Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

The 1/24 Scale History Story?


Recommended Posts

This is a historical question concerning the model industry.  I am not a big fan of 1/24 scale model cars.  1/25 scale is my preference.  Why did the model companies adopt  a 1/24 scale?  As you car modelers know, the difference is small, but drastic (if you know what I mean).  WHAT IS THE STORY?  Would love to hear the "scoop" from you car model historians. Thanks

 

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1/24 scale is "one half inch equals one foot".  Actually, the question should be "how did 1/25 scale get used?"  As I understand it, 1/25 was primarily an architectural scale.  The most common explanation for 1/25 is that the car manufacturers were already working in 1/10 scale for some of their work, and the model manufacturers reduced that by 2-1/2 to get to 1/25 for the promotional models.   

One guy in my IPMS chapter (who builds cars among other things) won't buy anything marked 1/25 scale, and has been vocal about it when sufficiently prodded.  He's mentioned that everything labeled 1/25 scale that he has checked has never measured out to exactly 1/25; more often it turns out to be slightly smaller.  That's true to some extent because so many early kits are based on manufacturers' promotional models.  Often those were cheated a bit to fit in a certain size box, or to look right with already existing tires. 

Recently I bought a Jimmy Flintstone resin Ford Econoline van body.  It looks like it's cribbed from an existing diecast van.  The intended donor kit (interior floor/chassis) is the IMC/Lindberg Dodge A-100 (Little Red Wagon, etc).  I measured the wheelbase and length on the Econoline and found it slightly undersize (1/25.7 or so).  I'm wondering how it's going to fit with the Dodge parts because the Dodge is 1/25 scale and both the Ford and the Dodge are on the exact same (90") wheelbase.  Measuring the Dodge kit, I found that it too is undersize, almost exactly to the same degree as the resin Econoline body.  So it will fit.  The A-100 was never a promotional model, so there's no logical explanation for it being undersize.

The moral of the story: don't pull out the ruler if you don't have to, otherwise you're going to find that something you think is 1/25 scale really isn't...   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For what I remember from an old article on a European car magazine that was talking about die-cast, the 1/24 was used in Europe and 1/25 in USA.The article were saying that they wanted a specific scale back then for different reason, one was production cost, and selling cost. Also they wanted a scale (1/24) that almost any kid or adult can enjoy. THe 1/24 scale was a big hit in the middle of the 70's when Bburago started to make toys model cars, after adding the 1/43 and 1/18 and kit etc... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a historical question concerning the model industry.  I am not a big fan of 1/24 scale model cars.  1/25 scale is my preference.

Jim, is there really that much visible difference between a 1:25 and 1:24 scale model to make you dislike a 1:24 scale models?  Percent-wise it is only about 4% difference in size.  I don't worry about it myself, but it would have been nice if all the automotive model kits were made in the same scale (either 1:24 or 1:25).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find that the scale difference is greatly noticeable when kit bashing. I have more 1/25 scale parts than any other and though I have tried I find it difficult to build 1/24 scale model cars. 

I aggree with the auto industry scale conversion from 1/10, that makes must since. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe it's a matter of the Metric and imperial system.

IMHO: I don't care if it is 24 or 25.

I'm with you Erik, as while I didn't really care for 1/24th scale several years ago, today it makes no difference to me. I have some Danbury and Franklin Mint cars that are in 1/24th scale and they are beautiful. I'm currently workin' on a 1/24 scale kit, and it looks like there'll be more of my builds in that scale in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The majority of my kits are 1/25, but I keep a "separate" collection of 1/24 so that I can build Ferraris, Porsches and other makes that you'd never find in 1/25.  That 1/24 list includes all of the Monogram Classics, some interesting Heller releases such as the 4.5 Blower Bentley, Talbot Lago GP car, Type 50 Bugatti, BMW 528, Alfa Romeo 1750 Zagato, etc., and some really well-done Italeri classics ('33 Cadillac, Bugatti Royales).  And then, of course, other interesting subjects from Tamiya, Fujimi, Hasegawa, and so on.

