Plastic Soldier Review - Figure Sizes and Scales

Figure Sizes and Scales

There is often confusion over how tall a figure should be. The height will depend on two factors - the average height of the real subject and the scale being used. These notes provide an explanation of both so that a better judgement can be made of the size of any figure.

Human Height

The average height of a human being has increased through history as a result of better diet, improved healthcare and various other factors, mostly social. The rate of this increase varies in different parts of the world as they have developed at different rates, so the height of an individual will depend on both location and the period. For models of soldiers another factor will be deliberate selection - for example grenadiers and elite units have generally been reserved for taller men in many armies. Finally, gender is also clearly a factor as men are on average noticeably taller than women.

The following is a table showing the average height of a Western European male. While modern statistics are easy to compile, those of ancient times are based on research into skeletons and various other circumstantial evidence, and are therefore open to debate.

Date	Height
AD 100	162 cms
1000	167 cms
1900	170 cms
2002	175 cms

From this table it can be seen that the rate of growth was very slow until the last century, when the rate increased considerably. The average height has increased more in the last 100 years than in the previous 1,000.

Model Scales

Models can come in any scale, and there seem to be a bewildering number that are commonly used. To begin with, a scale can be represented in one of three different ways.

Ratio
The first is the most obvious - simply expressing the scale as a ratio, for example 1:72. In the modelling world this can be written as either 1:72 or 1/72 - they mean the same thing. Quite simply, this means every part of the model is that fraction in size of the real thing.
Height
The second form of expressing model scale is using an absolute measurement, for example 25mm. This seems to have started when Britains began making figures in what they called 54mm scale. The measurement, which is mostly used only for figures, is the distance on the figure from the sole of the foot to the eyes, although some companies use different criteria so beware of inconsistencies! With this method all the differences in average height discussed above are ignored as all the figures are the same height, and equally individuals such as Napoleon (165cm tall) and Abraham Lincoln (185cm tall) should in theory also be the same.
Named
Finally there are scales that are referred to by name, for example 'HO'. These are mostly confined to the world of model railways, although some older sets such as those from Atlantic are described as being 'HO' scale.

This website is concerned with 1/72 scale models, which is by far the most popular smaller scale for plastic historical figures, but also encompasses other scales that are close enough for most people. Incidentally, the odd figure of 72 is based on a 6 foot man being scaled down to 1 inch in old imperial measurements, and exists because when the scale was invented in the 1930s the modelling world was dominated by UK and US manufacturers, where metrication had yet to occur.

Apart from 1/72 scale, a few older military models were created in 1/76 scale. This derives from the model railway 00 scale, and is not used today for military figures. However some figures such as the Matchbox range were created in this scale, so as a result they are slighter smaller than 1/72 scale, though natural variances in human height can help to explain away the differences. However the same cannot be said for equipment etc, where differences in scale are more obvious. HO scale is another railway scale, and equates to 1:87, so figures in this scale are quite noticeably smaller than the rest.

On this website we do not always say the claimed scale of the figures. We only give the average height so modellers can judge for themselves whether one set is compatible with another. In any case, the claimed scale should be treated with caution - for example, some 'HO' figures from Atlantic are considerably bigger than others (ironically the ancient Egyptians tower over the 20th century Italians, despite both being claimed to be 'HO'!)

So what height should those figures be? Well, taking the 1/72 scale, we can see that an average Roman man should be about 22.5mm tall, while an average Napoleonic man would be 23.5mm and a modern soldier about 24.3mm. Obviously these are very small measurements, and the task of reducing a large master figure to just the right height model is not without difficulties, but these figures are a reasonable guide to what to expect from 1/72 scale figures.

Below is a chart showing the approximate conversions for figure heights in 1/72 scale.