Well it only took 8 years but much to my surprise my best freind richard expressed interest in building a model railroad. But there is a catch. He has an extensive Hot Wheels car collection that he would like to use to populate the layout with vehicles. Unfortunatly for me that means S scale, so I won’t be able to contribute any of my HO stuff to help Jump Start his layout. But at least he is considering joining the hobby. And thats a Start.
His Name is Richard by the way.!!!
Since I am an HO scale, can any body direct me to some S-Scale resources. I looked on E-bay and it was like 95% American Flyer. and Walthers only had S-Helper Service. And then none of the locomotives he wanted. Initial impressions are B&O-Chessie System theme.
If he’s just a beginner, though, I think it’s unwise of him to limit himself to S because of the space necessary, and far fewer options in product availability. He’s not likely to find the discounts we enjoy in HO. Perhaps he could keep the Hot Wheels on display elsewhere, or maybe oversized vehicles don’t bother him. Even in S scale, Hot Wheels are not going to look very realistic. Most of them were fantasy cars anyway.
I didn’t think those “Hot Wheels” were S scale. I think they’re somewere in between HO and S. Have no idea of their actual scale. I am only trying to remember all those odd things my brothers collected. As said, not to acurate for layout details.
S Helper’s site is http://www.showcaseline.com/ - S Helper and American Models are the two largest manufacturers in S. But Lionel has been expanding the American Flyer line lately and there are numerous smaller manufactuers.
Craig O’Connell’s site http://www.trainweb.org/crocon/sscale.html is the best site for what’s available in S. It’s well organized and has links to almost every manfacturer in S.
While S scale is not as widely available as HO, there is plenty available; in fact you can easily do a hirail or scale layout with all RTR, but there are plenty of nice kits available too. The only area not well covered is steam locomotives, but there is currently a 2-8-0, 4-6-2, 4-6-4, and 4-8-4 RTR in scale and hirail; 0-6-0T, 2-8-2, and 4-8-8-4 RTR in hirail; and 0-6-0 and 2-8-0 kits available in scale; also some brass. Plus it’s a great scale for viewing and working in. Once your friend tries it, he won’t want to change.
Match box cars are great for S - I always keep an eye out for suitable ones for the early 50’s.
If he gets serious about railroading, he’ll take the Hot Wheels off the layout in a hurry – but then he’ll be committed to the limited items available in S.
Better to talk him into HO now for his own benefit (not to mention yours[:)]).
He’ll still be able to put the Hot Wheels on the layout – until he decides he doesn’t want them there. Even if they were to scale, they don’t exactly look “real.”
From the “B&O/chessie” comment, he is probably not too interested in steam, but i know that there has been an EM-1 produced in S. I think it was brass (and im sure, as a result, insanely expensive) but they are out there.
Next time you are in WalMart looking at their Fresh Cherries, look around at some of the other diecast cars. I have seen some good looking S scale ones. There was one series that was supposed to be rustbuckets, but it was all paint. The basic metal casting was good looking. The timeframe was 1930s to 1980s.
Hello Everyone. I showed my friend Richard all your responses and this is what he had to say.
James.
Hello,
My thinking behind this layout is I am looking for a unique and novel way to display my hotwheels/matchbox car collection. And it seemed kind of dumb to build for what is for all intents and purposes is a model train layout without any trains. So James is guiding me through the incorporation of trains into my Hotwheels collection. As for complete total realism, its not the goal as much as creating a stylised reality and keeping things consistent within that style.
I have a very large diecast car display that includes every scale made. The best way for your friend to display his Hot Wheels collection would be in a display case of some type that way the surroundings don’t take away from the item being displayed. Building a layout to display cars sounds kind of weird because the scenery would take away from the car being displayed. I think your buddy should invest in a display case unless he has an interest in trains, besides Hot Wheels cars aren’t really that prototypical. Thats just my opinion…
He hads two said display cases for hot wheels cars. they are full. He wants to do something different. Since I am an avid model railroader, Trains was the first thing he thought of to change things up a bit.
I think its a cool Idea. And they might not be prototypical, but being prototypical is not the point of this layout I am getting the impression of. While I don’t expect it to diverge into the relm of anything goes. I would not be surprised if he ends up running American Flyer to compliment the hot wheels style.
Flyer sounds like a good choice for him, since he seems more interested in toy collecting anyway. AF is addictive in its own right, so you may be starting him on a new obsession. [swg]
When I was about 8 years old, I chose HO because it was “kinda close” in scale to my Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. At least close enough for an 8 year old who knew no better. 40’ish years later, I’m still in HO and my 8 year old son’s Hot Wheels are invited any time. . . . . .
i turned some of the broken cars I had into target practice. before that I sold many of my cars to pay for new N stuff. Many revell kits are in 1:48, so O scalers modeling WWII could have fighters parked by the track at a base or have them hanging overhead. I have a about HO SR-71 hanging at an attack angle right at my door to be an attention getter.
The Hot wheels can’t be too bad for HO scale. This is (GASP) a Jonny Lighting, 1/64 scale with HO figures.That’s a DPM Schultz’s garage I think it looks O.K. Since I’v got a shelf type layout, I use them up front for forced pespective It works for me.
Hot Wheels do not fit any one “scale” because they were originally designed to all fit one general “size” regardless of the prototype modeled. The target size was simply to fit in the palm of a child’s hand. A lot of the modern Hot Wheels stray from this strict sizing, but collectors of older Hot Wheels know that the majority of the vehicles are about the same length whether the model is a Volkswagen Bug or a Cement Mixer Truck. Regardless, I would think that if toy train operators can populate their layouts with vehicles with scales ranging from 1/43rd to 1/50th without angst, the Hot Wheels would fit quite well on a newbie’s HO layout.
Thanks for sharing your pictures of the 1/64th sized cars on an HO. Given the results I may consider a similar arrangement that you have used and Go with HO. I know my friend James will be happy to hear.
Simply not true. The Bug is much smaller than say the Eldorado or a Continental. The Mustang is longer than the Camaro.
Granted, they aren’t HO scale, but as stated, they aren’t too bad for “toy train operators can populate their layouts with vehicles with scales ranging from 1/43rd to 1/50th without angst, the Hot Wheels would fit quite well on a newbie’s HO layout.”
I personally think if he want to display his static Hot Wheels with a moving train, go for it!
