How big is 1:18 scale?
Are you new to collecting diecast model cars or thinking of getting that special someone a model car as a gift? Then one thing to understand is the size or “scale” of the car. Retail sites online will list the scale of the model next to the description. It will state something like 1:12, 1:18, 1:24, 1:43, just to a name a few, but there are many more. The most common scales sold are 1:12, 1:18, 1:24, 1:43 and 1:64, with 1:18 being the most popular and 1:64 being the the most sold. The small “regular” sized Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars that you see sold in toy and department stores for $1.99 or so are considered 1:64 scale. They are not true 1:64 scale, but they all come close.
So how big is a 1:18 scale model car? A true 1:18 scale model car will vary in size, but not by much. Most are about 10″ (10 inches) in length. They can vary, but only by an inch or so. The largest size, 1:12 scale will be about 15 inches long. But to understand it in a more simple way, know that in a 1:12 scale car, for every 1 inch of the models length it represents 12″ of the real vehicle. To illustrate this lets take a real car like the Chevrolet Corvette C6 which has a length of 174.6 inches.
A model car replica of the Corvette above in the scale of 1:12 would be about 14.55 inches! 1 inch represents 12 inches of the actual car. The math would work like this 14.55×12=174.6 inches, the size of the original car! Is it all making sense? If it does not. Then you can always remember that on a scale such as 1:18 and 1:43, the lower the number on the right side means it is a bigger car and the larger the number on the right, it is a smaller number.
Below is a guideline for you to use. These are estimates only, sizes can vary by an inch up or down.
- 1:12 scale model car = 15 inches
- 1:18 scale model car = 10 inches
- 1:24 scale model car = 7 inches
- 1:43 scale model car = 4.5-5 inches
- 1:64 scale model car = 2.5-3 inches
I hope the information was helpful and shed some light to the question…How big is the actual model car?
