Hey everyone, Tomeko here.
Reporting from Hobby Search Office Building, which had been struck with an
explosive amount of parcel packing, possibly due to the flood of last minute
orders before the PayPal Half Price Shipping offer finished on the 15th.
Gosh, that was chaotic. Now, for those of you who are waiting for their
orders, please bear with us.
Right then, with continuing with last week, lets think about this thing
called scales.
♦ 1/100: Seen often in GunPla and character model
kits. Not so often seen in the railway models and scale plastic kits
(although not completely non-existant...).
In the Gundam model kits, the most famous 1/100 scale series would be the
Master
Grade, I believe. There are also other 1/100 scale kits in Gundam model
kits, but they aren't the same as the Master Grades, with less
quality/gimmick and lower price. Now, if you are skilled enough, it is
possible to use parts in other kits and make custom models too.
♦ 1/80: What they call the HO-Scale in the world of
Railway Models. The railway models of this class are pretty big, and are
also priced accordingly. However, with this difference in size, it can
reproduce the smaller details that cannot be achieved in the N-Scale, which
is a strong attraction.
In this scale, we sometimes see
things like Busses sneaking around. I guess its so that
you can display them with the Train Models in a diorama or something.
The image is that of the Yokohama City Traffic Bureau Public Route Bus
.
It could soo battle it out with the trains! Although what to compete
over...is a mystery. Fare, may be?
♦ 1/76: Very partially used in the AFV models, but
have not been seen very much recently. I personally wonder where this 76
came from, it seems like such a random number.
♦ 1/72: The most popular scale in the Aircraft model
kits. ......I think (slightly uncertain). Other than that, it is also seen
sometimes in the
AFV models by overseas companies such as Dragon and
Trumpeter etc. The models of this scale are quite cute, yet very much
worth building, and they are also great to display wlong with the aircrafts
too.
I was thinking of taking this opportunity to share a 1/72 scale kit, but it
is far too common a scale to pick one product to recommend...... orz
But anyway, there are great variety and price range for these, so if you
feel like trying out a aircraft military kit, this would be a good place to
start.
♦ 1/48: Out of the aircraft models, this is a scale
that is slightly large, yet has a decent variety of lineup. And by Tamiya,
they haven't stopped at aircrafts, but created a
1/48 scale AFV
series too!
The image is that of the item Tomeko recommends, the Japanese Navy Komatsu
G40 Bulldozer. It was previously featured in this blog some time ago.
Its not as well equipped as the 1/35 scales, but there are quite the range
of WWII period models , and also has things like
Jerry Cans and
Barricade
etc. that will make the AFV dioramas more exciting available too.
♦ 1/35: This is a scale that AFV model kits takes up
a large portion of. Off the top of my head, the
Military Miniature Series by Tamiya is a
good example of the 1/35 scale tank.
The image is that of the recently released item, the BT-7. The towing chain
has been reproduced properly with metal, too. This boldness is just
stunning!
And of course, there are many other wonderful kits by other companies
too.
Fine
Mold mainly has many old Japanese Army items, and
Tasca has
many variations of the Sherman tank produced.
And for something of an odd-ball, the name
MODELKASTEN comes to mind. This is a company that has
produced more tracks than the tank themselves.
Other than that, there are many overseas companies that has produced great
products.
The frequently come up with items that the companies here doesn't make very
often, so these could be quite interesting too.
Also, there are some 1/35 scale aircraft kits existing too, but these are
super rare.
♦ 1/32: This is a scale that is very large for
aircraft models. However, there were surprisingly many items in this scale.
The prices varies too, from 2~3000yen to over 10000yen. They are quite big,
so there are many kits that has the engine and other parts built with fine
details too.
Also, the busses and trucks are of this scale in the car model kits too.
I mean, it could be pretty hectic to make a decoration truck at 1/24 scale,
as it will be very large.
Returning to Earth safely, the "
Hayabusa" model kit is also of this scale.
Unfortunately, this item was very popular, and has fully sold out already. I
guess we will just have to hope for it to be re-released.
Oh yeah, did you know that those mini4WD Tamiya Cars were also 1/32 scale
too?
Since it says 1/32 scale, does that mean there is a 1/1 actual car? Ah the
curiosity.
Personally, I think if
this ↓
was a real car, it would be so awesome.
♦ 1/20: A slightly large size for a car model kit.
Seen in the F1 cars and some resin kits.
♦ 1/12: This is a common scale for the motor bike
model kits. Other than that, I think ive heard somewhere that this was a
close scale to figma or whatnot.
♦ 1/8: I think this is a very common scale for
figures. Not that this genre really matters too much for scale, unlike the
scale model cars and stuff.
♦ 1/6: A common size for the fashion dolls are this
1/6 scale. Other than this, there are also some larger figures also seen at
this scale too.
♦ 1/1: Actual size. Oh yeah, the
Hoihoi San series were largely discussed at
one point, for being a 1/1 scale model kit. they are pretty cute, aren't
they?
Right. So the explanation for the second half started getting rather rough,
and with so much text it may have been a little annoying...
Uh... yeah, I apologize, I'm sorry......
When I started writing this article, I thought it would be quite simple, as
I thought the scales would be standardized for the genres, but turned out
the scales are very complicated and some do cross genres.
So I guess it just comes down to looking for the right size to enjoy the
models, which has a good balance in size and price. Yeah, that's basically
the conclusion I came up with.
So anyway, hope to see you next time, everybody!
By Tomeko, who looks forward to the weekend...!