scale vehicles, what size mixes well with 1/48

[trmwf]

New to this scale and was just curious what scale of vehicles mixes well with the smaller narrow gauge equipment.  Not real familiar with what is available but have seen some di3ecast stuff in 1/53 that looks pretty interesting.  How does this size match up and do any other scales go fairly well with the bachmann size equipment?

Thanks

Mike

[the Bach-man]

Dear t,
The new Athearn Model A is in 1:50 Scale, and it looks great on the Riley's Run layout. Vehicles in a variety of scales close to 1:48 can be used if positioned artfully.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Hamish K]

1/53 scale is just over 10% smaller than 1/48. The quite common 1/43 scale (British O scale) is just over 10% larger. 1/50 is  a little over 4% smaller and 1/45 (a scale quite commonly used for O in europe) 6.25 % larger. Whether these discrepencies matter is up to you, if it looks right to you, it is right.

As the Bachmann says, placement matters. An 1/43 scale model of a large prototype may well look too large  next to a given 1/48 scale item. However a 1/43 scale of a small prototype may look OK. An overscale model of a small prototype will generally look more acceptable than an overscale model of a large prototype. Conversely underscale large prototype items will usually look better than underscale small prototype items.

Avoiding placing out of scale items near something that has a known  size is a good idea. A truck parked next to a building with a door may well look wrong if it is out of scale (or the door mayl look too large or small if we judge the door's height by the truck).  However next to a tree an out of scale truck will just make the tree look a bit bigger or smaller, and this is hardly likely to be a problem.

Also consider forced perspective, items further away look smaller, so underscale items at the rear of a layout can improve the overall look by making the rear of the layout appear further away than it really is.

To re-iterate, experiment, and if it looks OK to you, use the item.

Hamish

[trmwf]

Thanks guys!  Now it's off to the service dept to see why my shay shorts out on my turnouts, trail axle of the lead truck at the insulated frog everytime.

Mike

[Allamuchy Joe]

Mike,
As for your shorting shay, you may want to check to see if the T-boiler bottom is touching the railheads at all. I know I had a few mismatched railheads and the T-boiler got hung up on them. They don't have to be that much off, as the clearance isn't that much.

Just a thought.

Joe

[ebtnut]

As has been noted before, there is dearth of 1:48 vehicle models out there, especially in the 1940's -50's era.  Monogram and Revell did a few plastic kits back in the 1950's, including a stake truck, pick-up truck, tank truck, and a 1940 Ford.  These occasionally show up on e-bay.  As noted Athearn has released the Model A in several variants in 1:50, and just out is a '55 Ford pick-up/panel van truck.  There are a lot of 1:43 vehicles out there, which till now have been the de facto standard because they were "close enough"  But judicious placement is still needed if you are going mix different scales. 

[trmwf]

Thanks Joe but I already checked that and it is not touching.  Like I said, it only stalls in turnouts and usually when the trailing axle of the lead truck reaches the frog.  I thought perhaps it was a wheel gauge problem as my other 5 Bachmann locos have no problem with these Atlas turnouts but the wheel sets are dead on the wheel gauge.  I talked to Bachmann service and they said to send it in so I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they do.

Mike

[Lemurien]

Tamya has 3 vehicles in 1/48.