Why do armor and aircraft scales not match?

[chops1sc]

I ask myself this a lot when shopping for kits. Why can't they make them match? I know Tamiya has some 1:48 armor but 1:35 seems to be the most popular scale. Why couldn't they make the aircraft match the 1:35 instead of 1:32?

Just puzzling LOL!

[Avgas]

I can't remember the exact story now but the guy who runs Tamiya said 1/35 was some completely random and accidental scale that he picked and it kind of stuck.

[SteelScooter]

From Wiki:

"After the success of the Panther (first motorised kit), I thought it would be a good idea for us to produce other tanks from different countries in the same scale. I measured the Panther and it turned out to be about 1/35 of the size of the original. This size had been chosen simply because it would accommodate a couple of B-type batteries. Tamiya's 1/35 series tanks eventually got to be known around the world, but this is the slightly haphazard origin of their rather awkward scale." - Shunsaku Tamiya

[wookiee76]

Good to know, had wondered whether it was just a suitable size, i know the plane scales are set to be easy to figure out measurements in imperial. Still doesn't explain airfix 1:76 scale though unless that is 00 gauge for trains.

[ElCapitan]

I was wondering this too. Good to finally know why! I don't build armour but I think I would find it irritating if I did and wanted to display alongside aircraft.

[Tomcat64]

Still doesn't explain airfix 1:76 scale though unless that is 00 gauge for trains.

Yep that's exactly it - OO is 1:76.

1:72 was originally chosen as it represented a six foot man as 1inch high so multiples of 12 made sense (1:48, 1:24 etc)

I'd always assumed that 1:35 came about because they were aiming for 1:36 and missed with the scaling in the early days so that's a great bit of trivia to find out it was purely by accident to fit the batteries

I've no idea why 1:32 was used...

[GarethCrossland]

It's a pity that aeroplanes aren't in 1/76 scale as I could use them on my model railway layout. No trains running past a second world war airfield for me!

[RobertK]

It's a pity that aeroplanes aren't in 1/76 scale as I could use them on my model railway layout. No trains running past a second world war airfield for me!

Have you tried how it looks? It should only be around 5% longer/wider than 1/76. It might not be that obvious if you don't mix scales.

[chops1sc]

I guess that's why Tamiya does some 1:48 tanks so you can put them along side some 1:48 aircraft. Cool story though about the 1:35 scale.

Now, why are some autos in 1:24 and some in 1:25??? LOL!

[wookiee76]

That one i reckon is so that they don't have to mould bigger tyres for muscle cars, just make it a slightly smaller scale and the tyres are the right size! Not that I'm cynical at all.