Hello fellow LaLDers!
I want to share you the brief story of how I met the larger-than-HotWheels scale of modelcars, how they changed my life, and what I've learnt from this one year since i started collecting them instead of my long favourite 1/64 scale. This weekend, my collection is changed: now I have more 1/43 cars than 1/64! I thought this is a good reason to share my thoughts on this scale, pros and cons.
It all started in the July of '22. I saw these modellcars in the local, monthly organised toycar market, but I always talked myself off of it. It would be another bottomless pit - I said. But on that July, one of the sellers approached me to exchange some of my on sale 1/64 cars with some of his 1/43s. So it is basically free! - no cash exchange, no money movement. I was in... and I was infected.
These were some Hachettes or Metro Models, Abarth racecars and a Cisitalia, so those kind of italian cars which noone made in 1/64 scale - and which are my week points, my sweet spots. I love these kind of cars, half of them I have never heard of!
And it started. Since then, I haven't bought any 1/64 cars. Just 1/43s. And I have a system... at first. "I only buy cars which haven't released in 1/64, or I haven't got in 1/64". But this system failed quite soon. So I started to sell those 1/64s which I got the 1/43 counterpart. Currently, after years of selling, I have around 205 1/64 cars, while in this one year span I collected more than 230 1/43 cars! And I feel some kind of pain - I started all this as a childhood passion, with 1/64 cars, Hot Wheels and Matchbox. And then moved on to the premium selection, paralelly I sold all HWs and MBs. And now I am selling the premium selection bits as well, to be able to move on to the bigger scale. And although it is a bit painful - selling my childhood bits, I am also happy because I now can buy cars which I am more interested in.
In this one year, I managed to get some experience with this scale as well. I had some conceptions, preconceptions, of what are the pros and cons of changing the trajectory of my collection to this scale. Some of these preconceptions were proved false, some of the pros turned to cons and vice versa: I would like to summarize these experience here, to you. Maybe you will find some similarities with your stories, maybe it will help you make the big step to change the next scale, or maybe it will scare you off. I hope you will share your thoughts in the comment section! So lets start!
SIZE (+/-)
The first - and lets be honest, most obvious - difference between 1/64 and 1/43 scale is: the size! Duh! But we need to mention it. Most of my colleagues here, in the diecast world, says that they won't start collecting 1/43s because they need more space. And it is definitelly true, if you compare it with one on one. But I store them in the same three boxes under my bed, which I stored my 1/64s in. Although I have to mention, that these 3 boxes stored around 1500 different pieces of 1/64s, and now one and a half of them already full with those 200+ 1/43 cars. I am calming myself with the words: I want to go for quality instead of quality now. But I am still ordering everything that I slightly like like there's no tomorrow.
Okay, so size itself has a drawback, regarding storage space, but it comes with some goodies as well. Lets say: with bigger cars we got MORE. More of the good things, and more of the bad things as well.
DETAILS(+)
With a bigger casting, obviously you will have more surface and more area to play with. Most manufacturers are living with this opportunity, and give you more detailed cars that you can have in smaller scales. Detailed interiors, gauges that are just a dot in 1/64, while here you can see the tiny poiners and indicators. Full exhaust systems, not just molded into the casting base, and not just the painted exhaust tips. Small tidbits which in 1/64 are mostly labels, tampos or just a dot of paint. Photoetched metal parts, grills, chrome lines, handlebars - you name it! A lot of them have opening parts, and you can observe the interior, or the engine bay even more!
But all these small parts can come with a great prize...
FRAGILITY(-)
...because bigger castings have bigger mass as well! And while a same car is basically around 5x bigger in 1/43 scale, the same is not that true for example these small parts. The better quality cars have all wing mirrors for example. And these wing mirrors are not that significantly larger than on a 1/64 scale car. Larger, yes, but not THAT much. I think the 1/64 wing mirrors are a bit larger than scale because this is how they can produce it. In 1/43, they can be a little closer to the same scale. And in the box, around a lot of similarly bulky cars, which can move here and there, these wing mirrors are in extreme danger.
Massive cars can broke another car's mirror with ease. Other bits, such as door handles, handlebars, turn indicators, even fenders and bumpers can broke off easily. When this comes, you should make a good frienship with glues and putties. And you can only hope that these little bits will not go with the wind, falling off the table while you trying to weld them back, and you will never find them again on the carpet.
QUALITY(+/(-))
When I got my first couple of 1/43s, I thought that the overall quality in this scale is around the better 1/64s, so nothing to worry about. More high quality 1/43 models have more little details and more beautiful solutions, but I just scratched the surface. First, there are some quite ugly, wrongly proportioned, badly adjusted models and manufacturers. Luckily, most of them are quite old, so you can avoid them easily. Secondly, the quality check is seemingly as hectic as in the 1/64 scene. I saw a lot of high-end 1/43 models with manufacturing issues, broken off windshileds, chrome lines, shattered exhausts, paint marks, orange peels, which are quite unacceptable when you pay 50-100$ for a modelcar.