PB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I remember correctly (and I probably don't), 1/25 was called the "engineering" scale (whatever that means) and the promo makers decided to crank out their product in 1/25. When they started offering their promos as kits they were already geared-up for that scale and the rest is history.

Monogram supposedly chose 1/24 (the architects scale) back in the '50s for the Deuce Coupe kit because that was the European scale (how big the model car industry in Yurrip was back then I don't know) and I guess they wanted to be competitive over on the continent (although how many units of the Long John dragster they expected to move in Dusseldorf I can't imagine). They might have been the red-headed step-child all those years but as history shows 1/24 did become the "international" scale.

Revell chose 1/25 because ... uh, jeez, beats me ... a coin toss?

In retrospect 1/24 should have been the de facto scale, but hey, who knew?

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Edited by Reegs
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jim, is there really that much visible difference between a 1:25 and 1:24 scale model to make you dislike a 1:24 scale models?  Percent-wise it is only about 4% difference in size.  I don't worry about it myself, but it would have been nice if all the automotive model kits were made in the same scale (either 1:24 or 1:25).

It's not enough for me to dislike 1/24th................but it does come into play in regards to what James is talking about here in this quote:

I find that the scale difference is greatly noticeable when kit bashing. I have more 1/25 scale parts than any other and though I have tried I find it difficult to build 1/24 scale model cars. 

I aggree with the auto industry scale conversion from 1/10, that makes must since. 

The answer here is .................yeah, it's a big of a difference.

Here's a comparison with the way out of proportion Monogram 1/24 scale Camaro on the left and the newer Revell 1/25 scale Camaro on the right:

003_zpspaez6pff.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not enough for me to dislike 1/24th................but it does come into play in regards to what James is talking about here in this quote:

The answer here is .................yeah, it's a big of a difference.

Here's a comparison with the way out of proportion Monogram 1/24 scale Camaro on the left and the newer Revell 1/25 scale Camaro on the right:

003_zpspaez6pff.jpg

 

That looks to be more than the supposed 4% difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That looks to be more than the supposed 4% difference.

Yeah well, but remember that the bigger one is a Monogram kit..;)     I guess it is not fair to generalize, but the kit shown has severe problems with it's proportions. One of those is the width which is far too great. So even though the length is not that far off (subtracting for the molded-on spoiler) it makes the model look much larger than it should. Another consideration here is that Monogram probably made it somewhat larger than actual 1/24 scale. Their '57 Vette is a gross offender in that department, measuring out to close to 1/22. Try to put one of those honkers next to a '57 Vette from AMT..   Now, I am not out to smear the Monogram name, but when 1/24 is not 1/24, and 1/25 is not 1/25 but somewhere in the ballpark of about there. - You cannot really compare apples to apples, but you need to evaluate each kit on its own merits in terms of scale fidelity.

Edited by lysleder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That photo got me thinking. Actually it appears that the scales are pretty close after all.  I took the 1:25 model and enlarged it to 104%. It is pretty close to the size of the Monogram 1:24 scale model. The angles of the models in the photo and the spoiler on the 1:24 car are a bit distracting, but even then, the enlarged Revell body is very close to the Monogram 1:24 scale body.

CAMAROS-25-24.thumb.jpg.39986fe0bd627a15

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like most here have forgotten (or ignored) Jim's original post. He wrote:

This is a historical question concerning the model industry.  I am not a big fan of 1/24 scale model cars.  1/25 scale is my preference.  Why did the model companies adopt  a 1/24 scale?  As you car modelers know, the difference is small, but drastic (if you know what I mean).  WHAT IS THE STORY?  Would love to hear the "scoop" from you car model historians. Thanks

I blanked out the parts of the post that were an opinion, which generated all these responses to the opinion and not answers to the question.

Carry on.

Edited by Reegs
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...