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- #21
Robert Porter
Senior Master Sergeant
Oh I can imagine it! But I would need to hire a tractor trailer to get the kit home!
Tell me about scales and why they differ between aircraft and armor?
- Thread starter Robert Porter
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Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
First of all, didn't know about Tamiya impact. They're a terrific model making company.
Clarification: HO is half O, but it's half British O'gauge which is 1:43 not 1:48. It's why all those model die cast cars are 1:43 to the chagrin of O'scalers all over the place (except Britain). It's actually a hybrid scale: 7mm = 1 foot and HO is 3.5mm to a foot.
1/4" (1:48) scale is also the scale that the US Navy used for their massive engineering models that you see in museums all over the place. Gibbs and Cox Marine Engineers did most of them. The Missouri scales out to 19 feet long. At that scale every detail is a scale model in itself.
I love 1:32 planes, but quickly find that displaying is a logistical problem.
My main work is with my large O'gauge Railroad so all the structures I do are 1:48. You can details nicely at that scale.
Clarification: HO is half O, but it's half British O'gauge which is 1:43 not 1:48. It's why all those model die cast cars are 1:43 to the chagrin of O'scalers all over the place (except Britain). It's actually a hybrid scale: 7mm = 1 foot and HO is 3.5mm to a foot.
1/4" (1:48) scale is also the scale that the US Navy used for their massive engineering models that you see in museums all over the place. Gibbs and Cox Marine Engineers did most of them. The Missouri scales out to 19 feet long. At that scale every detail is a scale model in itself.
I love 1:32 planes, but quickly find that displaying is a logistical problem.
My main work is with my large O'gauge Railroad so all the structures I do are 1:48. You can details nicely at that scale.
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Prior to Tamiya coming into the American market in the late 60s, armor was generally 1/40 (an odd size) for Revell and Adams, and I believe Renwal's kits were 1/32 or something close to that. Tamiya made such an impact on the market that it became the defecto armor scale. Regarding ships, sailing and craftsman wood models were the various fractional sizes (1/48, 1/96, 1/192). Then came along Tamiya again with their big ships in the 70s at 1:350 which set that scale. The other model ship scale is 1:700 which is 1/2 1:350. Prior to Tamiya picking an actual scale, all the other plastic ship kits were "Box scale". Revell, Monogram, Aurora all had standard size boxes they used for model ships and the models were sized to fit those boxes. Model planes had the same problem. Monogram's planes favored 1:48 and did so faithfully, but Revell was all over the place. You didn't find the actual scale listed on any of those first generation plastic model companies' products.
Greg Boeser
2nd Lieutenant
Monogram armor was a mix of 1:32 and 1:35. The tanks were 1:32, but the half-tracks and stuff were 1:35.
