Scales.

[RedhillPhil]

I'm sorry for several reasons.

1  I'm not sure where to post this question.

2  It may have been asked a thousand times before

3  It may appear trivial

  Hard hat on and here we go......................

Model aircraft come in several different scales. 1:72 = six feet to an inch, 1:48 = four feet to an inch, 1:24 = two feet to an inch. The thing is, what happened to 1:36? Why did the scale between four foot and two foot become two foot eight inches rather than three feet at 1:36?

Phil. AKA Puzzled of Penzance.

  

[JohnT]

If I recall I read its all Tamiyas fault.  Something to do with 1/35 being the size they took for car models and it just "stuck"

 

Probably all wrong but.......

[Mike]

34 minutes ago, RedhillPhil said:

1  I'm not sure where to post this question.

definitely not Cold War, so I've moved it to other tools.  That's in the Tools & Tips section.  Have a look at the breadcrumb bar in the top, which is always useful for finding out where you are

[MikeC]

Multiply by 3, so 1/72 becomes 3/216, 1/48 becomes 3/144 1/32 becomes 3/96. The series then becomes clear, it's a change of 1.5 each time eg 1/32 is 1.5 times as big as 1/48  and the same relationship between 48 and 72.

Edited October 9, 2021 by MikeC

[Graham Boak]

Very clever, but not convincing, as it breaks down at 1/24 and 1/12.  I think that the answer lies in the figures scale of 54mm to 6 ft, which actually comes out to 1/33. something, but 1/32 is the nearest standard draughtsman's scale.  Quite why model tanks came to settle on 1/35 is much less understandable: presumably for a similar reason that ship models became 1/700.  Both are very awkward scales if you are working in conventional units, either Imperial of Metric.

 

Once it became the norm to use calculators rather than scale rules, then obviously any scale would do.  

 

Going back, between 1/72 and 1/48 there was 1/64, which ties in, I believe, to US model railway S gauge.

[MikeC]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

Very clever, but not convincing, as it breaks down at 1/24 and 1/12.  I think that the answer lies in the figures scale of 54mm to 6 ft, which actually comes out to 1/33. something, but 1/32 is the nearest standard draughtsman's scale.  Quite why model tanks came to settle on 1/35 is much less understandable: presumably for a similar reason that ship models became 1/700.  Both are very awkward scales if you are working in conventional units, either Imperial of Metric.

 

Once it became the norm to use calculators rather than scale rules, then obviously any scale would do.  

 

Going back, between 1/72 and 1/48 there was 1/64, which ties in, I believe, to US model railway S gauge.

I wasn't thinking of other scales, just those three, and you can't deny the relationship.  The question covered three scales, so answered I think.

Edited October 8, 2021 by MikeC