Plastic Model - Scales

Scales

Almost all plastic models are designed in a well-established scale. Each type of subject has one or more common scales, though they differ from one to the other. The general aim is to allow the finished model to be of a reasonable size, while maintaining consistency across models for collections. The following are the most common scales for popular subjects:

• Aircraft: 1/24, 1/32, 1/48, 1/72, 1/100, and 1/144, with 1/48 and 1/72 being the most popular
• Military vehicles: 1/16, 1/24, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72, 1/76
• Automobiles: 1/8,1/12,1/16,1/18,1/20,1/24,1/25,1/32,1/35,1/43
• Ships: 1/72, 1/96, 1/144, 1/350, 1/450, 1/600, 1/700
• Railways: 1:43.5 (7 mm/1 ft : O scale), 1:76.2 (4 mm/1 ft : OO scale), 1:87 (3.5 mm/1 ft : HO scale)

In reality, models do not always conform to their nominal scale; there are 1/25 scale automobile models which are larger than some 1/24 scale models, for instance. For example, the engine in the recent reissue of the AMT Ala Kart show truck is significantly smaller than the engine in the original issue. AMT employees from the 1960s note that, at that time, all AMT kits were packaged into boxes of a standardized size, to simplify shipping; and the overriding requirement of designing any kit was that it had to fit into that precise size of box, no matter how large or small the original vehicle. This practice was common for other genres and manufacturers of models as well. In modern times this practice has become known as fit-the-box scale. In practice, this means that kits of the same subject in nominally identical scales may produce finished models which actually differ in size, and that hypothetically identical parts in such kits may not be easily swapped between them, even when the kits are both by the same manufacturer.

The shape of the model may not entirely conform to the subject, as well; reviews of kits in modeling magazines often comment on how well the model depicts the original.