The Little World

I have a problem*.

The scale of my model airplanes is 1:72 – and that is the general scale to which I wish to build my model airfields. I have been lucky so far – the British card kits from Superquick and Metcalf are mostly in 1:72 or 1:76 ( an acceptable compromise ) and the do-it-yourself plans I download are scaled to 1:72 as they arrive.

Even when I’ve stepped outside the hobby shop and ordered old Plasticville kits from the internet, I’ve gotten hangars that are wrong for their original intended railway layouts but right for me.

However, the problem is that the airfields I build are set in North America – Alberta precisely – and buildings that look like local Canadian structures of the period are nearly all made in HO scale -1:87. They look undersized by a noticeable margin.

OK – Out with the cardboard and balsa. I can make 1:72 hangars and gas stations and barns and diners myself – I’ve scratchbuilt them in 1:18 and the little sizes are no problem. But what do I do about vehicles?

So far I’ve had to choose between 1:76 British outline cars, trucks, tractors, etc or 1:87 North American vehicles. The problem is that while I can use some British-outline road vehicles, they were not as common as American and Canadian ones at any time.

I could resolve it by resetting the airfields to the UK but I have no experience of that – and it would not be my own view of the world.

The search continues – hopefully someone in the Oxford company will decide to make more North American models in 1:76  or another small diecast factory will take up the challenge.

Heading and body images – the Oxford model of an Austin ATV. Delightful vehicle and close enough for jazz.

*  I have many problems, which is why they don’t let me sit on the good furniture.