How calculate scale.

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:53 am

I have a runabout model that is1:72 and wanted to build some other types of shuttles to scale, but have no idea how to do it, googled it but wasn't much help

davehal9000 · Post by **davehal9000** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:15 am

In 1/72 an inch on the model represents 72 inches on the prototype. Divide the length of the prototype by 72 and that will tell you how many inches the model should be

Rogviler · Post by **Rogviler** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:19 am

I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but I'll give you a few pieces of info...

At 1:72, one foot in real life equals 4.23mm in scale. That makes a six-foot man almost exactly one inch tall. If you wanted to build something that was 100 feet long in real life, it would be about 16.5 inches long at 1:72 scale.

With that info you can take any "real world" measurement and scale it down to 1:72. Is that what you were looking for?

-Rog

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:57 pm

Kind of, I'm going to scratch build some shuttles to make in a diorama with a few people and equipment and wanted the shuttles to be to scale with my runabout

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:28 am

Here's some links with comments of scale sizes:

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/p ... scales.htm

http://www.thortrains.net/scale1.htm

http://www.irvania.com/wargames/25mmvs48.htm

And this is handy, too:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/scalemaster.htm

Tankmodeler · Post by **Tankmodeler** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:26 pm

chiver wrote:Kind of, I'm going to scratch build some shuttles to make in a diorama with a few people and equipment and wanted the shuttles to be to scale with my runabout

I'm not trying to be nasty or anything, but if you aren't sure of the concept of scale & scale calculations, might not scratchbuilding an entire shuttle be a bit of a skill stretch? How much scratchbuilding have you done before?

I can tell you from experience, it's all about measuring and transferring dimensions from a plan in one scale to your model in another scale. I can't tell you how many times I have the calculator & dial calipers out when scratchbuilding complex stuff.

Paul

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:00 pm

I have done paper modeling before and was planing to at first use the paper to trace, then add detail

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:13 pm

Tankmodeler wrote: ...might not scratchbuilding an entire shuttle be a bit of a skill stretch? How much scratchbuilding have you done before?
Paul

Everyone has to start somewhere. I'm back into the hobby because in '98 at a toyshow, a vendor wanted $300.00 for a TOS Romulan Warbird, and I said "Heck, for $300, I could scratchbuild it myself!" Used very few measurements or precision tools, and got it done in a month. I was darn proud of that model, and still am today - I just sorta cringe a bit.

Tankmodeler wrote: I can tell you from experience, it's all about measuring and transferring dimensions from a plan in one scale to your model in another scale. I can't tell you how many times I have the calculator & dial calipers out when scratchbuilding complex stuff.

Paul

And I do agree with you -- but it's always good to see the enthusiasm that beginners have. Eventually, he'll develop AMS like the rest of us, after getting all the tools and supplies and techniques.

naoto · Post by **naoto** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:42 pm

If you're trying to resize an existing model or drawing to another scale, then it's easiest understand what you're doing by breaking it down into two steps. Given a model or drawing of scale "A", determine the size of the "real" article. Once you have this value, you can compute the size of the model of given scale "B" from this.

Scale is simply a ratio between size of model and size of "real" article. A 1/72 (alternatively written as 1:72) model would be 1/72 the size in length, width and height of the "real" article. Let's say we've got a man that is 6 feet tall. A 1/72 representation of him would be 1" tall (divide 6ft by 72, or simply 72in/72 which yields answer 1"). The same man in 1/48 would be 1.5" ( 72in/48 = 1.5" ).

Let's say you've got a model of a given size, how do we compute the size of the "real" article. Say we've got a figure of an space alien that stands at 2 1/4 inches. Let's say the figure is 1/32 scale. That would mean that the "real" article is 32 times the size of the model -- which yields the expression 2.25" * 32 = 72". What if the model is 1/43 scale? We'd simply compute 2.25" * 43 = 96.75" or 8ft 3/4in.

Let's say we've got a model of a given size, and we know the size of the "real" article, but not the scale. We can compute the scale by noting that scale is the ratio of the model to the "real" article:
(size of model) / (size of "real" item) = scale ratio (in format 1/X)
To make it more covenient, let's "flip" the fractions around:
(size of "real" item) / (size of model) = X
So let's say we've got a model that is 14" long, that represents an object that in real life is 80ft in length. Plug into the equation given, we have:
80ft / 14" = (80*12)" / 14" = 960" / 14"= 68.5714
so the model is somewhere between 1/68 and 1/69 scale.

