Hello All -
A friend of mine wanted to scratch build a mech.
Wrote me the dimensions asking how to conver them to 1/48 scale & 1/72 scale.

The dimensions are metric, thats the first place I get lost,
next is I am unsure but I think this is a Ratio Problem???

The request is below

...how big would a Lancer be in 1/48th scale? I searched the net and I found out its dimensions:

Total Length: 7.6 m (w/o cannons)
Total Length: 15.4 m (w/ cannons)
Total Height: 1.8 m (w/ radar)
Total Width: 1.1 m

Can you help me compute the dimensions for a 1/48 spacecraft? And for a 1/72 spacecraft?

Any help here is appreciatted by TWO fellow modelers not just one.
Thanks

Hello Austin, the dimensions in Us measurements for the lancer are:
total length: 6.233 inches w/o cannon
total length: 12.63 inches w cannon
total hieght: 1.476 inches w radar
Total Width: .90 inches
If you pm me I can send you a real handy scale calculator. Cheers Kevin

Hi,

That friend is me.

Actually, I wanted to build a SF 3A Lancer from scratch. It's not a mech but a space fighter from Robotech/Macross. I love the simpliticity of the design and I think I can make it as my first purely scratchbuilt model.

Kev, those measurements of yours. Are they in 1/48th scale or 1/72 scale?

Angela

Angela, those are in 1/48th I will send the calc to you in your yahoo if you like. The only bad thing is it is an exe. file so some mail systems think its a virus and wont let you open it. If I cant get it sent to you i will look for one on internet for you.
Cheers Kevin

That's cool, Kev. Yes, please, send it to my yahoo email or PM. You know my yahoo email, don't you? If not, tell me so I could PM it to you.

Thank you very much in advance.

Angela

Thank you JackHammer for helping the lady.
She is an assett to our community, and so are gentlemen that will help a mate, and then really be demonstrating chivalry.


BTW - I run a major network and I toss *.EXE files
just to risky, but I do tell my friends to rename the file to
*.ex_ and it usually flies through, and I then rename it back to
*.exe after I get it, and everything works.

Thanks Again JackHammer, and Angela, we cant wait to see the Mech, you can also get great crews in 1/48 so you could do a killer dio with it
And we've all admired your figure (s) :-) :-)

Hello,

Kev, I got your email. Thank you so much. I'll open it when I go home tonight. We are not permitted to open attatched files in the office for the fear of viruses.

Firemann, thank you so much for posting my question. And thank you very much for the compliment.

Hehehe...no, the Lancer is not a mech. It is supposed to be a space fighter or an unmanned space gun of some sort.

Thank you very much. I love you all.

Angela

Doing the conversions shouldn't be too difficult if you keep a couple of simple rules in mind.

1) Scale (1/35 1/72, etc) doesn't "care" if you are measuring in metric or english dimensions, as long as you don't mix them while you're doing the conversion.

I remember it this way "meters in---meters out" (or feet or inches or mm or whatever)

2) Whatever units you use, (feet, or inches, or meters, doesn't matter), the NUMBER on the original (example total width 1.1 meter) will always be LARGER than the number on the model in the same units.

I think of it this way. The real thing is "bigger" than the model so the measurement (in the same UNITS) has to be "bigger" also.

3) After you do the initial "conversion" you will almost always have to do at least one more (maybe two) operations to be able to "use" your answer.

I remember it this way, I might use a meter stick or a tape measure to get the dimensions off the real thing, but I wouldn't use that to work on my model. Same thing works the other way. I wouldn't try to use my small scall from my workbench to measure the real thing.


So for the example of the vehicle mentioned with a width of 1.1 meters. For a 1/48 model, the width would be .0229 Meters. ( 1.1 divided by 48.)
1) Meters in -- meters out. Check
2) 1.1 from real bigger than .0229 on model. Check.

Since you're probably not going to use a number like ".0229 Meters" working on your model, now you'll need to change it to something more reasonable like millimeters which makes it 22.9 mm. (This is why you gotta love the metric system!!!)

3) Meter stick on the original, small scale on the model. Check.

And last but not least, if you want to work in inches, you have to divide millimeters by 25.4.

SO 22.9 divided by 25.4 = .9 inches.

I remember it this way, Don't change horses in the middle of a stream. Do your changes either all at the beginning, or all at the end of the conversion.

I apologize for the "math lesson" and realize that just plugging the numbers into a conversion file is much easier. But you know the old saying "Give someone a fish, you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.

I work as an engineer, and part of what I do all the time is ask myself "does this answer pass the common sense test". I find it helps to know how to do that, just in case (heaven forbid!!!) I "fat finger" the keyboard and get the wrong answer out of the computer.

You wouldn't want your local highway guy trying to pour concrete for a road 10 FEET thick when the engieer meant 10 INCHES :-) :-) :-)




Tom