Fiddlers Green

Well, first off, my name is Jake Edison and I'm just a kid who builds the occasional project...well, maybe not "occasional"...
Anyway, I'm wondering about scales of certain models. I'm thinking that the large B-52 that I just bought is 1/48 scale, but I have no idea. Great kit, if you have fifteen bucks to spare, buy it.
Also, what are the scales of both sizes of the ME109, Brewster Buffalo, P-39, Airabonita, MiG-3, MiG-19, and MiG-21??? Please help me out here!!!

-Jake

First off, Welcome to the best papermodel forum this side of Pluto.

Second, one thing you'll need to know is that there is no set scale to Fiddlers green models.

You'll hear a lot about WSAM=Worlds Smallest Air Museum. That scale is 1:60.

Every model should have a WSAM=XX% on it somewhere. What that number is, is how much you should decrease or increase the print size to equal 1:60 scale.

For instance, the large scale B-52 is WSAM=97%, which means you would print it shrunk 97% to get 1:60 scale.

Unfortunately, calculating what scale that actually makes it requires more brain cells than I have readily available, so I'll let somebody else do that.

Also, when trying to determine the scale of a FG model...NEVER USE THE WINGSPAN(cough)... Chip has been known to take artistic license with the wingspans of many models to make the parts page look better.

Oh. be sure to include lots of pictures of your builds. Reading can get boring sometimes.

_________________
Official member of the "If We Can't See It With The Unaided Eye, You Didn't Build It".

Recently finished: Moving and getting set up
In progress: Zepellin Staaken (self design)

i tend to build the larger scales.....easier on my eyes and hands......but now lep he does braille scale......so small it has to be magnified to see....welcome to the forum...and yes please post pics of your models....

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Laterz
Possm_23
Never say anything you wouldnt think out loud!
Take your time leavin.....but hurry back!!!!
Every tub has to sit on its own bottom!!!!

This is a really good topic. I have struggled with scale alot. For WSAM, I use the WSAM scale calculator available at the FG website. It helps alot. My preference in scale is 1/40. I chose this scale because it was a good median between the smaller 1/50, 1/48 and the larger 1/33, 1/32 scales. So, I have a scale that is easy on my large hands, bad eyes and can find ample display room for it when it's finished.

Does not, Possm!
Lep
BTW my scale, 1/160 "N" guage, is not in your poll ... Ahem!

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"TANSTAAFL !" "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!" Lazarus Long AKA Robert A. Heinlein

Currently working on: FG Wippet 1/72
Recently Completed: FG FT-17 Dio 1/38

Yes, I will post pictures of the airfield in my room! I have, like, about...maybe 30 models on my desk and dresser, plus there's about fifteen I haven't made yet, and maybe ten that I have but haven't printed out yet...Yeah, I need more space. BUT BE WARNED: I am known as the "Scotch Tape Kid!" That's right, I "cut corners" and use tape! Doesn't look quite as good as glue, but it makes for relatively quick builds, plus it leaves a TON of room for customization.

-Jake

The paper modeling convention for most models printed by European publishers: JSC, Schreiber, Wilhelmshaven, Maly, ModelCard, etc. is 1/33 for aircraft and 1/24 for vehicles. Large aircraft are sometimes printed at 1/50 scale, and some aircraft models are printed at 1/100 scale. These scales don't match our US inch/foot based scales of 1/32, 1/48 & 1/72 because they're metric based.

The Fiddlers Green WSAM 1/60 reference scale is Chip's own scale, as I haven't seen it duplicated as a standard anywhere else, and, as Azguy points out, many Fiddlers Green models are not naturally at that scale but have to be enlarged or shrunk to attain it.

