Why always 1:40?

[Takama]

Ok I was playing around with this online Scaling Calculator

http://jbwid.com/scalcalc.htm

And I noticed somthing cool.     If you type in the total length of a animal in inches under 1:39 Scale the animals length in meters is the same in inches. So a 12 meter Dinosaur would make a 12 inch figure

What i want to ask is why do Companys always go for 1:40, when 1:39 almost perfectly copy's the animals length in meters?   I think 1:39 is a perfect Scale for Dinosaurs and i plan on makeing all my future commissions in this scale

[Kayakasaurus]

That's really neat! I just don't think it would be a factor in a company choosing a scale. Putting something in scale is a single step equation, just divide, so I don't think it needs to be any easier for companies. The only advantage is that it would be easier for people to know the length of the animal based off of the figure in inches. There are two problems with this though; 1, To tell people the trick, you would have already had to tell them the full length of the animal, defeating the advantage of the trick, and at that point it wouldn't make a difference if the numbers were the same because it's more of a visual thing. 2 Americans don't use the metric system, so meters wouldn't mean much to me, and in my mind I would have rounded the meters to yards, and 1:39 to 1:40 for easier calculation.

[PaleoMatt]

Honsetly America should switch to metric since imperial is really bad and most of the world use metric now.

[tyrantqueen]

My parents were born in the early fifties and they refuse to learn metric. As a result I learned imperial first. I did learn metric at school but I don't mind people using imperial.

[Newt]

I like to sculpt in 1:12 for a similar reason - just switch feet to inches and you're ready to go.

[DC]

Safari made 1/40 popular and Battat and Schliech copied it.  Before that Invicta used 1/45.  The resin community which was very vibrant in the 80's used several scales but 1/30 was popular and you see that in Tamiya.  Multiples of 5 or 10 are easier math.  Mostly I think it was since there was so much 1/40 out there people wanted figures compatible with their collections. 

[Brachiosaurus]

I usually only get 1/40 scale figures because thats what most of my models are and I'm a scale nazi

[Dinoguy2]

Most 1:40 line figures are closer to 1:35 - 1:38 anyway, only Invicta and some of the early Carnegies stuck rigorously close. Later figures, even most Battat, seem not to take pose into account and so proportions of skull size etc. are too big to be 1:40. I use an about 1:38 scale Marx caveman in my display case to compensate, making the true 1:40s just seem like slightly smaller specimens. Not everything needs to be max possible size

[alexeratops]

Honsetly America should switch to metric since imperial is really bad and most of the world use metric now.

Why is it "bad"?
Besides, there is no way the whole country is just going to switch to metric.

[tyrantqueen]

Honsetly America should switch to metric since imperial is really bad and most of the world use metric now.

Why is it "bad"?
Besides, there is no way the whole country is just going to switch to metric.

I agree, it's not bad. I know several people in my country (UK) who would prefer that we switched back to imperial. Even if a country does switch, there are always going to be people who cling onto the previous system.

[PaleoMatt]

Honsetly America should switch to metric since imperial is really bad and most of the world use metric now.

Why is it "bad"?
Besides, there is no way the whole country is just going to switch to metric.

It may not be "bad" per se but its more complicated and it's going to be easier for the country political and economical.

[Kayakasaurus]

Metric is generally thought to be superior because it's ten based like our number system, making it much easier to do the math. Imperial is based on a ton of outdated references that don't mean anything anymore, like acres, and it isn't even divisible by a consistent number, it's 3 or 4 or 12 or 16 depending on what you're breaking down. I think the only reference that is still relevant is a foot, we still have those lol. I think a foot is the only measurement I would miss, it's easy to visualize, and easy to estimate with your steps.

[Halichoeres]

Safari made 1/40 popular and Battat and Schliech copied it.  Before that Invicta used 1/45.  The resin community which was very vibrant in the 80's used several scales but 1/30 was popular and you see that in Tamiya.  Multiples of 5 or 10 are easier math.  Mostly I think it was since there was so much 1/40 out there people wanted figures compatible with their collections. 

Thanks for that, when I first clicked on it, I thought that this was the question the thread was originally asking. I've often wondered how 1:40 became the standard. It makes sense that it was Carnegie who established it, but I'm still curious why Carnegie landed on 1:40. It does put T-rex at a comfortable size for a child's hands, I suppose.

Honsetly America should switch to metric since imperial is really bad and most of the world use metric now.

Why is it "bad"?
Besides, there is no way the whole country is just going to switch to metric.

We were poised to change until Reagan reversed an initiative of Carter to switch highway signs and everything else to metric. Besides the advantages that Kayakasaurus cites, I would add that in a world where science, industry, and other endeavors are increasinly international, having a universal system is pretty useful, and metric is clearly winning. Besides the US, I think only Burma and Liberia still use imperial routinely.

[CityRaptor]

Also metric tons! 1000 kg. Much easier than the other tons, which have various numbers of kg.

[Federreptil]

Most 1:40 line figures are closer to 1:35 - 1:38 anyway, only Invicta and some of the early Carnegies stuck rigorously close. Later figures, even most Battat, seem not to take pose into account and so proportions of skull size etc. are too big to be 1:40. I use an about 1:38 scale Marx caveman in my display case to compensate, making the true 1:40s just seem like slightly smaller specimens. Not everything needs to be max possible size

If I look to my dinosaur-models, it's better not to be too rigid with the scaling. I never estimated, all are strict 1:40 because their are also further influences for model making. Most manufactures look e. g. for a balanced price-weight ratio in their model-lines. Small dinosaurs will intend to be bigger then scaled life-size – so it's easier to sculpt them. The biggest sauropods are often reduced – their models should fit in packaging and transport issues and should take place on the shelfs of the children rooms. I knew this flipping scalings from other model worlds like railroad settings: People are too big and buildings just a tiny representation.

For my dioramas I prefer something between 1:35 to 1:50 for a comparable personal. For herd-building are different sizes even an advantage. Sometimes I used the demands of perspective for the arrangements and put the undersized sauropods in the background on purpose. After a little thinking it's often the decision not to use the perfect scale but a well-looking interpretation, what model of the species I set in. And sometimes a bigger dromaeosaurid in a smaller scale is the better choice, if this one is feathered.