I just returned from a Wal Mart in Auburn, Maine with some new HO scale vehicles:
Econoline Ford vans 1975, @ $1.97
Different Tow vehicles with a small travel trailer @ $2.47
Tractors with sleeper cabs but no trailers @ $3.97
A 5 pack of cars different models @ $7.95
CAt Construction equipment $5 to $7
Most of the vehicles had different models and colors available. I just put them on my layout they look pretty good. I intend to check out another Wal Mart monday.
I live in sc and apparetly our wal mart doesnt want to carry much ho scale stuff. real big in hot wheels and cars the movie stuff. im looking for some inexpensive 60s and 70s vehicles. dave
our walmart in VT just received the john deere tractors. they were liquidating the older malibu model last week for a 1$ a pop . too bad it was all the stuff i couldnt use. gotta love those trailers though, they look very 60’sish
The trailers are replicas of a European travel trailer from the 1960s.
The others I have seen, but the mid-70s Econoline Ford vans I don’t recall - are they from Malibu also (maybe I am only remembering the entries from Model Power which got sourced to Malibu, and which I saw on Model Power’s website at the time - no Ford vans there).
Buried in the midst of all kinds of toy cars. The five packs and the cars with the little camper trailer. No singles at Wallyworld in Lebanon PA. Over at KB, no malibu cars in Reading, PA(actually I think that mall is in neighboring Wyomissing) I’m not going out of my way to find them, but I’ve got a few of the original MP models, a five pack(the only one with out all five cars being sports cars) and a few malibu singles. No tractors in scale yet that I’ve found.
In your travels you may also find Cat Mini construction equipment. The models come in a plastic box case by Norscot. Price $2.00 per unit. Look in the die-cast section of your WM. Nscalers may find 1.144 scale tanks.
My boys and I were back at Wallyworld in Leb. and I found no new Mali’s but they did have a CAT grader left. My layout will have alot of nice vehicles soon. KB had some different cars this time. New colors for the VW Bug and Bus. I also found myself a nice John Deere B type tractor.
Question: Why are so many scale model cars and trucks in 1:50 while O scale is 1:48? Can’t these manufacturers agree on a set of scales to build things in so we don’t fight with mix and match constantly? They work so hard at details and render the products usless to large portions of the hobbist market.
Any connection between diecast collector scales and model railroad scales is purely coincidental. Although 1/43 is British O scale. Model railroaders are such a small part of the market (except possibly HO) that the toy car/truck makers don’t cater to them. In HO most of the cars/trucks are made by companies devoted to model railroading. I don’t know why but 1/48 vehicles do not do well with the diecast crowd.
Huh? Out here in the sticks of Wyoming, we have had HO scale CAT equipment, vehicals, and all sorts of HO things. Unfortuneatly I model N scale, but my kids sure like 'em!
I was editing my post when you posted. The reason is that there are enough HO’ers to justify the cost of development and production.
“Model railroaders are such a small part of the market (except possibly HO) that the toy car/truck makers don’t cater to them. In HO most of the cars/trucks are made by companies devoted to model railroading.”
I am in N scale and O scale. There have been many different vehicles made in N scale in the past 30 years or so. The greatest variety have been in resin by small companies. Quality has varied greatly and most disappeared quickly from the market. There are more good quality N scale vehicles currently available than at any time in the past, but they are generally of no interest to the car collectors so the market for them is small.
There is also the problem of licensing. Many of the car/truck manufacturers require that replicas of their products be licensed. In addition to the extra cost to the model maker and ultimately the modeler, some car companies refuse to liscense small scale models. One stated reason for this is fear of lawsuits if a child swallows the product. This generally affects HO and smaller scales.
O is a different scale in different areas. In the U.S., it’s 1:48, in the UK, it’s 1:43 (in fact, the original Dinky Toys were made to that scale as model railroad accessories). In much of continental Europe, the scale is 1:45.
1:50 has been a popular scale for construction equipment models for a long time and it’s only a few percent smaller than O, so Athearn and others try to target both the O scale model railroad market and the construction vehicle collector’s market with a single model to get more sales. Since the collector’s market accounts for more sales, 1:50 wins.
Then you have Tonkin, which makes its models in 1:53 scale just to be different and Siku, which has been making 1:55 models in Europe for decades.
By the way, most of the cars and trucks in 1:87 scale are made by companies devoted to collectors. Model railroaders make up a relatively small proportion of sales.
As far as I know, the only scales in which model railroaders are the primary market are 1:160 and 1:220.
Bill C.