"Story so far, origin of figure scale" Topic

I've been trying to use TMP community resources to establish as objectively as possible the origin of the confusion surrounding miniature scales. I invite anyone with objective evidence on the subject to add to the project. Evidence must be documents from the time or measurements of figures of the time, anecdotes and memories are not reliable evidence.

Here's what we've established so far.

Pre 1950

The earliest figures used for war gaming were a combination of following the scales associated with model railroad gauges (54mm is 1/32 the scale associated with ‘I' gauge) and the mainly German tradition of making figures to a set height e.g. ‘30mm'. In both cases the millimeter designation refers to the overall height, sole to crown of the figure.

1950's
Thomas – Millimeter height is sole to crown
Scruby – Millimeter height is sole to crown
SAE- Millimeter height is sole to crown
Greenwood – Millimeter height is sole to crown

In particular Scruby published an illustration comparing different size-scales in his 1968 catalog:

tabletoptalk.com/?p=686 so there is no question of that he understood the millimeter size to mean sole to crown.

1960's – Here's where things begin to get murky
Hinton Hunt markets ‘20mm' figures which are about 23.5mm tall sole to crown. This can not be explained by measuring to the eye as that would still be 22mm. My best guess is they are meant to be HO/OO scale, a British model railroad convention of putting 1/76 scale trains on 1/87 scale track. 20mm figures are 1/87 ‘HO' and were frequently marketed as'20mm/HO scale' so when Hinton Hunt went to market their figures they called them HO/20mm meaning 1/76 British HO. This is the size of Airfix plastic figures.

Early Minifigs follow Hinton Hunt's lead making ‘20mm' figures which are about 24mm sole to crown.

Jack Scruby responds by making matching figures and calling them 25mm, this is the origin of ‘25mm'
which will later morph into 28mm.

1970's
British and American convention coalesces around describing figures by actual millimeter height, Minifigs for example begins calling their figures ‘25mm'.

Modeling in epoxy, as opposed to carving in wax or solder becomes widespread. This exacerbates the tendency for figures to come out larger than the sculptor intended.

Fantasy figures become popular, many fantasy characters and creatures are larger or smaller than an average man making the ‘size-scale' confusing to apply.

1980 – First documented case we've found so far of describing figure by height to eye, advertisement for Viking Miniatures in April 'Military Modeling'.

Barrett scale system for describing figure compatibility published in ‘The Courier' magazine uses measuring to the eye.

‘28mm' begins to replace ‘25mm', also new designation ‘heroic X-mm' meaning bigger than other figures of that size-scale.

Hello Mr Meir,
An interesting thought. Been using the 'to eye level' measure since I began designing back in the early 80's and as such never gave it much thought. ( thought being the enemy of a quiet contented life lol)
Might need to bring in the bigger figure manufacters in on this. A lot of sculpting conventions come from the modelling side of things. Wonder if I still have my Post Millitare, John Tassel etc cats from the 70's somewhere. I'll have a dig around.
L

All I really remember from the 70s, is that Humans were a bit bigger than 25mm. About 28mm max. This was supposed to be so that as you made the smaller creatures, their features were still discernible. This was told to me by either the Heritage or the Mini Figs rep in 79 or 80 at a convention in Va.

This was told to me by either the Heritage or the Mini Figs rep in 79 or 80 at a convention in Va.

This is the problem with anecdotes and memories. I started sculpting fantasy figures for Heritage in 1973, 25mm sole to crown, at least they were supposed to be, as a novice sculptor I had trouble keeping to scale. Old Minifigs can be measured, the examples I have are 25mm sole to crown, so I don't know who told you what when but the story doesn't fit the physical facts. Memory is a tricky thing: link

I'll have a dig around.

Please do, I'd like to know just where the idea came from if that can be established.

Thanks, T--about time someone got to the bottom of this!

Rob