BMC Morris 501 Artic

Nice models. Same question as always what scale are they?? 1/50 or 1/43?

1:50th mate. As a rule, all Corgi trucks are except the Morris Commercial LC 5 Greengrass, NCB etc models.

Cheers Kris. It is a pain there's some lovely 1/50 stuff out there. Ah well

It is a shame they didn't do them in 1:43 to match the cars (don't know why) but in the absence of 1:43, these placed correctly, do quite nicely.
However, they do get a bit additive at the right price...

Yep you can place them so that their 'wrongness' is less noticeable - but IMHO you can only do that so much before it all starts to look out of scale. I have one 1/50 wagon and I don't think I'll buy any more.

I suppose it says something about the diecast companies themselves that they may have deliberately ignored the huge worldwide 0 gauge market and in true British style stubbornly stuck with 1/50 or failed to expand into 1/43. This seems ridiculous since Dinky were working in 1/43 originally (I think).

I'm also all for compatible specs on everything - mobile phone chargers, USB sockets and model standards too. Not to do so gets you into the daft position of plastic curtain rail manufacturers who all insist on producing almost identical products which are deliberately made not compatible in some small but crucial way. Kill more than one thing with one weapon is my motto. I hate missed opportunities and the diecast industry may have let in an Arsenal Cup Final goal over something that should not be an issue. I'm certain diecast collectors are much more concerned with the intricacy and accuracy + condition of a model rather than its scale and would buy 1/43 just as much as they buy 1/50.

So why did the industry miss a market they could have had without prejudicing their existing collector market?

Or am I missing something? I'm sure people defending the industry will empty the toilet bowl on my head very shortly

Just a bit more on this vexed topic. I must have contacted six sellers on eBay this week - all advertising 1/43 trucks - of which, when tackled about it, NONE of them were 1/43 and all of them were 1/50. This confirms my previous comments about lack of foresight from manufacturers and a laissez-faire attitude among sellers regarding scale. Railway modellers in 0 gauge do have to be ultra vigilant when buying diecasts. Things advertised as 1/43 - therefore proper to 0 gauge - rarely seem to be so. I haven't found anything larger than a Pop van that is in 1/43. Some sellers don't give a toss but decent sellers acknowledge the problem over scale and show a willingness to take it all on board - like this one:-

"Thank you for your mail and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

We've checked the model and there is no reference to the scale on the box, but we are confident that as a truck it isn't 1:43.
The length of the truck is 93mm so we believe it to be 1:50

We will revise all the affected listings and thank you very much for pointing this out to us."

It's a start I suppose

To add to the confusion I bought a Dinky Dodge truck last week. When it arrived, I found that rather than 1:43 or 1:50 it was more like 1:64 (aprox) which is no good to anyone. I am sure the Leyland Comet was a bigger model. The guy was very good and agreed to take it back for a refund but its a shame as I like the truck.
I'll post my Morris Commercial large Royal Mail van over the weekend and that is 1:43. You should give these a look as they are bang on for what you want. Try Goggling Vanguards Morris Commercial. Certainly bigger than a Pop van

Thanks Kris - can always rely on you mate.

sorted

Great, what did you get ?

Morris Commercial british rail - 1/43 :-)

I think you will be impressed, it's a surprisingly large model.

Yup it is a hefty old beast. Should fit in well. Shame the Vanguards Italian Job set is pretty rare, as it had a scruffy white Morris Commercial van from the 'blow the bloody doors off' scene

Men't to mention that yesterday as I was watching the DVD Saturday night.