Scale?

[Lawn Dart]

Hi guys! I'm (hopefully) going to be getting back into scale modelling after quite a break for work. I'm primarily an aircraft modeler, working almost exclusively in 1/48 scale. My interest in automotive has been piquing over the past year. Now, I'm a scratch builder and enjoy a challenge. I'm debating building some cars out of the brass or vintage eras (Bentley 4.5 or Speed Six, Bugatti Type 13 or 35, Mercer 35, etc), but I don't know what scale I should be looking at. I'd be working in a combination of metal, plastic, and wood. I want something big enough to detail without going blind, but not take up my living room. Are there any standard scales for large scale automotive? 1/12, 1/16 or should I stick to 1/24? I get the feeling 1/4 or 1/8 would be a tad large for my purposes. Thanks for any input!

-Meg

[Grey Ghost 531]

1/12 is the most common big scale for car kits. Most of the plastic manufacturers have done at least a few in that scale. I have a Tamiya Tyrrell P34 and an Airfix Bentley Blower 4.5 Litre in 1/12 scale in the stash.

The bigger you go, the easier it will be to find off-the-shelf nuts and bolts that work in your chosen scale.

Good luck, scratch building in brass is WAY out of my league.

Be sure to post pics of your progress!

[MoFo]

There are a bunch of "common" larger scales, but not exactly any standards.

1/18 is pretty much the default for die casts. Basically, 1/18 is to die casts as 1/48 is to model aeroplanes. If you want a small bump in size compared to most model kits, it would be a good choice, particularly since it would fit with many of the existing brass-age die cast cars, if you ever decide to start collecting those. (and there are some really, *really* great die casts out there. See: CMC

1/16 was popular in the 70's/80's (particularly in Japan) for larger scale cars. It was actually the original large scale, mostly because Revell's first car kits were 1/32, and they released a couple scale up 200%... to 1/16. There's probably more plastic model kits in 1/16 than any other large scale, though they're mostly going to be contemporary sports/exotic cars. It's kinda/sorta stagnated now, though there ARE a few Bandai/Doyusha/Fuman/Entex/Aoshima (the toolings got around ;)) kits that may interest you as a basis for detailing. The Bugatti Royale Coupe de Ville being one. Academy/Minicraft have a few - Jag SS100, some vintage Mercedes, 1919 Hisso and an early Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Revell do a ca. 30's Rolls. There's some build articles here, and a (german) website with a listing of all the available 1/16 kits here (easy to navigate with a translator plug-in.)

1/12 is also popular. Not as many plastic model kits in the scale, but a passable selection. It's the most common 'large scale' for die casts though, which also means it's a popular scale for higher end, limited run, multimedia kits. You may not find much to your interests in the plastic side (notable exception: Airfix's Bentley Blower), but there are quite a few resin and metal kits out there for vintage subjects. This is a pretty comprehensive list of plastic kits in the scale, though. For multimedia kits, you'll have to do more digging, and pay through the nose - they're not items that are handled by most mainstream retailers, and tend to be done in very small production runs, with steep retail and steeper re-sale prices. http://www.grandprixmodels.com/ http://www.islandcollectibles.net/products.htm and http://www.ateliercarmodels.com/ should give you some entry into that world, though.

1/8 is the "jumbo scale". There's a handful of plastic kits, and some more multimedia releases. Maybe the equivalent of 1/24 (or 1/18) for model aircraft? Typically seen as "museum calibre" pieces, partly because they're impressive for sheer bulk, partly because you can add so much detail. (the plastic kits are pretty detailed as-is, but most are older, and "detailed" in 1970 isn't the same as "detailed" in 2012) It's also the most common scale for Pocher's kits, which were marketed (legitimately) as producing museum quality miniatures straight from the box. Really impressive stuff, most of which seems to be precisely the vintage you're looking for, so it could be a good starting point. Again though, pricey, and with the downside that Pocher has been out of business for at least a decade, and apparently had some QC issues when it came to kit contents, so you may not get all the parts required. So there's fewer releases out there, be they plastic, resin, metal or die cast, though what is available tends to be pretty detailed.

So, all that being said... 1/8 is generally the largest scale that's still relatively feasible. Big, but not take-over-your-house big. It tends to lend itself towards somewhat smaller subjects, though - notice most of the plastic kits are F1 cars. If you're scratchbuilding, it would work for early coupes and racers, but I wouldn't want to do a 60's Caddy, or land speed record car. 1/12 is a good, overall balance between detail and size. Big enough to go nuts, but not so large that models will be TOO big. If you're just going to flat-out scratchbuild, that's probably where I'd lean. If you just want to build some larger scale cars, maybe add some detail, I'd see what's available in the different scales and either go with the one that gives you the widest selection, or just compromise - it's something most auto modellers have to learn to live with. Ultimately though, it depends what you're building. Tamiya's 1/12 Caterham is still probably smaller than many 1/24 cars (and certainly smaller than the 1/16 Bugatti). So again, if you're looking to scratchbuild and can do whatever you want, I'd spend some time with a ruler and a calculator and figure out just how big some of your planned projects will be; that should give you a decent feel for how big you can get without getting out of control.

Edited April 3, 2012 by MoFo

[Lawn Dart]

Wow that's a lot to take in! Thank you both so much for the information, it really helps. I'll be spending some quality time at the drawing board in the coming weeks I think.

-Meg