What scale is Barbie? 1:6, with furniture and other dolls

Barbie is 1:6 scale, the size known as playscale. The standard doll is 11.5 in (292 mm) tall, and 11.5 × 6 = 69 in, so she scales up to a woman 5 ft 9 in tall. Her furniture uses the same ratio: divide any real size by 6, or print a real-size 3D model at 16.67%.

What scale is Barbie?

Barbie is 1:6 scale, also called playscale. The standard doll stands 11.5 in (292 mm) tall, so at full size she would be 11.5 × 6 = 69 in, or 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m). At 1:6, every real foot becomes 2 in (50.8 mm) and every meter 166.7 mm.

Mattel’s product pages give 11.5 inches for a standard doll such as the Barbie Soccer Doll, and Wikipedia describes the standard range of dolls and accessories as approximately 1/6 scale. The arithmetic in metric: 11.5 × 25.4 = 292.1 mm, since an inch is exactly 25.4 mm (US National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST). Times 6, that is 1,752.6 mm.

Real size	At 1:6 (in)	At 1:6 (mm)
1 in	0.17	4.2
1 ft	2.00	50.8
3 ft	6.00	152.4
5 ft 9 in (Barbie’s height)	11.50	292.1
6 ft	12.00	304.8
1 m	6.56	166.7

Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes puts 12 in articulated figures such as G.I. Joe in the same 1:6 playscale. Mattel now makes Barbie in five body types, so check a print’s fit against your own doll.

What scale is Barbie furniture?

Barbie furniture is 1:6 scale, the same as the doll, so divide any real size by 6. A twin mattress of 38.5 × 74.5 in becomes 6.42 × 12.42 in (163 × 315 mm). A 36 in kitchen counter shrinks to 6 in (152 mm), and an 80 in doorway 13.33 in (339 mm).

The real sizes below are US standards. Mattress sizes are the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) sizes listed on Wikipedia. The countertop height comes from Wikipedia and the rest from the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design.

Item	Real size	At 1:6 (in)	At 1:6 (mm)
Twin mattress	38.5 × 74.5 in	6.42 × 12.42	163.0 × 315.4
Full mattress	53.5 × 74.5 in	8.92 × 12.42	226.5 × 315.4
Queen mattress	60 × 79.5 in	10.00 × 13.25	254.0 × 336.6
King mattress	76 × 79.5 in	12.67 × 13.25	321.7 × 336.6
Dining table top, height	28 to 34 in	4.67 to 5.67	118.5 to 143.9
Seat height (bench or wheelchair)	17 to 19 in	2.83 to 3.17	72.0 to 80.4
Kitchen countertop, height	35 to 36 in	5.83 to 6.00	148.2 to 152.4
Doorway, height	80 in	13.33	338.7
Doorway, clear width	32 in	5.33	135.5

The ADA figures are minimums or ranges for accessible buildings, not fixed furniture sizes. A 1:6 twin mattress, 12.42 in long, is just under an inch longer than the 11.5 in doll.

Toy furniture does not always match its own dolls. In 1997, Mattel’s wheelchair doll Share a Smile Becky did not fit the elevator of Barbie’s Dream House. Mattel said it would redesign the house. Check any piece you print against the doll itself.

What scale is an American Girl doll?

An American Girl doll works out to about 1:3. The dolls are 18 in (457 mm) tall and portray girls aged 8 to 14. On US growth charts, a 10-year-old girl’s median height is 138.2 cm (54.4 in), and 1,382 / 457.2 = 3.0. Furniture at 1:3 is twice the size of Barbie’s.

American Girl’s product page gives the doll’s height, not a scale. The ratio here is arithmetic: the 18 in doll against the median (50th percentile) height of US girls in the stature-for-age growth chart data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The ratio moves with the age you assume.

Girl’s age	Median height (CDC)	Ratio to an 18 in (457.2 mm) doll
8	127.8 cm (50.3 in)	1:2.8
10	138.2 cm (54.4 in)	1:3.0
12	151.5 cm (59.6 in)	1:3.3
14	160.5 cm (63.2 in)	1:3.5

Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes puts larger 18 in collectible fashion dolls at 1:4. At 1:4, an 18 in doll scales up to 18 × 4 = 72 in, a 6 ft adult. An American Girl doll portrays a child, so the same 18 in comes out nearer 1:3.

At 1:3, a 36 in kitchen counter is 12 in (304.8 mm) tall and a twin mattress is 12.83 × 24.83 in (326.0 × 630.8 mm).

What scale are Monster High and Rainbow High dolls?

Monster High and Rainbow High dolls sit close to Barbie’s 1:6. Most Monster High dolls are about 10.5 in (267 mm) tall and Rainbow High dolls 11 in (279 mm), against Barbie’s 11.5 in. At 1:6 they scale up to people of 5 ft 3 in and 5 ft 6 in.

Neither maker’s product page gives a ratio. The heights come from Mattel for Monster High and from MGA Entertainment for Rainbow High. The last column divides 1,730 mm (5 ft 8 in), the average man’s height The Miniatures Page uses, by each doll’s height. The miniature scale calculator uses the same reference.

Doll	Height (in)	Height (mm)	Person at 1:6	Ratio for a 1,730 mm person
Monster High	10.5	266.7	5 ft 3 in	1:6.5
Rainbow High	11	279.4	5 ft 6 in	1:6.2
Barbie	11.5	292.1	5 ft 9 in	1:5.9

All three come out between 1:5.9 and 1:6.5, so furniture made at 1:6 is within about 8% of each doll’s own scale.

How do you scale a 3D print for Barbie?

Scale a real-size model to 16.67% (100 / 6) to print it at Barbie’s 1:6. A 1:12 dollhouse file needs 200% and a 1:24 file 400%. To move a Barbie piece up to American Girl size (about 1:3), print it at 200%. To bring an American Girl piece down to Barbie, use 50%.

The rule is the same for every pair: the slicer percentage is the old ratio number divided by the new one, times 100. Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes gives 1:12 for full-scale dollhouses and 1:24 for half-scale ones.

Your file is	Print it for	Slicer scale
Real size (1:1)	Barbie, 1:6	16.67%
1:12 dollhouse	Barbie, 1:6	200%
1:24 dollhouse	Barbie, 1:6	400%
American Girl, 1:3	Barbie, 1:6	50%
Real size (1:1)	American Girl, 1:3	33.33%
1:12 dollhouse	American Girl, 1:3	400%
Barbie, 1:6	American Girl, 1:3	200%

Worked example: a real-size twin mattress for Barbie

A mattress model drawn at full size, 38.5 × 74.5 in, shows as 977.9 × 1,892.3 mm in the slicer.

1. Slicer scale: 100 / 6 = 16.67%.
2. Printed mattress: 977.9 / 6 = 163.0 mm wide, 1,892.3 / 6 = 315.4 mm long (6.42 × 12.42 in).
3. Check the build plate: a part 315.4 mm long needs a plate that long, a diagonal fit or a split into two parts.

Thin parts shrink by the same factor. A 3/4 in (19.05 mm) tabletop comes out 3.2 mm thick at 16.67%.

Going up costs plastic by the cube of the factor. A Barbie piece printed at 200% for an American Girl doll holds 2³ = 8 times the plastic if solid. The scale calculator gives the percentage for any pair of ratios and checks the result against your build volume. The print weight calculator turns the new size into grams of filament.