn hooks have a narrower draft-gear box, and so you can’t just drop in a regular set of E-Z Mates or Kadee #5 couplers. You can replace the draft-gear box with a wider one–this is what I have always done. I don’t know if Kadee still makes a coupler that might fit in a Tyco draft-gear box.
http://www.kadee.com/conv/hocc103.htm
Here’s a link to putting KD’s on Tyco stuff. For cars, go to Wal Mart in the Matchbox/Hot Wheels section. Most WM’s have a decent selection of Malibu,Fresh Cherry cars and Catapillar and John Deere tractors and equipement in 1/87 scale. $2-$5 range.If you look at the yellow price tags on the shelf, they’ll tell you what scale they are if the boxes don’t.