What is 1/72 scale? Sizes in inches and mm

1/72 scale means every length on the model is 1/72 of the real one: 1 inch on the model equals 72 inches (6 feet) on the real thing. The scale is used most often for model aircraft. Airfix, Revell, Tamiya and Hasegawa have all made 1:72 kits.

What does 1/72 scale mean?

1/72 scale means the model is 1/72 the size of the real thing in every direction. One unit on the model equals 72 of the same unit in reality: 1 mm for 72 mm, 1 cm for 72 cm and 1 inch for 72 inches (6 feet). Written 1:72 or 1/72, it is the same ratio.

The number 72 makes an inch on the model equal to 6 feet, about a man’s height, as Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes notes. A full-size person comes out roughly an inch tall.

Aircraft suit 1:72 because everything from a small fighter to a large bomber comes out at a size you can build and display, according to Wikipedia. Since the early 1970s it has also been a common scale for military vehicles. Wikipedia’s list of scale model sizes calls it the most prolific small scale (smaller than 1:35) for plastic armored vehicle kits. Figures, die-cast cars and radio-control ships also come in 1:72.

What is 1/72 scale in inches?

At 1/72 scale, 1 inch on the model equals 72 inches (6 feet) on the real thing. Going the other way, each real foot becomes 1/6 inch (0.17 in) on the model. To get model inches, divide the real size in feet by 6, or the real size in inches by 72.

Real size	At 1/72 (in)	At 1/72 (mm)
1 ft	0.17	4.23
3 ft	0.50	12.7
6 ft	1.00	25.4
10 ft	1.67	42.3
25 ft	4.17	105.8
50 ft	8.33	211.7
100 ft	16.67	423.3

In feet, 1 foot on the model equals 72 feet in reality. A B-17 bomber, 74 ft 4 in long, comes out just over a foot long at 1/72 (12.39 in).

What is 1/72 scale in mm?

At 1/72 scale, 1 mm on the model equals 72 mm in reality. A real meter becomes 13.9 mm (1.39 cm) and a real foot 4.23 mm. A 1.73 m person is 24.0 mm to the top of the head. To convert, divide the real size in millimeters by 72, then by 10 for centimeters.

The arithmetic: 1,000 / 72 = 13.9 mm for a meter, and 304.8 / 72 = 4.23 mm for a foot. A foot is exactly 304.8 mm, per the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A person of 1,730 mm, the average height The Miniatures Page uses, is 1,730 / 72 = 24.0 mm.

Real size	At 1/72 (mm)	At 1/72 (cm)
10 cm	1.4	0.14
1 m	13.9	1.39
1.73 m (a person)	24.0	2.40
2 m	27.8	2.78
5 m	69.4	6.94
10 m	138.9	13.89
20 m	277.8	27.78
50 m	694.4	69.44

How big is a 1/72 scale model?

A 1/72 fighter such as a Spitfire or P-51D Mustang spans about 156 mm (6.1 in), a B-17 bomber 439 mm (17.3 in), and a Boeing 747-8 is 1,059 mm (41.7 in) long. An M4 Sherman or Tiger I tank is 81 to 117 mm (3.2 to 4.6 in) long, and a 1.73 m person stands 24 mm tall.

Each size below is the published real dimension divided by 72.

Subject	Real size	At 1/72 (mm)	At 1/72 (in)
Person, to the top of the head	1.73 m	24.0	0.95
M4 Sherman, length (by variant)	19 ft 2 in to 20 ft 7 in	81.1 to 87.1	3.19 to 3.43
Tiger I, hull length	6.316 m	87.7	3.45
Tiger I, length with gun forward	8.45 m	117.4	4.62
Spitfire Mk Vb, length	29 ft 11 in	126.6	4.99
Spitfire Mk Vb, wingspan	36 ft 10 in	155.9	6.14
P-51D Mustang, length	32 ft 3 in	136.5	5.37
P-51D Mustang, wingspan	37 ft 0 in	156.6	6.17
B-17G Flying Fortress, length	74 ft 4 in	314.7	12.39
B-17G Flying Fortress, wingspan	103 ft 9 in	439.2	17.29
Boeing 747-8, wingspan	224 ft 5 in	950.0	37.40
Boeing 747-8, length	250 ft 2 in	1,059.0	41.69

A real kit matches: Airfix lists its 1:72 Spitfire Mk.Vc (A02108) at a 157 mm wingspan, 1.1 mm more than the arithmetic.

What does 1/72 scale look like?

A 1/72 Spitfire’s 6.14 in wingspan is the length of a US dollar bill, which measures 6.14 x 2.61 in. A 1/72 person is just under an inch tall: 24.0 mm to the top of the head, or 22.4 mm to eye level (The Miniatures Page’s figure for 1/72). A B-17 is 17.3 in across, and a 747-8 is about 3.5 ft long.

Wargamers use 1/72 too. Wikipedia’s article on gaming miniatures says 1/72 uses 20 mm to 25 mm figures, mostly for historical games. To match 1/72 kits with figures sold in millimeter sizes, the miniature scale calculator turns a figure height into a 1:X ratio.

Slicer percentage to print at 1/72 scale

A file drawn at full size (1:1) needs 100 / 72 = 1.389% in the slicer’s scale box, with uniform scaling on. A full-size Spitfire file with an 11,226.8 mm wingspan then prints at 155.9 mm. For a file made at another scale, divide its ratio number by 72 and multiply by 100: a 1/48 file needs 48 / 72 = 66.67%. The scale calculator handles any other pair of scales and any real size.

Two checks before you print:

1. Thin parts. At 1/72, a 0.4 mm extrusion line covers 0.4 × 72 = 28.8 mm of the real object. Antennas and gun barrels thinner than that print narrower than one line, and the slicer may drop them.
2. Build volume. A 1/72 B-17 spans 439 mm and a 747-8 is 1,059 mm long. Enter your printer’s build volume in the scale calculator. It flags any axis too long for the bed and gives the largest scale that fits.