Calculating Scale | Workbench Wednesday 

As someone who's done a lot of freelance 3D modeling for model train kits, something worth noting is that just because it's scaled properly, does not mean visually it will look right. Sometimes a little "scale fudging" is required, but that's where your artistic eye comes into play!

Calculating appreciation for all the time and effort you put into your videos. Very entertaining and informative. Thank you.

GI Joe/Star Wars action figures are roughly 1:19 scale? British outline live steam is roughly 1:19 scale. Dave, you’ve created a monster in my garden today 😅

There are many free online scale calculators that make converting easy.

I was involved in architectural steel fabrication for many years and quite often I would be given a photo of something that a customer wanted and I would use known features in the photo to create a scale to determine and design the features required. Once the scale is determined I can use it to work out forced perspective elements. People can come up with some interesting ideas for their custom homes. Thanks for interpreting a very useful topic.

"28mm scale" is used to imply that an average human would be 28mm tall (or possibly 28mm from bottom of feet to eye level) in that model line. If you have a model of a horse, or a child, or a dragon, or an M-4 Sherman, or whatever, that model would be (in the eye of the manufacturer) scaled appropriately to the human reference model. Some manufacturers are better than others, and modelers are notoriously bad at intuitive understandings of the sizes of stuff. Most modelers, for instance, pick vehicle models that are much too large for the figures they're using for a variety of (fairly interesting) psychological reasons. There are various ways of finding a scaling ratio for figures like that, but a decent rule of thumb is to divide the actual height of the figure by 1800 (30cm = 1', close enough). If you measure "28mm" figures, you'll find various heights, but 30mm is probably close, which gives you a scale of 30/1800, or 1:60. For which S-scale stuff works pretty well. This is complicated by the fact that figures made for gamers and figure painters tend to use a different set of exaggerations than figures made for model railroads. Preiser figures, for example, tend to be quite tall and skinny for their scale (probably close to 8 heads high). Gaming figures tend to be closer to 5.5 heads high and have larger hands than an actual human, so they're much bulkier for their height. When you're looking at a scale model of a manufactured item, it's pretty easy to just put a ruler up against the prototype and then multiply by the scale to get the right size for the model. This doesn't work as well for people, since they don't come out of standard-size molds. 8-) And even in case of manufactured items, there are things that can't be cast at the correct size, because the plastic can't flow into something that thin, so scale is always an compromise.

Thank you that was ever informative about calculating scale. You make it fun to learn. GOD BLESS 🚂 💕 🚂 💕 🚂 💕

Speaking of 3d scanning and printing, have you ever thought about making a 3d model of yourself and using it on the TM2025 layout, just thought it’d be fun to have a shrunk down version of yourself on a model railroad.

This was useful. Many people coming into modeling via tabletop gaming or action figure dios do not have the basic knowledge of how scale works, and they need a clear explanation, not some complicated table on Google.

Older doors vary greatly in size, especially front doors. .

The thing about your small and cute on30 is that it is way compressed from full size o scale o scale takes a huge amount of space not saying your approach is wrong there are so many flavors in our great hobby

This helps alot.as I have ideas but having trouble getting it into my scale.

Thanks for another informative video. I had misjudged the door height, so it was good to be told the right size again.

Hey Dave Yes the main scale calculation is correct, but in model railroad we are dealing with many different subscales and challenges. Just look at the wheels. They are usually much wider than the original or look at your wonderful hills and rocks. They are usually much smaller than the scale size would be. Or look at the distances, in the real railroad you will hardly find a station or signal in 1 mile distance, what would be 130 inches on your scale layout. It is very complex and more artistical than mathematical question. John Allen used even smaller scales in the backround of his layout to force the perspective.😊 Eugen from Austria

I'm working through a design right now, using 3 different measuring devices, and 3 different scales, headache conversions

28mm is about 1:55 scale by the way. At least they're supposed to be. They always seem to vary a little in size.

Simple Answer ! Figure out the size(SCALE) to a REAL LIFE Object and DIVIDE !! EASY : ))

Doll houses are marketed as”scale” and “1/2 scale. This is confusing until you realize that in these peoples’ world “scale” is 1”=12” and “half scale is 1”=24”. I learned this little tidbit when I got interested in large scale model railroading. That, however is another subject all together. Love your column on You Tube. By the way I hated to see “Gruesome Gulch” go, but I hope it went to a good home.

Say if one were to convert measurements from one modelling scale to another modelling scale: in my case, for example, I want to convert the dimensions of a 1:16 scale freelance locomotive down to 1:87 scale so that it can run on HO track, would the mathematical procedure be the same, or would there be some additional calculations?

I've always used metric, but I've been tackling inches this year as it makes sense for my 1-24 layout. I try to avoid feet though. And I have to count the ruler divisions for any fractions smaller than 1/4". Inevitably, I end up double checking in mm. Apart from Evergreen Styrene, does anyone use decimal inches in modelling?That's one can of worms I'm not opening. Cheers, Kev.

Where doors are not visible I have heard of folks working out based upon the brick courses. Similarly if planks are used they are often a certain size.

A ratio gives better insight like 1:48. A letter can be regionally define like US 0-scale = 1:48 while European 0-scale = 1:43.5 or even 1:45. G-scale US = 1:24 and G-scale European = 1:22.5. No one is wrong or right. It is a guideline for your build to represent the real world. Whatever the scale you are building in: enjoy the build!

Where did you get your paint rack that's shown on the wall behind you? I need to find one. Thank you!

Two words: Proportional Dividers. One word: Paragraphs.

So 28mm = 72 "...or 6 ft....28 mm is about an inch( 24.5)...so 1=72...so 1/72 scale?

Hey, Dave. Quick question... I thought you mentioned you download your figures from a website but can't remember which video I saw that on... could you share the website with me?