Walthers has recently started stocking Oxford Diecast vehicles in HO and N scales, made in the UK. I have a couple and have a couple more on order. They are good quality, like the diecast CMW vehicles. Definitely a foreground model. Timefame in HO runs from the early '40s to '60s. I have a couple '49 Mercs, and the '56 T Bird looks good. The '65 Mustang is interesting, but not in my modeling timeframe, as are the '58 Edsels. A lot of UK and European models in the collection as well.
They are worth a lookhttp://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=&manu=553&item=&keywords=&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=240&Submit=Search
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Hey, thanks! I've been wanting an Edsel, but until now the shipping charges from England cost more than the model.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The N scale cars are British N scale 1/148 so a little larger than American N Scale 1/160. Many are still useable (British cars are often smaller than similer looking American cars) but should be carefully chosen and placed so that the oversize is not apparent.
They have a large line of British HO scale 1/76 cars and trucks. Which are oversize for American HO 1/87 scale, but many useable.
The also have a line of American HO 1/87 cars. The HO cars on listed Walthers site are all 1/87 scale
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I agree with Santa Fe all the way!
I compared an Oxford '58 Edsel to a CMW '55 Chev Belair and the Edsel is larger, but nothing too extreme. I wouldn't put them side by side in a parking lot. However, if you put the Edsel beside a Busch Buick for example, there is a noticeable difference. The Busch Buick is about 1/4" shorter where it should be close to the same size. I think Busch looks to be the furthest off the mark. I measured a CMW '55 Chevy a few months ago and IIRC it was almost exactly to HO scale. IMHO the Busch vehicles are only good for background scenes.
Oxford's 1/76 scale vehicles just don't cut it for HO, again, in my opinion. I have a couple of their MGBs and they are larger than the CMW '55 Chevs. The Minis look like box vans.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I have only one Oxford HO model - it's the 1941 Lincoln Continental. I bought this on eBay.The '49 Mercury will only just squeezes into my modeling time period. All the rest in the Oxford range fall down in some respect either becaus they fall outside the time I model or are models of British prototypes that don't fit well in the geographical area I model. A fella can collect only so much don't you know
Dusty
I picked up my Edsel and T-bird today.
The Edsel is indeed longer than the 55 Chevy Belair, but I looked up the specs for both vehicles and they seem to be pretty close to the right proportions.
The Edsel was 21 inches longer and 5 inches wider than the Belair. I'm not sure if the measurement included the bumper extension to hold the spare.
Just as a side note from hands on experience. All American made vehicles starting in 1957 were longer/wider than previous year's. Ford's & Chevy's were alway's more narrow/shorter than...Old's, Buick and Cadillac. Those Edsel's are about spot on, in size. They were a little wider than a 57 Ford, that's when they starting making them, 57,58,59. My high school chum's Dad had a 58 Edsel, with a gigantic 480 cu in motor in it....with a small two barrel carb. LOL
There was also a width/length difference in the 40's to 50's era cars, as is evident in these two pic'. of the rear of my 49 Ford & 54 Ford.
Take Care!
Frank
Setting two model cars side by side is not a good way to determining accurate scale.
Is one right and the other wrong? Which one? Are they both right? Are they both wrong?
Cars of the the different prototype manufactures vary greatly in size, as do the different prototype models within a manufactures line. The size of prototype models also changes over the years. The only way to tell if a model car is the correct size is to measure it and compare it to the prototype specs.
I posted four sites which give prototype soecifications here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/245135/2731476.aspx#2731476
Oxford has two lines of HO automobiles.
1/76 British HO scale - primairly British prototypes, a couple European, and one Canadian WW2 military truck. It makes sence for them to make 1/76 scale because they are a British company and the vast majority of HO scale railroads in Britian are 1/76 scale.
1/87 American/European HO scale - American prototypes - listed by Walthers.
While there are exceptions British and European vehicles over the years have generally been smaller than similar American vehicles at least until the mid 1970's when US manufactures downsized many of their cars.
Most of Busch's 1/87 HO scale line are European although they do have American prototypes too.
I do not know if the model cars marketed as 1/87 are the correct size or not. Nothing posted in ths thread so far has shown that they are not accurate.
1/76 scale vehicles may be useful on a 1/87 scale layout as foreground models (assuming they have adequate detail) and somtimes at other locations if there is nothing close by to compare their size to. Some 1/76 vehicles that are based on smaller prototypes, that resemble American vehicles, may also be useful even mixed with 1/87 scale vehicles.
Ultimately each modeler must decide for him or her self if a model fits their need and what compromises to except.
There is a member of this site who has posted photos of his HO layout where he uses S scale vehicles. The difference in size HO (1/87) vs S (1/64) is greater than the difference between 1/87 vs 1/76. Looks good, the difference in scale is not obvious in many of the photos.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/184203/2015444.aspx
1/76 is OO scale, not HO. Supposedly UK model trains were 1/76 because they didn't have electric motors smaller than that size in the 40s-50s. Yet the width of most OO track is the same as HO.
British (and Japanese) N scale is also larger (about 1/150) than US/Euro N scale (1/160).
British N gauge is 1/148 scale but runs on N gauge track. So is in effect narrow gauge although standard gauge equipment is modeled.
There is also the 2mm Scale Association standards which is different from the commercial N scale.
"The 2FS standard defines the track and wheel geometry for 2mm scale modelling, set down by the Groves in the 1960's. Its normal form is for 9.42mm gauge (standard gauge track at 1:152 scale). Having a clear set of wheel and track dimensions means that models built to the 2FS standard work reliably; one cannot alter a wheel flange or tread dimension without also considering the impact on crossing noses and check rails.
At 1:160 scale, the FiNe standard removes 0.45mm from the track and back-to-back distances, but keeps other aspects of the geometry unchanged.
Many 1:148 modellers (British N scale) use at 9.42mm gauge, with track and wheels to the 2FS standard. In this case the track is slightly under scale gauge. "
Azrail is correct the 1/76 British models are OO scale, but they usually are designed to operate on HO gauge track. There are modelers who use the correct gauge for the scale (OO gauge) and there is also the 1/87 Scale Association whose models are 1/87 scale on HO gauge track.
Japanese N Scale: The "standard" Japanese railroad gauge is 3'-6". They picked 1/150 to represent the narrow gauge Japanese prototypes using N gauge track. Their high speed trains are 4'8-1/2" gauge. I don't know what scale the models are. Their US models are 1/160 scale.
Model RR scales/gauges are very confusing. Many Model Railroaders (perhaps most) including me, often fail to make a clear distinction between scale and gauge.
Wow!!!!!!!!!!! All this extra stuff, for Oxford Diecast Vehicle's....who would've thunk.
DSchmittSetting two model cars side by side is not a good way to determining accurate scale.
OK, I was lazy, and my workbench is a mess and I couldn't find my scale ruler.
The spec on the 1958 Edsel is 18.2 scale feet long. This looks pretty close to me. I don't know if they include bumper extensions for the spare like this Edsel has in the spect, but if not, then the model would be too short, not too long as some have claimed. The T-Bird is also pretty close:
EDIT: I apologize to those who saw the first set of pictures. It's trickier than I thought to get this picture. I had to tape the ruler to the top of the car. Putting it on the table with the car on top of it caused angular distortion from the close-up camera angle that added a foot or more to the apparant measurement.