1/43 instead of 1/32?

[Keith Philpott]

Hello All,

This may have been asked before but why has Airfix changed some recent new Car kits i.e. Jag e-type/Aston martin DB5 to the scale of 1/43 (Why not 1/48)?

Seems a rather obscure scale & why didn't they keep to 1/32?

[Ratch]

Isn't 1:43 a diecast scale?

[Heather Kavanagh]

1/43rd obscure? I think not.

It’s a long-established model railway scale, O Gauge, and has been used as a diecast standard, as Ratch said, for many years. 1950s Dinky toys were scaled to 1/43rd, for example.

I can see a lot of O Gauge modellers snapping up these kits for their model railways. wink

[peebeep]

1/43 is big within the car modelling community, but mostly die-cast and resin kits. Heller have quite an extensive range of 1/43 kits in their tooling catalogue, maybe Airfix think it's an untapped market?

[Hurricane Boy]

As pointed out above, 1/43 scale is based on the UK/European O gauge/Scale model train scale and has been around and popular for years …. Maybe German O gauge trains are 1/45th scale??? (In North America O Gauge is 1/48th scale which explains the Revell truck model kits from the 1950’s in this scale in my stash).

During the 1980’s the 1/43rd scale die cast kits from France were all the rage with some pretty spectacular accessories like true wire wheels for cars. I bought a Solido 1/43rd Porsche 917/10 group 7 race car model but I was not that impressed with it when compared with the larger 1/20th scale Tamiya F-1 models I was building then.

I always thought of 1/32nd scale as “Slot Car” scale but I read that it had its origins in toy/model Gauge 1 trains. I have not built any of the Airfix 1/32nd car kits but I did build many of the entry level Aurora 1/32nd scale “Hot Rod” kits in the early 60’s and later many of the Monogram race cars that doubled as the slot car shells.

As Peebeep has pointed out, it seems that the Airfix move to 1/43rd scale is a move into what they see as a larger or expanding market. 

You would think that joint ventures between Airfix and Scalextric could market 1/32nd scale static display and slot cars of the same shell, to Airfix’ current high standard to serve these very different markets. 

[MG Writer 2]

I’m of two minds about this. The fact that 1/43 is regarded as the usual diecast collector scale, and that in the past Heller (when joined to Airfix via Humbrol) made some high quality kits in that scale, help make the case. But Airfix used to have a pretty extensive 1:32 scale range and as has been pointed out, that’s the Scalextric scale too. Hornby did offer (briefly) some 1:32 plastic car kits related to Scalextric (extra sprues for details). The thing is to me at least is that the slightly larger 1:32 scale kits seem a bit more substantial than a 1:43 kit made of styrene which seems comparatively flimsy. It’s harder to get a decent finished result on a smaller scale car model too. Other kit makers have used 1:32 but other than Heller, few have bothered with 1:43, other than high end resin kits often related to ready built models. The real centre of gravity in terms of car kits is 1:24/1:25 scale, which also offers much more detail. Obviously those bigger kits are more expensive but they’re far more satisfying (in my opinion). And if Airfix was bold enough to choose a few novel subjects they might be better placed to arrange swapsies with other kit makers…

[leslie entwhistle]

I think Airfix should start making kits in 1/24th/25th scale ,im sure if they remade older kits made in 1/32nd scale but to 1/24/25th scale they could be on to a winner,just think the jag 420 ,beach buggy ,victor estate etc all in a larger scale

[leslie entwhistle]

Here's a thought ,we all love "the super cars " and the "exotict " cars but why not make the every day car that we all grew up with and saw every day ,the choice is endless ,yeah i know there will be some people out there who wont agree but just think of the modifications you could carry out on them ,different wheels ,exhaust ,heck you could relive your boy racer days

[Martin Butler1707819995]

I think Airfix should start making kits in 1/24th/25th scale ,im sure if they remade older kits made in 1/32nd scale but to 1/24/25th scale they could be on to a winner,just think the jag 420 ,beach buggy ,victor estate etc all in a larger scale

 

 

In the 1960s Airfix did make a small start on 1/24 cars with the two 007 kits, the Aston Martin DB5 and the Toyota 2000, both of which had working extra features. I cannot understand why they didn't continue in this scale, especially as the likes of Monogram and AMT released so many in this scale.

[Ratch]

I cannot understand why they didn't continue in this scale, especially as the likes of Monogram and AMT released so many in this scale.

 

 

Maybe they didn't sell too well. The Aston was converted to a DB6 too.

[sticky fingers]

I think there are many collectors of 1/43 die-cast models, particularly the UK 'classics' that seem unlikely to be released from Corgi/Oxford who would have a crack at building some 'Airfix' 1/43 vehicle kits. Victor FD series, MG Midget/Austin Healey Sprite and a Bedford CF van would be interesting. Could probably make them pre-painted and/or minimal assembly with a one-piece body if that made them more attractive to the casual buyer

[leslie entwhistle]

the problem with 1/43rd scale is the price difference between kits and diecast (ie Oxford diecast) ,i can see the attraction of the kits in that scale as in you could have various colour schemes of your own , as apposed to the colour supplied as a diecast ,as for 1/24,25th scale this was mainly used by the american kit manufactures as it gave more detail,airfix did make larger scale models in the past but like other manufactures had agreements with others manufactures to model kits as airfix ,the "monkee mobile" springs to mind made by amt

[MG Writer 2]

I would suggest that probably 90% of the plastic car kits on sale internationally are to 1:24 scale. You only have to go back around 25-30 years to see 1/24 Airfix car kits albeit often from loaned sprues

[john redman]

ISTR that 1/43rd scale is in actual fact 1/43.5 scale, while HO scale stands for "half O" and that's why it is 1/87 scale.

Airfix does always seem to get caught on the wrong side of these scale "wars". They committed to 1/32 then Japan forced everyone to 1/35 but only for WW2 and later subjects, so your collection of British Highlander figures 1750 to 2020 would be in two different scales. Then there was the great 1/600 to 1/700 caper, the 1/76 armour modellers switching to 1/72 for no obvious reason and now we have the 1/32 vs 1/43 thing.

I think it does make sense for Airfix to support the scale Scalextric uses. As has been said above, a slot car and static model of the same subject could surely share a lot of parts.

[Col-373594]

Thanks Airfix for working in 1/43 scale, there is, I believe, a large market in the 7mm/ft scale model railway world out there that Airfix may or may not be aware of for not only road vehicles but other subjects as well.

Although mentioned in other posts here, that die-cast cars are available, there is a dearth of 40's,50's & 60's commercial vehicles available.

Not everyone wants die-cast models, they like to make kits, hopefully the Land Rover will be followed by other vehicles.

The recent 1/35 Austin K30 General Service truck would I believe go down very well in 1/43 scale, great straight out of the box or for conversion.

[Andy P.]

1/43 scale is also a common slot car scale. Standard Scalextric is 1/32 but Carrera and many other brands also have a 1/43 scale (as opposed to the roughly 1/64 scale of Micro Scalextric)....

[Darren-372154]

I'd like to see cars in 1:35 scale to fit in with the military figure and military scale kits. Almost into a "Universal" scale that all can be used together.