What is the model scale for 25mm/28mm?

thedungeondelver · Mar 16, 2011

Hey all...

I've got a real conundrum here.

I'm trying to get some models together for an upcoming TWILIGHT:2000 game - specifically some inexpensive military models of tanks and APCs and the like. All of the minis I can find for characters and NPCs are in the 25mm-28mm range. Most wargamers like their stuff a lot more exact than the typical fantasy gaming crowd. That is, for example, Reaper minis are classified as "heroic 28mm" which means that they're anywhere from 25mm-35mm, so essentially stuff from Black Scorpion, The Assault Group and Empress are all going to be really correct.

I have what is supposedly a 1/72 scale papercraft LAV-25 (which if you're curious is an eight-wheeled amphibious armored personnel carrier [Light Armored Vehicle] that mounts a 25mm autocannon), but the 28mm minis I have are gargantuan next to it! To wit: I have one that stands straight up, flatfooted, so if I consider that with helmet in boots he's 6'6" three of him are equal to the length of the LAV cutout...when it should be closer to four (as the LAV is 21 feet long).

I've heard that 1/72 is 20mm, but others say that 1/72 is 25mm, then another friend who IS a wargamer says that 1/48 is closer to 25mm/28mm!

Which is it? Or what is it?

Jeff Wilder · Mar 16, 2011

28mm represents approximately 1.8 meters (height of a tall man, about 6'3"). 1800mm / 28mm equals about 1/64th scale.

What it is exactly, in modelers' terms, I don't know, sorry. In practice, as long as you're somewhere close to 1/64th scale, your model will work fine.

El Mahdi · Mar 16, 2011

1/72 scale equates to 1" for 6'. 25mm equals .984" (closer to 1" than 26mm. 1" = 25.4mm). So 25mm figures are 1/72 scale.

26mm = 1.023", 28mm = 1.102", 30mm = 1.18"

1/48 equates to 1.5" for 6', or about 38mm

B-)

thedungeondelver · Mar 16, 2011

Well, I'd rather go a little small than way too big, so 1/72 it is. Thanks guys.

David Howery · Mar 16, 2011

here's a chart I found in a modeling magazine umpteen years ago...

Storminator · Mar 16, 2011

In model railroad terms, that's S scale. Somewhere between 1:76 and 1:64, depending on the mini manufacturer's idiosyncrasies.

PS

El Mahdi · Mar 16, 2011

For extra info, here's a list of different scales and equivalent mm/foot for each. (...from good old Wikipedia

)

List of scale model sizes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

adwyn · Mar 16, 2011

Scale creep and creative differences between manufacturers make nailing down an exact scale difficult, but 1/64 works for older 25mm models while more modern 28mm lines are often called 1/56 now days.

Because of availability of models many gamers use 1/50 and 1/48th models and for the same reason zombie games often feature rather large 1/43 scale cars. To complicate things many die cast models are made to fit in the box and thus do not match the nominal scale.

Also, if you are using a paper model try resizing it before printing it out .

Gilladian · Mar 17, 2011

Wayyyyyy back when (mid 70'sish), I understood 25mm scale to represent 6', or the height of a tall human.

I would say that now the 28 mm figures are using that measure as closer to 5' than 6'. They're all terribly oversized, and I just CAN'T bring myself to mix modern minis with my old ones. When the "dwarf" and "halfling" minis are the same height as the previous humans, there's just something wrong!