"15mm, HO, 1:87 and 1:100" Topic

I started in on a zombies project in 15mm. When it came to getting some vehicles its been nothing but a nightmare.

I was told early on that matchbox toys would work fine. (These being 1:87 scale) however the dang things are obviously not all 1:87 as most of the trucks and such are far too small in comparison.

Then while Im sorting through that I get some HO Terrain that I ordered in, again as I was advised HO was pretty close to 15mm. The order came with a couple vehicles and whoa! An HO car is only about half as big as a matchbox!

So which is correct?

Now, when I place a figure up to the vehicles and compare them to an actual photograph of a car and 6' person, the HO is actually more accurate, yet it looks off somehow on the gaming table. Its hard to explain.

So whats a guy to do? Matchbox are plentiful but obviously their trucks and such wont work along side their cars. Seems like HO scale car will look fine next to matchbox trucks but its hard to ignore the availbility and variety of matchbox when compared to pricey model RR stuff.

thoughts?

I try to ignore it where I can. If it's close, then it's close enough. Granted, I wouldn't try to use a 15mm apc for 25mm troops, but if it is an auxiliary or scenery model and it's fairly close then I'm okay with it. Especially now when you have all these lil mini cars running around. They look like clown cars to me, but people do use them so why not? So your compact car becomes a subcompact car? Does it really make that much of a difference?

It just depends on what you think is important. Also, if you're not paying much for them then is it really a problem?

I'm not totally sure what vehicles you're looking at. If anything, Matchbox cars are much too big for 15mm, and many (though not all) Matchbox trucks are still a bit on the large size. My matchbox ambulance is still a bit too big for a 15mm figure.

My best advice is HO cars and select Matchbox trucks.

When we discussed this earlier there was a link to an ebay site selling 100 piece lots of HO scale cars for an average price of 20 cents a piece shipped. I'd check there.
The thread
TMP link

The site
auction

Between cheap ebay cars and matchbox trucks, you should be able to pack you board full of 15mm autos for less than 40 bucks.

there is a good article around this place that discusses scale vs proportions, many times something that is to "scale" doesn't look right.

What I have done at least with Matchbox and Hot Wheels is to bring a couple of 15mm mini's with me and hold them up to the package so I know right away. Remember that they are designed to fit a fixed package size and not any set scale.

TMP's "All About Scales" is very handy. TMP link

I build, collect and wargame with 1/87 which is roughly 18.5mm "scale". Most Matchbox cars are closer to 1/64-1/72 which is why Dark Future was 20mm scale. However a lot of the older trucks (60s and 70s) are much closer to 1/87 but it's more a case of what would fit the box.

Wyatt

TMP link
TMP link

Dan
PS. Always take a figure with you, in your pocket, when you go look at toy cars.

What has really made it complicated is the way some sellers advertise the vehicle. There are many auctions on ebay for example that read "HO Scale Pickup" but in the description, on some of them, its declares 1:87. Model RR HO scale vehicles are absolutely not 1:87, at least not from what Ive seen. I bought a couple vehicles advertised as HO Scale only to find they were essentially matchbox cars – paying $3 USD plust shipping for them when they are a buck a piece at Walmart. Uggh

Check out my Blog…I have pics of a zombie game in action using "ho" scale cars and some matchbox style trucks…shy away from the cars as they are too big…

stepman3.blogspot.com

THanks Stepman – hey just spotted your profession on your blog. Im a hosemonkey too, local 2922 in West Texas. Cheers!

Local 734 Baltimore…Truck Man here…

"Always take a figure with you, in your pocket, when you go look at toy cars"

Agreed, 100%…I had one with me tonight as I was looking through the Mal-Wart clearance section and car departments.

*****

Stepman…what is that mechanical caterpillar looking item? picture

Ahhh, that's a repainted "Zoid". I'm gonna use him with Tomorrow's War from Ambush Alley…

ahhhh hence the Molga reference link s'nice.

Molga getting attacked by Harpers spider link

I always take a figure with me to the store,I found it is easyer to check the size this way. Both hot wheels and matchbox cars some work some dont. I have found that walgreens sales a cheap semi truck and trailer that looks good with 15mm figures. they were around $3.00 USD

"off brand" die cast cars are a source, as many are closer to 1/100 than 1/64 (I picked up a GREAT school bus at walgreens lat week. 79 cents, and about perfect 1/100 scale. (gonna repaint it, and maybe fill it with 10mm zombies (think of the chil'ren) for an interesting scenery piece.

people call lots of things "HO" scale, when they are not even in the ballpark, (1/72 plastics, "20mm", 1/64 scale military vehicles and figures. Frustrating.

Ebay has many offenders.

Go to a local hobby shops "sidewalk sales", and Model RR club shows. You can find lots of HO vehicles, reasonable. (HO train stuff is shockingly expensive, even online.)

Grumygamer, something has gone hideously wrong. HO is a standard in RR scales, defined as being 1/87; manufacturers who ignore this are usually making 1/80, which only works correctly in Japan, who altered the scale so they didn't have to make their own special track. They will usually make Japanese items or label their stuff as HO/OO scale, which is obviously mathematically impossible, and the mark of a mass producer who just doesn't care.
Otherwise either you are looking at HO slot cars, which many fans thereof will readily admit have never been near the place-

Or the seller was just plain LYING.

