Combining Scales

[Anirudh Arun]

Hello guys

I'm very new to truck building and I've started the Revell Peterbilt 359 Conventional (will post photos soon), and I wanted to know if it's possible to combine a 1/25 tractor with a 1/24 trailer. There seems to be greater variety in terms of 1/24 trailers. Is the scale difference noticeable? or can I get away with it?

Cheers

[Fat Brian]

It really just depends on the truck and trailer, sometimes it works and sometimes it looks off.

[Wagoneer81]

I regularly interchange 1/24 and 1/25 parts...

[Yahshu]

1/25 truck 1/24 trailer http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=60353&hl=

[Anirudh Arun]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I wasn't that sure whether the two scales would work, but it seems the difference is very small, and I can get away with using a 1/24 trailer.

[BigBad]

Better to have a 1:25 tractor with a 1:24 trailer than the other way around. When the trailer is narrower than the tractor, it doesn't look quite right. Watch for the tire sizes too. Bigger tires on the trailer might look off as well.

[highway]

I have always been a firm believer in not worrying about the slight difference between 1/24 and 1/25 scales, over small lengths it does not matter to me. I have this custom that is 1/24th scale and the trailer is 1/25th.

Better to have a 1:25 tractor with a 1:24 trailer than the other way around. When the trailer is narrower than the tractor, it doesn't look quite right. Watch for the tire sizes too. Bigger tires on the trailer might look off as well.

Something to keep in mind Robert, not all trailers are like todays with a 102 inch wide dimension, many older trailers like the older 70s Wilson trailer in my pic above are only 96 inches wide. That makes the trailer narrower than the tractor, and the difference is so slight in width between the scales that even a new Moebius Great Dane should not be narrow enough to look like an old 96 wide when used on a 1/24 tractor. These two pics are of a 1/24 scale Italeri container (which is also a 96 inch wide older trailer, I scaled it at one time) and the 1/25 Wilson, and I don't see any noticeable difference in width at all.

Also, I have driven 1:1s that have looked like these pics with older 96 inch wide trailers.

[BigBad]

Well Matt, I've said it before, I don't drive trucks, I just drool over them. So I might overlook some details like you're pointing out. But the little overshoot that the truck wheels are showing in your pictures turn me off a little. I tried my AMT flatbed on my Italeri Pete and to my eye they didn't look right together. But that's my view, I guess after a while it wouldn't matter anymore.

You know our work backgrounds influence how we see things too, You have experience actually driving these trucks so you know a whole lot more than I do, so you have seen a lot of truck and trailer configurations and know that some trailers are actually narrower than others compared to the tractors. And you will be probably pickier on details like air line colors, connector types, engine models in certain trucks and transmission/engine combos. Unfortunately, I don't see as many real trucks up close except on the highway so I can't check them out much for obvious reasons. And yes, your LTL does looks good with that Wilson trailer.

I work in an engineering environment and I like to have things line-up, be straight and look in proportion, so when the smallest things show up, my mind says...Fix it! so that's probably the reason why I'm being so picky! It just makes mixing and matching trucks to trailers more difficult for me. I enjoy good work, attention to detail and imagination and I see plenty of all here. You finish this big ol' Ford by the way, Matt, ya hear!

Edited September 28, 2012 by BigBad