"Scale Creep in WWII planes, plastic models?" Topic

Looking to add some planes to support my WWII ground forces. Just wondering if scale creep is a factor with WWII planes, just like with armour & figs, etc. I am particularly concerned about plastic 1/72 scale stuff. Is an airfix Ju-87 going to fit in with a Revell Ju-87, for example?

Model kits are usually scale accurate, so there is no real scale creep. I have found a few badly scaled kits from Eastern Europe and Russia, but that seems to be getting corrected.

What FABET01 said. The stated scale for some older kits from the 50s and 60s, as well as some more modern kits from Russia and Eastern European nations, might be off.

But any kit produced in the West or in Japan in the last 25 years that is advertised as 1/72 is usually pretty accurate, within a few scale inches.

Shapes, though, are sometimes more of a problem. Do the noses of the Airfix and Revell Stukas look the same? Again, the more modern the kit, the less of a problem there is with inaccurate shapes.

There's also how high the model sits. Some undercarriage legs are longer or shorter than others, and that can dramatically change the look of the plane.

Another "problem", especially with modern jet kits, is the difference between a prototype or pre-production aircraft and a production aircraft. Often, in the rush to be the first to get a kit of a new jet out the door, model companies work from pre-production plans, which can differ widely from production aircraft. In general, if a few years have passed between the roll-out of a production aircraft and the release of the model kit, the kits are pretty accurate in length, wingspan, shape, etc.

Personally, if a similar appearance mattered to me, I'd always use kits from the same company, not because of scale creep, but just to ensure that they had the same look when finished.

Interestingly, the *pilots* do vary widely from kit to kit, even in modern kits. That's because the pilots are usually an afterthought, and they also have to fit between cockpit walls that are far thicker than on the actual plane (for molding reasons). Thus, they're usually narrower than an actual 1/72 person would be.

Following up jPattern on the pilot subject: One of the very irritating things for me with respect to pilots is that a lot of "modern" kits out there don't have any which severely ticks me off!

Airfix usually (always?) has aircrew. I don't have any Revell aircraft, so you may want to check this. In my opinion, 1:72 kits are too big to get away with the painting of canopies that some folks do rather nicely with smaller scales.
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Tim

Not sure about planes, but there has been a certain problem of some 1/76 scale ground vehicle kits being erraneously sold labelled as 1/72 scale vehicles.

Griefbringer

There is rarely differences size wise between various companies when it comes to models. The reason is they do not use a "scale" like 15mm or 25mm but rather ratios with some of the more popular being 1/72, 1/48th, 1/35th (armor) and 1/32nd (aircraft).

The sizes of historical aircraft are well known so the offerings tend to be similiar. Good reviews in hobby publications will usually offer how close the models come with at most only slight variations.

I built a pair of 1/48 aircraft, a Piper L-F and a Fieseler Storch. The Storch is 15% tp 20% larger than the L-4. But the Storch was in fact Larger: a 46'9" wing, with 280 ft sq., with a 32 foot length. L-4 has a 35' wing with a 178 sq.ft. area and a 22'5" length. So, I'm satisfied in the differences.

Jpattern wrote:
"Interestingly, the *pilots* do vary widely from kit to kit, even in modern kits. That's because the pilots are usually an afterthought, and they also have to fit between cockpit walls that are far thicker than on the actual plane (for molding reasons). Thus, they're usually narrower than an actual 1/72 person would be."

I read in a Finescale Modeler article that the pilot figure from the old 1/72nd scale Monogram A-10 Warthog kit was the most accurate scale representation of an average size pilot. Just thought I'd chime in. Salut y'all!

Bruce the Texas Grognard

Thanks for that, Bruce.

Hi

Been doing 1/72 for 40 some odd years. The story is that the scale 1" = 6' was developed as a scale in WW2 for recognition models. The idea was a size that would appear appropriate for spotting drills in a classroom.

Initially, the planes were individually made "solid" models made out of patriotism by kids/modelers for the war. Model manufacturers who HAD been selling solid models in various scales(invariably wood) started lines specifically for this government market need during WW2.

After WW2, most manufactureres went back to their original lines. And started switching to plastic, though for a while they had parallel wood solid models and plastic. (My first model was in 1956, a solid Monogram F86 with the "feature" of plastic parts for the nose cone and canopy).

As far as I know, it was at this time that Airfix started producing a "constant scale" line where all the planes were to this constant 1/72 scale. Everyone else was doing "box scale" that is kits were sold by size, bigger ment more expensive, and the planes were "scaled" to fit the boxes. I built the 29cent kits, no money, an with extra work or birthday money, i HOPED to afford the buck kits!

1/72 kits often have mistakes. But for gaming purposes it isn't very relevent. For a while, for instance, the Hasegawa Bf 109E was about .12" short, and the G was .22 too long. Nothing the average gamer would notice!

Rocky