Re: Scales again (was: RE: The GZG Digest V2 #289)

On Fri, 26 Jan 2001 19:42:30 -0600, "Jesse Casey"
<jessecasey@netzero.net>
wrote:

>Okay, which one of youse guys has the alphabet scale to fractions
>scale conversion chart?
>time to see the link to that chart..

There's one on The Miniatures Page (in the Reference Corner, under The
Hobby).
This page compares millimetre scale (20mm) to fractional scale (1/87),
but it
also lists the "letter scale", which is actually model railroad gauge
(HO).
Here is the URL:

http://theminiaturespage.com/ref/scales.html

Bear in mind, though, that it's all rather subjective, depending on the
manufacturer. I was never able to see anything definitive, but I've
heard
annecdotal evidence that at different times the millimetre scale
measured from
the bottom of the feet to the figure's eyes, and at other times the
figure was
measured from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head
(approximated).

Due to the fact that you need a standardized gauge system so that one
manufacturer's trains will run on another's track, the letter scale is
well
defined. By definition, the fractional scale is well defined as well.
This is
not the case with the millimetre scale.

The problem is that it's actually in the interest of miniature
manufacturers
to get people to buy their figures and not mix and match with their
competitors. Games Workshop has been the most blatant about this, and
arguably
the most successful. However, the fact that historical miniatures
manufacturers have never been willing to agree to a formal standard
(HMGS has
called for such a standard).

Of course, lead figure manufacturers aren't the only ones muddying the
waters.
While railroad manufacturers are good at keeping to the gauge standard,
miniatures that claim to follow the railroad gauge are NOT good at
keeping to
the standard. I have plastic figures from the 70s that are labelled HO
scale.
One set is 1/72, the other is 1/76. Neither is what I've seen as the
"official" HO scale (1/87).

Roco minitanks are close to this scale, though. What's interesting is
that a
post on the Battleground: World War II e-group suggests that most Roco
tanks
are used with 15mm figures, not 20mm.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,