Wingspan is the easiest means of determining an aircraft scale, and despite Chip's occasional distortions, is the best reference because the other two dimensions, length and height, are much more ambiguous if you're taking them from Googled or book references. Height is especially troublesome because there's no way to tell whether that's with the gear struts fully compressed or fully extended, or measured normal to the fuselage centerline or normal to the ground, or whether it's to the top of an upright propellor blade or to the top of the fin, etc. I never pay any attention to the height dimension because without qualifying information it tells you nothing.

Similarly, length also has ambiguities, as aircraft have variations that affect this length be several inches or even feet, usually in the type of propellor installed, but engine used can affect cowling length, and fin/rudder shapes change as aircraft types mature.

The one constant (although there is change here across variants too) is wingspan, insofar as getting a useful measurement from a reference book or Google is concerned. If you build a model with the wingspan set to a particular scale, even if Chip had distorted the wing relative to the fuselage, I'd say the proper scale is still the wingspan scale, as that is the principal dimension of an airplane, so your model would be to scale according to its wingspan and the fuselage might be slightly disproportionate.

Attempting to achieve standardization via fuselage length would be more difficult, due to the ambiguties of ascertaining fuselage lengths, and what's the difference, after all, between an airplane with a scale wingspan but mismatched fuselage and an airplane with a scale fuselage but mismatched wingspan? They're equally out of proportion, so I'd go with wingspan as the standard since it's easier and less ambiguous to determine.

Finally, scale conversion gives the appearance of mathematical nightmare because it's usually expressed as a ratio rather than as a percentage, while the conversions are expressed as percentages. To overcome the nightmare, simply do the division of the ratio to obtain the starting scale as a percentage: e.g. a model printed at 1/33 scale is 3.03% actual size.
Let's say you want to make that model 1/50 instead of 1/33. 1/50 is 2% actual size. Just divide the target (2%) by the starting scale (3.03%) to get the conversion percentage, which in this case (2%/3.03%) = 66%.

Simple.

Now I have a headache......

Simple indeed, thanks 'kid .

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Last completed: Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer
Current Build(s): Nothing at the moment
http://chrissmodels.webs.com

See? If Personman built in 1/72 and below, as I do, he would have more room for models
Lep

_________________
"TANSTAAFL !" "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!" Lazarus Long AKA Robert A. Heinlein

Currently working on: FG Wippet 1/72
Recently Completed: FG FT-17 Dio 1/38

yes, but since he uses scotch tape rather than glue, your scale would just be a ball of tape.

_________________
Official member of the "If We Can't See It With The Unaided Eye, You Didn't Build It".

Recently finished: Moving and getting set up
In progress: Zepellin Staaken (self design)

Possibly. But at least he wouldn't have to show an airworthiness certificate just to display it.

_________________
"TANSTAAFL !" "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!" Lazarus Long AKA Robert A. Heinlein

Currently working on: FG Wippet 1/72
Recently Completed: FG FT-17 Dio 1/38

eh, i've built some 1/160 scale ships and they were absolutely excellent. i built actually about 75% of ct ertz's civil war ironclad "paperclad" series, plus some planes, and they turned out fine.
btw, just finished the b-52 in camo, and it looks excellent! i might even add some custom turrets or the weaponry from the mig-21, so it's gonna be like an f/b-52 or something like that...

I'll have you know I only needed an experimental certificate when I built the ME-321

_________________
Official member of the "If We Can't See It With The Unaided Eye, You Didn't Build It".

Recently finished: Moving and getting set up
In progress: Zepellin Staaken (self design)

Yabut the Me 323 had a 21 inch wingspan in 1/160 scale!
Methinks we've pirated Personman's thread ...
Expect this, Jake, as we're all a little crazy here(some more than others) but struggle to stay sane enough that they don't take our scissors, glue or other tools we use to get our daily paper fix.
Welcome to the fold. If you're not careful you'll learn something from some of these guys.
Lep

_________________
"TANSTAAFL !" "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!" Lazarus Long AKA Robert A. Heinlein

Currently working on: FG Wippet 1/72
Recently Completed: FG FT-17 Dio 1/38