1/48 scale cars

Renwal - later Revell - made a collection of 1/48 scale cars that can still be found on Evil Bay. I have built a few of them and they are pretty nice, especially if you take a little extra time working on them.
Here are a few examples ...
1934 Duesenberg SJ


1939 Mercedes 540-K


1931 Cadillac Sport Phaeton in background


1940 Ford Sedan in foreground


They also make several from the earlier years like the 1916 Stutz Bearcat for example. Tamiya has gotten into the 1/48 vehicle game recently with some armor but rumor has it that they will be releasing a 1940 Ford sedan soon and just this month released a Citroen 11CV staff car that looks pretty good. Another thing to watch for are old 1/43 Matchbox vehicles - yes they are slightly out of scale but can still be useful in diorama settings. Lastly, there are a few pieces out by Corgi in the cast metal department that are 1/48. Their scale is not listed on the packaging so you have to look closely to find them.

Here is the Corgi Jeep in the foreground


Now, if you want to talk 1/48 armor there is a whole lot of old stuff from Bandai and some new stuff from Tamiya not to mention a wide variety of odd stuff from the resin producers. Here is a 1/48 scale Hanomag SS-100 from Matador ...


Hopefully that will give you enough to think about for the immediate future

Thanks swanny that helps. I keep looking on evil bay as you call it, but I agree that it is evil.

Daryl

There is a large selection of car models in 1/43rd scale. This is close to 1/48 and the minor difference would hardly be noticable in a diorama. I'm not sure of the vintage of the 1/43rd models, but there should be a few models from the period you are interested in.

There are thousands of vehicles available in 1/43, although the very early vehicles from the time you are looking for are not as plentiful. However there are a large number of truck kits made in 1/48 (Matador I think is such a company and does produce some early trucks) and a number of manufacturers eg Sun Motor Co, Conrad, Mini Trucks, Lion Corgi produced some of their ranges in 1/50th scale (which is closer to 48th than 43rd) but most seem again to be trucks but again I think most are later than the 1900-1920's.

kith wisemen model services. He is also on ebay.

O gauge model railroads are 1:48 scale.  Since many model railroaders pick a period other than contemporary, the mfgs of cars offer cars from a number of periods.  These are usually all built up, not kits, but are fine for dioramas.

 

Don, where can one find these built up models? wendell

dallas

Don, where can one find these built up models? wendell

Any hobby shop that has a good model railroad section should have some.  Or, go to Walthers.com, a major model railroad supplier and search their catalog. Or, pick up an issue of Model Railroader at the news stands and go to web sites of suppliers.

Model railroading has a lot to offer scale modelers of other genres. I first learned of weathering from model RR people.  They seem to do more scratch building than other genres.  They have the supplies and techniques for ground cover and scenery for dioramas.

I've been whispering (even yelling at times) in the ear of one of the major diecast mfrs for a while about readjusting the scale they use to produce their products...1:50! Which doesn't take a whole lot of adjustment in the program to reduce down to 1:48 which would expand IMO their market base.

1:43 >  1:48  <  1:50 no matter how you look at it is different and depending on the subject can be glaringly obvious they are not of the same scale. If you do use mixed scales, understand if you position them properly and provide a fixed perspective, it won't be noticed. Great for photographing.

You sir, are 100% correct. I just don't get it. I do hope down the road someone would wake up. wendell