298 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 There is a bit of an unfortunate ritual in our house, which is to buy our son Elliot a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car every time we go shopping, as long as he's well behaved (He'll be three at the end of next month and already has quite a collection). If it was only down to me then we'd always end up with American muscle cars, as they look nicest and seem to roll the farthest on the Hot Wheels track, but sometimes Trina lets him choose so anything goes. Anyway, he recently came home with this Matchbox step-van, which I think is about right for HO scale. It doesn't have the scale marked underneath, but looks about right for a small van when compared to other scale models.  The detail isn't brilliant, but at £1.09 it'd be easy to build up a small fleet for an appropriate scene on a layout.  The dimensions are:  Overall length: 76.2mm Width: 26.2mm Height: 34.0mm Wheelbase: 42.0mm Load area length: 45.6mm Load area height: 21.0mm  I couldn't find any accurate dimensions or decide exactly which model it was based on, but I'll still have to get myself one to repaint and detail....   Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Your right Andy they're not bad, mine came free courtesy of Shortliner before Tvnam last year! Â Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Did you open it's door, Dave...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 No Andy it came like that. I hadn't spotted that yours had the closed door. Jack might be able shed more light on it if he can remember. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Andy, Not seen the closed door version before, but If you want an open one I'll do you a swap - mine came from USA, but I'll need to do a dig to confirm what it says on the bottom, AFAIK there are only 3 in UK so it won't appear at every show! Edit 0854  Shovel found, digging done. Sizes appear to be the same. Mine has cab doors both sides open - rear door lifts. W/S Wipers vertical each side of central divider in window - a dab of paint on them and the divider would be good Words on bottom MATCHBOX Thailand MB787 Express Delivery TM ©2009 Mattel Inc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi, Â Here's a pic of a Matchbox Lincoln Navigator purchased recently very cheaply at ASDA (Walmart). The lettering on the underneath of the chassis is very similar to the one described by Shortliner. Â However, it also shows 1:68, so presumably that is the scale of these models. Â Â Â regards, Â Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Mal - the smaller Matchbox/Hot Wheels items aren't designed to one scale but are generally scaled to fit their standard box, so something the size of the the step van should be close to 1/87th scale, the cars will tend to be in the 1/60s - bigger stuff like plant may be 1/100 or so. Â A dissassemble plus some detail painting (black round window edges etc) and taking the shine down a couple of notches ought to make both those step vans start to look pretty good. Â Matchbox/Hot Wheels (same company nowadays so there seems to be a lot of crossover of tooling) have done some interesting ones over the past few years, I noticed a nice security truck a while back but I could only see it in a multi-pack so didn't get it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Based on he dimensions given, that van is close to 1/87, perhaps a shade on the tall side, compared to a fairly generic Grumman van. Â Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Andy, Not seen the closed door version before, but If you want an open one I'll do you a swap - Â I think it's a bit too modern for my era, but I am tempted to model this Frito-Lay step van we saw parked across a spur on Pine St. in Yakima in 2004. Â Â I forgot to mention the body is plastic so a bit of surgery would be quite easy, but let me know if you want one Jack and I'll see if there are any left in our local Morrisons. Â This week's misguided choice is this Dodge Van: Â Â It's to the usual Hot Wheels dimensions so is probably nearer to 4mm/ft than HO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Yes please, let me know what I owe you - but I'll miss out on the "Flamer" thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UP844 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 The closed and open door versions that I have differ in that the closed door one has a plastic body and the open one has a die cast metal body. Apart from that the mouldings appear virtually identical. Â Â At a guess I'd say that the plastic van has closed doors for additional strength, but I'm probably wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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