We''re always talking about finding a common scale for Aircraft and Armour kits. So - coming at it from an Aircraft modeller''s point of view, what scale do you want to see the manufacturers centre around?

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Thanks!

Aaaah another of the advantages of modeling in 1/72nd scale. You may have noticed that most of my Dios contain both figures and vehicles along side the aircraft.

Now and again I cheat and sneak in a 1/76th piece, but there is a pretty good selection available in 1/72nd, there have been for a few years.

This is a no-brainer for me. It has to be 1/48. I'd love to work in 1/72 but it's just too small for my eyes. And 1/32 would be great but I have no where to display them. Hence, 1/48. That being said though, I sure wish someone would start coming out with modern pieces in this scale.

Beg to differ Guys !,The way forward has to be 1/35th scale.My reasoning for this is whilst 1/48 is a nice size,superdetailing (IMHO ) would be a nightmare,working with pipework as thin as hair - cue much nashing of teeth and feeding the elusive carpet monster .

I don't think there should be one scale for both aircraft and tanks, since I like to do 1:35 armor and 1:48 planes. 1:48 armor is too small and 1:35 ac is too big.

Hi Guys,

I would agree that probably most aircraft kits tend to be in smaller scales so it would make sense if vehicle were built in that scale too.

However as I only build 1/35 scale I'd like to see aricraft in that scale too. 1/32 is too big although you can just about get away with it but I'd like to see kits that are compatable in 1/35.

I also think that as most vehicle kits (larger scale) are in 1/35 it would make sense for the aircraft producers to build in that scale as you would get a better variety of sets that could be matched up,

Al

Since the question is the best scale for armor AND aircraft together.. then it has to be 1/48.

Think of the size of a "small' dio with only one aircraft and one vehicle in 1/35 scale.

I build 1/48 scale armor and even though my eyes are getting weak in my old age.. I still don't find them to be too small for superdetailing. I really don't know where people get that false idea from. I've seen some 1/48 models that put the best detailed 1/35 vehicle to shame. So, just like in all other aspects of our hobby, it's just a matter of skill... and perseverence.

So with 1/48 scale you save on display space.. storage space.. kit price.. shipping cost... and without having to sacrifice detail. Just check out AFV Club's latest 1/48 251.

Cheers
Hisham

1/48 scale is logical for both and also matches "O" scale model railroading.

1/48 you can easily have Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with sufficient details for all.

not too small - NOT TOO BIG

The LOGICAL scale is 1/48th. However, try persuading armor modelers of its advantages... Certainly, things are (slowly) improving regarding vehicles but the industry has only gone so far regarding figures. The problem has been the innate conservatism of AFV modelers who HAVEN'T taken the 'leap' into 48th. If, for example, DML was suddenly to announce a range, it would (might?) be different....

I suspect Tamiya's ever-expanding range may be evidence that people are actually going for 1/48 armour. Hobby Boss has joined in and Italeri seems to be dipping a toe in it too, and that's before you get on to the resin manufacturers.

1/48 is indeed a logical joint scale but it suffers from the problem that aircraft are generally much larger than armour. At the start of the war the average medium tank was about twenty to twenty-five feet long and the average fighter something in the region of thirty to thirty-five feet. A diorama with those two together would be manageable, but what happens when you want to throw in a bomber with a fifty-foot fuselage and a span of seventy feet or more? This problem gets worse if you standardise on 1/35 or (better) 1/32 (1/32 Lancaster, anyone? - and have you seen that 1/48 B-36 that some madman is planning?). But if you standardise on 1/72 the reverse happens - the aircraft are nice and handy, but the armour gets very small.

Another factor that's very important for me is presence. I only do 1/35 armour these days and I admit, I have got used to it - the size of a tank in that scale is something I'm used to and I don't find 1/48 armour as convincing. Especially as I mainly do modern armour and it's vast. (This is one of the reasons I've avoided 1/48 - the others are, nothing I'm interested in is available in that scale, and I've too much to build already!) Equally, 1/48 aircraft have more presence than smaller scales, as well as offering the best compromise for me between detail and convenience of handling. I'll shift to 1/72 where nothing in 1/48 is available (or costs an arm and a leg) and have occasionally gone for 1/32 where it's the best on the market. I don't do dioramas so I don't find that the contrast between my aircraft and armour causes me any real perceptional difficulty. I build them for different reasons and one day they'll live on different shelves.

All a long-winded way of saying that if there were a standard scale, 1/48 makes sense, but I'm happy without one.

But since we're dreaming, we might instead wish for a logical system of scales that uses base ten instead of bases eight and twelve. Anyone for 1/25, 1/50, 1/75 and 1/100?

Someone mentioned that 1/48 is too small for armor and 1/35 is too big for planes. A compromise is in order, therefore let us settle on 1/41.5 (yes "one forty one and a half" scale). Should be fun to convert all our reference drawings!!

Meh,

IMHO much ado about nothing. I do 1/48 aircraft and have noticed a proliferation of vehicle kits in the same scale already showing up on store shelves.

1/32 is the scale for giant scale aircraft. I don't see any company running off to do a line of 1/35 aircraft. This hobby is simply too niche to do large (or even small) run kits of that sort profitably.

These really are the 'salad days' of model making. Let's not get greedy.

Cheers,
Fred