I compared HO figs with Flames of War figs once and the latter was almost the same size.
Hence me buying Lilliput stuff for FOW.

Matchbox cars are purported to be 1/64, usually that or 1/60, and a significant amount are labelled if they differ.
We use them for 20mm or 1/72 because that's physically the biggest figure you can stuff inside the model…
I have never seen one of theirs really in 15mm or HO. Though they do have some close enough trucks and AFVs or construction rigs…
Hot Wheels do seem to have tinier cars labelled 1/87.

@chironex Tell me about it, I got 100 "HO" scale car from ebay and they are way to small for 15mm. Any one know where I can get some real HO cars for cheap?

Sorry, cheap = looks like something off an architects model/lied about scale. I think Life-like has some cheap vehicle packs but not terribly good,
link
otherwise everything is sold in 1 or 2 packs, and costs horrendously that way.
PS have you an img of the cars to show us how they are too small? And a link to the item?

I got 50 HO scale cars off ebay and they're bang on. They do look small alongside 15s but they're actually just right. We always seem to scale up vehicles and forget how small a real car actually is. I've often seen games in 28mm and 15mm where the figures can't see over the tops of the cars they're standing behind.
It all depends on whether you're after a correct match or what feels right. Either is fine of course as long as everyone knows what's going on.

Yeah sure I'll post some pictures of the cars along side some of my 15mm figures and a HO building latter today.

So, those HO 1/87 scale EBAY cars from the Chinese guy are a better fit for 15mm than the 1/100 scale cars from same?

He has "HO 1/87 scale" cars, and "HO 1/100 scale cars" listed.

Anyone notice the working headlights you can get for the cars :O

I orderd 6mm cars from him a couple years ago, and they were great (for Godzilla games)but this will have to be accurate. Don't want a hundred cares that are too small (or big).

(an order is a click away, but I need to know this first )

Good point Agent Brown, I discovered the same. I got some of those HO cars off ebay, as well as some specialty vehicles from a Model RR company and at first glance they looked too small for 15mm, yet upon comparing them to some photos of cars and their owners, not to mention going out and standing next to my own Chevelle, they are just right.

Funny how game-table perception can vary from real life.

Same thing as true 1/64 scale figures looking huge compared to Matchbox 1/64 cars. (they do).

I noticed, however, that for 28mm Zombie gaming, 1/48 and many 1/43 scale vehicles look great. That is a relitively big difference (1/56 and 1/43), you'd think they shouldn't be compatable.

Also depends on the car!

Couple of pics of the Ebay cars I've got with a couple of 15mm figs.
link
Scroll to the bottom. I think they look fine but I can see how some would like their vehicles a little more imposing.

OK here are the pics, the figures are a mix of Ground zero games and Rebel miniatures and the building was made using Evan's model builder software. The cars aren't too bad but the mini van looks way too small.

link

Fabe Mrk 2, that link takes me to an 'organise your photos' page and then tells me I haven't got any.

OH sorry I'm not use to flickr, lets see if this works if not I'll up load it elsewhere

link

Agent Brown, are all or those cars 1/87,that large black one with the guy behind it looks just right for 15mm, but the other looks to small. The cars I have are the same size as the two at the end which I feel is too small.

Matchbox (and Hotwheels for that matter) are not a scale. They are a size (much like 15 mm is not a scale). The original concept was every toy fit inside a specific sized box (a matchbox if you believe it ). It is roughly 2 1/2" long. It doesn't matter if it is a short Nissan Sentra or a long Corvette…both are 2 1/2" long.

If you look at the bottom of the cars, many are actually marked with what the scale would be…even this though is not entirely accurate, they vary in width and height from the length scale ratio. You might have something that is 1:64 wide, 1:70 long and 1:73 high. Bit of a mess really. Unless you really don't care about scale – they aren't all that worthwhile.

For lower cost HO (1:87 scale) vehicles, there are a few toy brands that are producing them for about the same price as the Matchbox cars. Generally find them in big box stores around the same area as the Matchbox cars. Mini-metals is one brand that you can find at Walmart and Target. There are a few others as well – but that is the one I see most often.

They all came from the same pack, HO/1:87/1:100 from a Hong Kong ebayer. To my eye they all look fine except maybe the people carrier. That Peter Pig marine is pretty hefty though. I should have used one of my Rebel cops.
I think it's also my pretty poor photography that's to blame for the apparent size difference. It seems I've just muddied the waters further.

Wow. GF took me to "Colonial Hobbies" in Orlando (HUGE hobby shop, great stuff).

They had about every make of 1:87 vehicles (mostly for model RR). The Model Power, Woodlands Scenics, ATLAS and Busch are fantastic models, really nice (but espensive, the MP cars were $4.50 USD each)

Glad to note, the Walgreens semi truck and trailer is spot on in scale, as is their cheaper "off brand', 79 cent cars (the trucks only, cars are too big)

The Matchbox firetrucks and such are in tune to 1:87 too.

I found, yes, a Model Power 1:87 1975 Pinto Station Wagon at Colonial! (it said "classic"? Classic as in people burned to death in that car, but other than that, the only other noteriety of the Pinto wagon is that the Illinois Nazis used it in Blues Brothers (which is my reason for buying it)

Oh, and found a new 1/48 car maker, Bburago, $2 USD each at orlando Dollar generals.