Hot Wheels + Matchbox = ???

pupulesurfer Friday, 3/5/2021

Mattel owns both but MBX seems to have a closer to reality feel vs HW on the same casting. Almost as if HW castings are a little more stylized. So my questions are:

1) Do we know of any HW that are the same EXACT casting as an MBX model so you can swap parts interchangably?

2) Do we know how many modifications are needed to swap parts between two similar castings (if so what is that number) or does it vary from casting to casting (I suspect this is the answer)?

For example: there is a HW Jurassic Park Jeep in ID casting and MBX Jurassic Park Jeep in single and 5 pack castings. Are these the exact same casting that you can swap bits and pieces between? Or are they just close and may take some adjustments?

Thanks!

EDIT: I just noticed some MBX are 1/67 scale...so I guess I'd need to find castings that are 1/64 scale to more closely swap between the two?

I'm sure there are others but found this list:

matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/Category:1:64


Discussion

The ones I have are all different enough that parts have to be either carefully selected or custom made.


  • That's unfortunate. What are the differences? Width, length, wheel wells, etc? — pupulesurfer
  • Yes, all of the above. Sometimes wheelsets will interchange, but most other times not. — SpyDude

The MBX tend to be wider and or longer than the HW so you need to find the appropriate wheels. Other parts like grilles etc can be cut down to fit the smaller casting but going the other way, you need to fill gaps etc

Wheel wells are casting dependant, but even on HW different castings can have that problem


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Big_Al 3/5/21

My entry into the Dynasty of Dodge is a MBX Charger with some HW Urus Wheels, just as an example of how I use them together.  My understanding is that in general, Matchbox is as acurite and to scale as much as possible.  Whereas Hotwheels are flatened out and widened some, as well as some other more artistic license stuff.  I don't know this for a fact, but I would doubt that there are any identical castings between the two lines.

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redlinederby 3/5/21
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Back when I was modding more frequently, I made several MBX+HW combos, usually with the Matchbox body on a HW chassis. I always trusted HW chassis and axle/wheels more than the Matchbox ones. I mean, like you said, HW are made for speed and play, MBX are more for storytelling than loops and jumps. 

But like with any of this modding stuff...experiment and find out! Try different combos and such. That's the fun with all this. 


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