Opinions ?
Over the past several weeks I’ve been collecting some of these vehicles as I come across them. The one on the right is from wally world and is 1/87 scale. The one on the left is from Hongwell Carawell and is 1/72 scale. The stock in the rear is a 40ft box sitting on N scale foam and code 83 track.
If I were to raise the foregound to track level, say a crossing, I expect the truck might look out of place especially if the car was sitting next to it. What just pops out to me is the tire size, but then, truck tires are larger than autos.
If the truck was separated from the car, think it could fool the eye ?
-Tom
People do it all the time Tom, for a lot of vehicles sold as HO are larger than scale. Sometimes it really comes down to the kind of people you invite over to see your layout.
I remember going to a really nice HO layout where all the vehicles were Dinky Toys which are way bigger than 1/72 – and very toylike looking at that. When he was asked about the mix of really nice scale trains and old beat up toy vehicles he smiled and pointed out that to collectors the vehicles on his layout were worth more than the entire set of trains combined.
I have not tried it myself but there could be a sort of forced perspective of oversize vehicles up front, scale vehicles in the middle, and smaller, maybe even N scale, vehicles way to the back near the backdrop. Whether the eye would catch the “joke” and really be fooled or not I do not know.
I think one problem with oversize vehicles is that we tend to have undersize buildings on our layouts – sometimes even literally 1/8" inch scale. Also most roads and streets on model railroads tend to be narrower than scale
After a while the mismatch of buildings, scale figures, vehicles, roads, etc can create some odd situations, such as people too tall to get into a building doorway but too small to climb into the driver’s seat of their pickup truck, and streets too narrow to allow two oversize cars to pass.
Dave Nelson
Another option with the pickup is take the bed off the back and scrarchbuild a flatbed or look for a dump body, oiltank or trash compactor,Sheepscot makes some nice ones, add a set of duel wheels and you’ll have a one ton or ton and a half truck that won’t look as out of place
You could always paint it blue and stencil ‘Bigfoot’ on it!
Seriously, converting it to a heavier truck would work, but if you leave it as a pickup it will look out of place in any scene where the nearby items are to scale. Even a streetcorner mail box or a trash can would give it away.
To see what I mean, put a couple of 1:87 55-gallon drums in the bed.
I’ve also attempted to use 1/72 items and personally, I think vehicles in particular are quite visibly far too large if 1/72. You can perhaps get away with it if the vehicle is a couple of feet in from the viewing edge and is not close to any scale items (such as people, other vehicles) that would give it away.
Ditto. I think it would be fine if you make sure there’s no frame of reference nearby. For instance, parked out in a field ‘working the farm’, perhaps with a hay bale in the bed, I think you’d never notice. You could maybe even play it a little and have a slightly-taller-than-usual tree near it. There are ways to make it work if you must.
In general, though, 1:72 is too big. It does look noticeably “off” on the photo you give, and I think you’d find that true if there’s any accurately-scaled (or even slightly underscaled, which is a lot) item nearby.
All. Thanks for the feedback. I share most if not all of your thoughts. I guess this is one of those situations where I will have to wait and see if the “try it, you’ll like it” phrase is true or not.
In any case, the’re not a waste. I have grandsons, and there is always that Christmas stocking.
Again thanks,
I have a few vehicles that are too big but have to stay on the layout. One is my Monopoly ‘electric company’ truck. It is about 1/72 but is just too cute. It depends on how it looks…some can stay, some can’t. I’m not too picky with specifics as long as it works for me. [8D]
Depending on where/how you use the truck it could look fine.
Model in S scale and it’s perfectly sized then LOL. Fred
some of the matchbox series are pretty close to ho scale .i use them along with my ho scale replicas and their is very little difference IMO.the 1/72 is way to big also.terry…