Why 1/33 and not other scale?

[Tino]

Why did almost all the publishers make models in 1/33 scale and not in 1/32? Just to give an example.

Or 1/25 and not 1/35?

Someone know if there is some reason to the publishers design models in that scales (and others like 1/200 in ships) and not others scales?

[CharlieC]

Originally Posted by Tino

Or 1/25 and not 1/35?

Someone know if there is some reason to the publishers design models in that scales (and others like 1/200 in ships) and not others scales?

I think I can answer the 1/25 AFV models rather than the 1/35 scale used commonly in pl****c models.

Mostly it's convenience and buildability - in plastic models the parts are mostly preformed so constructing parts from flat sheet isn't an issue. It's reasonably easy to assemble a model from very small preformed parts. However, in card, parts have to be formed from flat card - in 1/35 these are just too small to be handled by most modelers - 1/25 is a much more convenient scale.

The cost of plastic models also means that you try to build at the smallest scale you can. 1/25 plastic AFV models are around but they are seriously expensive unlike the equivalent cardmodels. Comparing the cost of AFV cardmodels to plastic I think I'm building at about 10% of the all up cost of plastic, admittedly at a cost of longer build times.

The bottom line is probably that 1/25 is popular because it's doable in card. The plastic modelers would probably like to build in 1/25 but can't afford the kits.

Regards,

Charlie

[GreMir]

Tino,
As for 1/33 versus 1/32 scale the answer is probably connected with the fact that paper models originated in Europe where they use metric system. 1/32 scale is based on foot/inch.
Same with the 1/200 scale, but you are probably aware that at the beginning, most ships were published in 1:300 scale. Some still appear in this scale. German publishers offer their ships in 1/250 (Digital Navy does too) and JSC of Poland offers theirs in 1/400 scale. I guess here the deciding factor is the tradition...

[Leif Ohlsson]

[Edit: Michael got in ahead of me...]

And the reason why most aircraft models are 1/33 rather than 1/25 or - even better - 1/16, is probably the same, namely cost of printing and binding the models.

Most sheets would be larger than economically optimal, and larger in size than is convenient, for a printed model to be attractively priced.

However, the reason for 1/33 instead of 1/32 which is more common in plastic, I haven't got a clue for. Probably the same as the reason for standard railway gauges - someone started doing it that way, and competitors had to follow suit to be able to compete.

Leif

[Lex]

Not regarding anything else, the choice of 1/33 might be a trade-off between detail and size. the scale of above 1/25 makes most aircraft pretty "big" unless you happen to have an empty garage lying around to fit all the models. While scales below 1/48 makes details like the cockpit unacceptably small for some people. (I did make cockpits in 1/72 scale and it was a pain...)

In the same way, 1/200 ships might be the best size with regard to the level of details Halinski and GPM are persuing (take a look at the Halinski Fuso, or the ADW Yubari), while not becoming unacceptably big. JSC does things in 1/400 becacuse they're typically geared towards creating fleets of ships and not having excessive detailing.

[birder]

Thanks for your answers, I was not sure myself why the planes are mostly 1/33 and armor 1/25. You'd have to change scale to have both in a diarama, or just diplayed together with personel. Ships are an entirely different matter, sail vs modern ships too. The original sail ships were all 1/48 for Royal Navy purposes, to show all details, but this would be huge and take years to complete, probably did back then, too.

[ccoyle]

Originally Posted by birder

The original sail ships were all 1/48 for Royal Navy purposes, to show all details, but this would be huge and take years to complete, probably did back then, too.

This is true. Admiralty-style models are generally done in 1/48 scale, which for anything larger than a small frigate produces models that are rather too large for the average home. My HMS Fly, a kit model, is in 3/16" scale (1/64) and will be 810 mm in length when completed, which is actually on the small side compared to a ship-of-the-line in the same scale. Therefore, 1/48 is a commonly used kit scale for smaller vessels, while large men-of-war are typically done in 1/72 to 1/96 scale.

An interesting side note: at least one wooden ship kit kit manufacturer used to, in the old days, have boxes that were of a uniform size. Their kits were all produced at whatever scale would fit the parts into the existing boxes!

Cheers!

[milenio3]

Good question, Tino, that generated good answers. I´ve got the same question by some of my club's members (99% of them are pl****c modelers). Now I can have better answers.

[Golden Bear]

I go along with Glen's reasoning largely. I chose 1:250 for my designs because my few 1:200 ships are so large that I would quicly get overwhelmed with the need to store them. I felt also that they could hold the appropriate level of detail. However, I do frequently question this choice as I desire to put in more and more detail.

1:33 for fighter planes is a nice scale for detail and a logical multiple also. However, I often think that anything with 2 or more engines should be printed at 1:50 (or 1:48 as a holdover from the inches/feet days) so that they won't take up too much room. Also, my few larger airplanes show problems with supporting their own weight at 1:33.

My old days of building little ships was at the convenient scale of 1:1200 so that 1" = 100'. THis makes it very easy to design when no CAD systems are available. Similarly 1:600 is 1"=50', 1:300 is 1"=25' (more awkward now.

In these days of CAD designing, the desire for a convenient scaling which doesn't require a calculator for every line is not so pressing. It becomes more a matter of how much detail you want to get in vs. being overwhelmed by model size.


Carl

[Lex]

Well thankfully for us, the good thing about cardmodels are that it's never too easy to scale things down/up. While the pl****c modelers are left at the manufacturer's peril, we can easily scale to any scale you ask for. --Hey all my 1/48 collection so far were originally provided in 1/33.