"1:72 = ?mm" Topic

1:72 = ?mm

Approximately 22mm, measured from the sole of the foot to the eye level.

Griefbringer

Here's the TMP article on figure scales: TMP link

Here is more info:
TMP link

I know that someone once posted a scale calculator of some sort, but I cannot find it now. :(

CC

I think I may have hit the jackpot. I know I had asked the same question before on 1/72:

TMP link

CC

That said, if one is really feeling curious about a particular figure kit, it would definitely be worth checking out the reviews on PSR ( plasticsoldierreview.com ) which list the average figure height from the soles of the feet to the top of the head ( ie. "true scale" measurement ) for every kit they review – and they have reviewed a lot of kits.

Notice that not everything sold nowadays as 1/72 is actually that scale – for example, the Airfix kits are likely to be actually 1/76 in scale.

Griefbringer

20mm

jim

Expanding on what Griefbringer said, there's a pretty wide range of plastics that get labelled as 1/72 scale, but some like the later MPCs may be HO (1/87th scale or 18.5mm, which is becoming 15mm in pewter) wheras others like the new "Terra Cota" Chinese are closer 1/64th scale or 25mm pewter.

1:72 plastics may not have as much scale creep as in pewter 25s or 28s or 32s or wherever we're going these days, but the average size 1:72 from "better" companies like Revell seems to 23mm high or about 22mm to the eye. A lot of older (mainly Airfix-style) models are made to the OO guage of 1/76 or 20mm, so it mostly depends on what kit you're actually looking at.

My brain is tired. I think I will go with SciFi. At least you can rationalize a 22mm Zubydu next to a 25mm human or for that matter a 25mm human next to a 20mm human from another planet. Really tired of trying to make historical armies with figures of all heights and widths that are out there.

Just my 2 cents, 1/72nd is or should be an exact scale, any figure 'scales' are just sizes with the figures tending towards being larger. Also it is not just height but mass.

Paul

Thank you all. What started this all was I went to Target and found & bought a Forces of Valor 1:72 US 4th Division (Baghdad, 2003). Neat poses and cool extra scenery (oil drum, ammo boxes, sand bag emplacement and a lamp post. I was thinking it may be fun to try to paint some alien types for them, but wanted something to look similar to them in height.

The trouble with equating scale to figure size is that it depends on the size of the person being scaled. At 1:72 I work out at 25mm tall; my mother, only 22mm, from stockinged feet to top of the head. Measured from feet to eye we would be smaller by about 1.5mm as 1:72 figures, or 20mm to 23mm tall approximately.

Asking which scale equates to which figure size is a fruitless exercise without a constant dimension from which to scale (so it works fine to produce model vehicles, whose originals are of known and fixed size).

Another scale reference.

link

Mike

At plasticsoldierreview.com they have the average height of the 1/72 plastics they review for each kit. It's usually 23mm or so. 20mm metals that have suffered a bit of scale creep will mix with them.