I've read topics about the scale before. For a 1:24 scale, it would be one inch (toy) for every 24 inches (real vehicle). Is that correct? How do you know what size the real vehicle is? I'm trying to figure out the scale of Classics Optimus/Ultra magnus. Does anyone know what it might be close to? While I'm asking, Is there any peticular reason they use certain scales? 1:24, 1:32 and 1:43 seem to be common sizes. Thanks
You know what size the real vehicle is by tracking down its specifications. For most vehicles, it's easy to find. For approximations like Classics Optimus, the best you can really do is find a vehicle that is roughly the same design, and do the same calculation. In Op's case, I know I've seen near-modern COE trucks with large sleeper cabs before, but I don't know enough about tractors to track down dimensions. The reason certain scales are used is that they want the toy to be a certain size and complexity, to fit within a given price point. Cars are of fairly uniform size, so a series of car toys designed to fit in, let's say, the Alt price point, are all going to be around 1/24 scale.
It comes from the model industry. They set specific scales because it's better for everybody if all their models can be displayed together. The closer to a collector's item a transformer becomes, the more likely it will be designed to fit a model scale.
Toys that aren't specifically designed to be to scale are going to be difficult and probably impossible to peg down. For one, they're probably not licensed, which means there won't be an exact real life duplicate. For another, different parts can be at different scales. MP/20th Ann. Prime is a good example of that; his tires are not to the same scale with his cab.
Yep. You can only state the scale of something that exists in reality (or if something fictional has an established context, like Macross toys for example)
thanks for your replies. I have been looking online since I started this thread) to find out what the sizes of tractor trailers are. I gave up on that quickly. I then tried to find out what size variuos models were. The only two things I found were: A 1:25 scale Kenworth K100 is about 9 inches wide and a 1:64 truck is too small. Matchbox size. Does anyone have a 1:32 and 1:43 Kenworth truck model and could you tell me the width and length of the cab (the length would vary depending on the style/size of the sleeper but I am thinking of one about the size/style of Motormasters cab.) I know its not going to be exact but I would like to find out. Thanks
http://www.volvo.com/NR/rdonlyres/2A748B47-0116-4CC1-A5A9-7CCD5D0F9BBA/0/FH166x4TRide.pdf Specs for the Volvo FH16 6x4 Tractor (European model) It doesn't have the sleeper, but from just eyeballing it, it looks to have roughly the same proportions of classics prime as far as length from nose to rear wheel, etc... It might be a bit snubbier than classics prime, but we're talking about a loose approximation of a fictional vehicle anyway. Going from that, it looks like that particular truck is an average of 273 inches (22 and 3/4 feet long), given the different length options. Measure classic ops and compare and see where it comes out.
Did I do this correct. I took your 273 inches and divided by 9 5/16 inches and got 45 93/95. Basically it close to 1:43 (1:45 or 1:46). Thanks everyone. Correction. I didn't type the 9 5/16 in correctly. Its 29 47/149. so 1:29 scale. But that doesn't seem right since I previously had read that a 1:25 scale kenworth was 9 inches wide. Classics ops is only 2 3/16 wide. When they said width, what direction besides, side to side, would they mean?
Well, look at it this way; 9 inches "wide" at a scale of 1:25, would mean that the Kenworth is almost 19 feet from drivers side to passenger side door. A typical road lane is 9-10 feet... so if "width" was referring from door to door as you're thinking it is, a Kenworth K100 would eat two lanes of traffic on its own. (Wide loooad!) Suffice it to say, I think "width" is probably referring to something else, in this case. It could be referring to wheelbase, which is the distance from halfway from the front wheel to the midpoint between the back wheels.
Out of curiosity, where did you get the Kenworth model dimensions? Amazon? Because I"m pretty sure the dimensions "Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 9.9 x 4.4 inches ; 2 pounds" Is referring to the box that the kit comes in
the nine inches was from a toy spec from a web site I clicked on. must have been the box but the way it read, it sounded like the toy. I refigured the dimensions of the Volvo with the longest dimensions of 281 and I come up with 1:30. I typed another search for kenworth specs and another hobby site says a 1:43 scale truck would be 2 1/4 inches wide. They gave 15 1/8 for the length but that would be with trailer. Classics prime is 2 3/16 wide so I'm going with 1:43. Appreciate all the help.
To some degree, it's probably possible to estimate the rough scale of certain TF vehicle modes (even those that don't exist in reality) simply by gauging how large a human being would be in relation to them. But there are also some pitfalls there too. Like for example, has anybody actually taken a look at the scale of the seats in Cybertron Hotshot? Judging from those seats, his car mode is probably about 20 ft wide! He is... monster car! zmog
I'll tell you this much - Classics prime is not 1:43 scale. The problem with prime is that he's very disproportionate - his width is ~ 1:43 (i have other 1:43 COEs), but his length is way off. The other problems are the wheels, which are too big I think, the doors are too small, and the area that becomes his feet are too thick.
There was actually, up until a short time ago, a truck that very closely resembled Classics Magnus (colors and all, but it had a tralier....) on the other side of the highway from my house. I meant to take a picture or two, but it must be off on assignment or something, because it's not there now... If it shows up again, I'll be sure to get pictures.
I drive a truck, so listen carefully if you want to calculate the scale of Classics Prime. Most trucks ( there are variations, but I'm talking about most ) are set to a standard of 8 1/2 feet wide. The lengths vary tremendously due to longer frames, shorter frames, single axle, dual axle, sleepers of different sizes, no sleeper, etc.. Go by the width and you should get pretty close.
I just did the calculations based on his width. He is 1/43 scale. See my above post for why you can't calculate based on the length. As for all his parts being different sizes, that's just inconsistency on Hasbro's part. They did it with 20th Prime as well. I just ignore the small errors and go by the overall size. In case you are wondering, 20th Prime is approximately 1/31 scale.