In the case where you don't have all the information, if you can find a reference point (say for example the size of a human to match the vehicle), then we can use that instead. Let's say you've got a vehicle of unknown scale. If we can determine the size of a human to fit it, then we can use that as the reference. Let's say that a person to fit the vehicle is 3/8 of an inch tall. If we assume the person in real life is 6ft in height, then we get:
6ft / (3/8)" = 72" / (3/8)" = 192
This would mean that the model is 1/192 scale.

Just remember -- this doesn't require anything beyond grade-school arithmetic. The hardest bit is to get a "handle" on the whole thing about scale -- and once you "get" it you'll realize it's rather simple.

Tankmodeler · Post by **Tankmodeler** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:57 pm

Joseph C. Brown wrote:
Tankmodeler wrote: ...might not scratchbuilding an entire shuttle be a bit of a skill stretch? How much scratchbuilding have you done before?
Paul
Everyone has to start somewhere. I'm back into the hobby because in '98 at a toyshow, a vendor wanted $300.00 for a TOS Romulan Warbird, and I said "Heck, for $300, I could scratchbuild it myself!" Used very few measurements or precision tools, and got it done in a month. I was darn proud of that model, and still am today - I just sorta cringe a bit.

Tankmodeler wrote: I can tell you from experience, it's all about measuring and transferring dimensions from a plan in one scale to your model in another scale. I can't tell you how many times I have the calculator & dial calipers out when scratchbuilding complex stuff.

Paul
And I do agree with you -- but it's always good to see the enthusiasm that beginners have. Eventually, he'll develop AMS like the rest of us, after getting all the tools and supplies and techniques.

I certainly agree that we all have to start somewhere (lord knows I did) I just wanted to, perhaps, warn against maybe biting off more than one could chew. No need to choke on one's enthusiasm, either.

Understanding scale and a little simple fraction math is key to good scratchbuilding. That and a good square, of course.

Paul

zemjw · Post by **zemjw** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:59 am

I wrote a scale calculator last year, that might be of use

http://scalecalculator.appspot.com/scalecalc

It will also do conversions between scales.

prisoner_1079 · Post by **prisoner_1079** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:51 pm

When I am planning to build something the first thing I do is find out the full size length of the ship.

I'll use the Type 6 (main shuttle used in the next generation) as an example. I looked this shuttle up on http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org which lists the type 6 shuttle at exactly 6 meters in length.

For simplicty I divide by 100 to give me the length in centimeters (or simply add two 0's)

So a shuttle is 600 centimeters, I divide that by the scale I want to build at

600/72=8.33

so a 1/72 scale Type 6 Shuttlecraft would be approximately 8.33 centimeters long.

I then find (or put together depending on what I can find) a good 3 view orthographic picture of the shuttle, tweak it until it is 8.33 centimeters for the length view, then proceed to build from there. (you can also do arithmetic to find out how much you have to scale up/down your source pictures but when I first started scratching I just did the picture rescaling part by trial and error)

Hope this helps, I tried to make it as simple as possible

Tankmodeler · Post by **Tankmodeler** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:37 pm

prisoner_1079 wrote:For simplicty I divide by 100 to give me the length in centimeters (or simply add two 0's)

I do believe you meant to say "multiply" rather than divide, no?

prisoner_1079 · Post by **prisoner_1079** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:12 pm

Tankmodeler wrote:
prisoner_1079 wrote:For simplicty I divide by 100 to give me the length in centimeters (or simply add two 0's)
I do believe you meant to say "multiply" rather than divide, no?

Yea that's the ticket! Good catch.

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:04 pm

thanks alot for the help, that helps alot with the shuttles.

aussie muscle · Post by **aussie muscle** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:24 pm

prisoner_1079 wrote:For simplicty I divide by 100 to give me the length in centimeters (or simply add two 0's)

just one more reason i prefer metric!

also no one mentioned the notation (just in case).
+ plus
- minus
* multiply
/ divide

zemjw wrote:I wrote a scale calculator last year, that might be of use

http://scalecalculator.appspot.com/scalecalc

It will also do conversions between scales.

darn, i coulda used that last week, dude.