Printable Scale Rulers?

scottgirvan · Post by **scottgirvan** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:24 pm

Hi,
Googling for a printable scale ruler in 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72. Would you have a link? I can't find nothing.
Thanks
Scott.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:56 pm

I can make one for you, accuracy would be limited to that of your printer. How long you want it?

scottgirvan · Post by **scottgirvan** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:20 pm

Cool, thanks. I'm thinking no longer than 10.5 inches so I can print it on one sheet. Thanks a million.
Scott.

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:13 pm

Yo, Rob. Why don'cha talk to John and make it an 'official printable scale ruler by Starship Modeler', with the SSM logo and all bells and whistles, in PDF, so folks can download it from SSM?

Are you building it in foot/inch only or in metric also?

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:22 am

I think this is a pretty good idea.

But just what scale(s) would you put on it? There are the larger 'figure' scales (e.g. 1/12, 1/8, 1/6, etc.); the 'military modeling/gaming' scales (e.g. 1/20, 1/35, 1/76, 76mm, 54mm, etc.); the ''aircraft' scales (e.g. 1/48, 1/32, 1/72, 1/100, 1/144, etc.); and then the 'starship' scales (e.g. 1/350, 1/1200, etc).

Obviously, you could stick at least two scales per ruler and probably 3 or 4 rulers per PDF page...

If there's a choice of units, metric, please. Imperial is a hateful, hateful unit (or rather, set of units). And don't forget your european colleagues who print on A4...... please don't make the ruler(s) so large that they go right to the margins of a US-size page!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:36 am

I'll build set in metric also.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:45 pm

Ok, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Scales will be in: 1/20, 1/24, 1/25, 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/60, 1/72, 1/96, 1/100, 1/144, 1/350, 1/700, 1/1000, 1/1400, 1/2500.

Any other scales people want? Of course the smaller scale will be lucky to get feet, much less 10ft incriments and your best best for output would be to find a pre-press house to print out some positives for you but I will be double checking the that the file will print nicely off an Epson C88 and will be in a pdf format.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:58 am

What about 1/6 and 1/12 for the action figure folks and 1/16 for the large scale armor folks?

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:10 am

That's about as comprehensive a range as you could ask for. There are a couple of smaller ship scales (1/600 and 1/1200) but I don't think they'll be missed.

Three possibles might be 1/6th, 1/8th & 1/12th which are common for figures - anyone building a diorama or vignette might find these useful.

Devin · Post by **Devin** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:25 am

Kylwell wrote:Ok, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Scales will be in: 1/20, 1/24, 1/25, 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/60, 1/72, 1/96, 1/100, 1/144, 1/350, 1/700, 1/1000, 1/1400, 1/2500.

Any other scales people want?

1/200!

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:13 am

Devin wrote:
Kylwell wrote:Ok, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Scales will be in: 1/20, 1/24, 1/25, 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/60, 1/72, 1/96, 1/100, 1/144, 1/350, 1/700, 1/1000, 1/1400, 1/2500.

Any other scales people want?
1/200!

?

Apart from a few Japanese kits from the '70s I honestly can't think of anything in 1/200th. I won't complain if it's included, but......

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:09 am

1/200 is actually somewhat popular for airline modelers, and more importantly to some in this crowd, some missile and rocket kits. I happen to have a 1/200 scale model of the Hughes HK-1 "Spruce Goose" on the bench right now with plans to finish it in a "what-if" paint scheme. Personally, I'd find a 1/200 scale ruler quite helpful.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:22 am

So it sounds like 1/200, 1/12, 1/16, 1/8, and 1/6 scale will be added. Thanks

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:14 am

Pat Amaral wrote:1/200 is actually somewhat popular for airline modelers, and more importantly to some in this crowd, some missile and rocket kits. I happen to have a 1/200 scale model of the Hughes HK-1 "Spruce Goose" on the bench right now with plans to finish it in a "what-if" paint scheme. Personally, I'd find a 1/200 scale ruler quite helpful.

And today I learned something. Thank you.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:18 pm

Could someone here give me a hand and print this one out and let me know how it looks? It's looking like a laser printer will do a sharper job than a ink-jet but I want to double check.

Ok, try it now.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:21 pm

I printed them at 100% on an HP laserjet 4000 (B&W small office laser). I made no adjustments. The result looks good to me. I can't speak for the accuracy of the reproduction since I don't have a handy reference. There may have been a wee bit of reduction. It also looks like the bottom was cut off since it came up in 8 1/2 X 11 and the bottom margin appears to be at the end of the page.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:30 pm

The rulers run off the page. I figured that was one less cut a person needed to make. I've got a call in to a friend who works Kink...er...The FedEx Store to see how they print on clear off a high end printer.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:57 pm

I'm sure the quality of my printer isn't good enough to adequately reproduce this thing. I reprinted at 1200 dpi and the finests graduations on the 1/6 and 1/20 scales look blended (since that's the highest res on my box, I'd have to live with that). I was able to compare the 1/6 and 1/12 scales to a standard ruler. The half foot (on the 1/6 scale) and the 1 ft (1/12 scale) grads come out 1/32 short. I don't have a means to check the other scales but I'm sure this is across the whole page and is a reduction artifact of the printer. I don't know if any of this helps you.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:01 pm

I was worried that those mm tick marks on the 1/6 wouldn't print unless taken to a pre-press shop. I may have to drop them.

That's the biggest thing I'm running into, printer limitations. Even with a 2880 printer it still acts like it's a 300dpi one. Mushes everything together. May have to generate a low res version for household printers and a hi-detail one for those will to search out a high end output device.

Post by **LindaSmile** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:18 pm

Looks good on my color laserjet. And it got John's approval too.

Linda

Post by **LindaSmile** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:20 pm

John says "The only thing that's hard to read is the gray bar on the 1/6. All of the rest of them look fine." Maybe if you just printed every other mm on the 1/6 it would be better.

Linda

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:48 pm

It appears that .6mm is just too fine for most printers, so I'll give it a boot and try again. Thanks all.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:25 pm

Ok, lets try round 2

Post by **LindaSmile** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:26 pm

That one looks great!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:56 pm

Next one up: 32-100.

I've got some minor changes to the first and then final fixes on the 144-2500.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:47 pm

Went to OfficeMax.

Printed on clear film.

COOL!

Printed on quality white paper.

Laminated same.

WOO HOO!

THANKS!

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:03 am

Great work - just a few comments...

I printed mine on an HP Laserjet 2100 - so nothing special - on quality paper, A4 size.

The 1/6 - 1/25 printed fairly well, with the possible exception of the 1/16 metric scale where everything merged a bit

The 1/32 - 1/100, again, prints fairly well, but on this one most fo the imperioal scales are just grey. The only metric one which does this is the 1/35 scale.

I also printed them on a Canon C4580 with much better results, but although clearer, some of the smaller divisions still mearge. Unlike the HP, the Canon has no scaling problem (it was about 0.6% short on the HP) and prints spot-on.

I think I'll be laminating these when I get home.

scottgirvan · Post by **scottgirvan** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:20 am

Wow, that's great, thank you Kylwell!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:54 am

Ok, give this a try.

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:18 am

Kylwell - you are THE MAN !!!

I'm sure that everyone will want to say a big thank you for your excellent work.