But we can generally say that nowadays almost all 1/43 cars have at least the same quality as a mid-highend 1/64 car. Which is quite expected, I know, but still suprising a bit.
PRICE(+/-)
I'm not gonna lie: this is the point where I had those preconceptions which were find to be false and hit me big time. I exchanged my first couple of 1/64s to 1/43s, and then I bought my first couple of bigger cars around 10$ each. Seemed quite good price/value ratio, and those Metro Abarths looked genuienly quality pieces. Later I found out these cars are the low-end regarding this scale, but I wasn't so mad, cause they still have kind of a quality like a Kyosho for example. For 10$, it was quite a catch. In the first couple of months, I said that so: the 1/43s have the same price and quality, as the 1/64s around that range, and so, why would I buy less car for the same price?
Later I had to figure out what variety in price range can a 1/43 scale could have. The top tier 43s are much more expensive than the /64s, so this same price preconception just failed. But still, you can buy a 25-30 dollar Minichamps for example, the same price you can have an Inno or Tarmac Works. I think it is a no brainer then...
AVAILABILITY(+)
...at least, here. And now we come to the very specific part of the comparison, because this chapter is heavily impacted by the tax system of my country and the surrounding areas. I live in Hungary, Europe. In this country there is the highest VAT in the entire EU: 27%! Also, the EU has the policy to duty charge everything comes outside of its territory. So if I want to buy a Tarmac Works, an Inno, a TLVN, a MiniGT or so... you can calculate with plus 30-40% of the original price! So in here, a MiniGT hit the 18-22$ range, an INNO is around 30$... I can buy much better, detailed, quality 1/43 here!
And, the big plus is, that there are a load of 1/43 cars inside EU, so I can avoid the additional taxes and VAT. So it is finantially more sustainable... for me. But I am sure that this part is not true for everyone who reads these lines.
VARIETY(+)
Beside price and overall quality, what really hooked me in is the variety. 1/43 scale have a lot of goods to offer regarding car models. British, italian, german cars from the 60s and 70s, even experimental cars from the early 40s, and even a lot of cars from the 1910s and '20s! Here, there's a lot of different car for everyone! 1/64 scale are quite boring for me nowadays, most of the recent lineups are either super/hypercars, JDMs or Porsches. I love the '60s italian manufacturers, I want Abarths, Monteverdis, Ferraris, Fiats, Lancias, Alfas, but I also like hidden english sportcar manufacturers. Triumph, Bentley, Morgan, Aston Martin, Gordon Keeble? You've got this! And every each day when I am sufring through eBay I find something new and interesting for me.
Maybach concept car from 1929? Delahaye? Talbot-Lago? Borgward? Duesenberg? Panhard-Levasor? Even the most hidden automotive gems have a representation in this scale. You can have any kind of kink, you will find a model car for you.
ACCESSORIES(-)
The big drawback that I am currently struggling with, is accessories. Some of the shops selling some kind of structures and diorama bits, but as I experienced, is not that widely extensive as it is for example in the 1/64 scale. Small amount of dioramas, lacking figures, no accessories, for example ski, bycicle rack, or roof box. I have a lot of figures and accessories for 1/64, and it is seemingly started to ramp up, so we can see more and more possibilities in the future!
But for 1/43? It is a quite disregarded scale for that, as it seems. You can print some bits for yourself, or you can bought some individually printed parts if you have some friend with a printer, but finding some figures on a peg? You better start save for an Anycubic...
So, these are the things that I've learnt from this scale so far! I learn new things every day, I found new models that I haven't seen every minute! But I am sure that I went over a lot of things, so if you have some interesing note or idea, hint or comment, please write it down and start a discussion! Maybe there will be enough material for a second round, and I will fix everything which I was wrong with here.
Thank you very much if you read this article! Have a nice day, week, rest of the year, and keep on with your passion!
Cheers!
What influenced me to collect 1/43 are from the vintage British brands like Corgi and Dinky. Also the detail on high end brand is fantastic. There wasn't a lot of US toy company that makes 1/43 so I bought mostly classic European cars and some Japanese from a German owned US online store at a decent price.. When a US brand Greenlight started making 1/43 American cars majority of them based on US movies I was able to start collecting them at a more affordable price.
Well written, thanks for sharing your insights. I need to divest myself of a lot more 1/64 cars before I even think of tackling a larger scale. All but one of my 1/18th cars are gone, so space is gradually opening up.
This is good LaLD
Excellent article!! For me 1/43 is the perfect scale to prevent one from getting a ton of 1/18s. Like you mentioned, increased detail (as long as you get the right make...) and tons of selection! I generally own Spark since they do such an awesome job.