Quick Scale

by Mike Ristuccia

Sometimes your brain simply refuses to function...and you can't remember your own name, much less how to figure out how to convert a set of metric ship plans into feet and inches, and then scale them from 16 ft.=1inch into 1/700 scale... or what percentage to reduce them on your copier...Are you confused yet???

Well, salvation comes from down under in the form of Quick Scale, a shareware program designed specifically for modelers by Mike Ristuccia.

Quick Scale does everything you can ever possibly want... Take a look:

If you want to determine how big that scratchbuilt model will be, then use the first tab. This allows you to input the actual dimension of the model, in Imperial or Metric units, scale the model either up or down, and give you the actual dimension of the model, again, with your results being in Metric or Imperial units. In this instance, an 880 foot battleship in 1/72 scale equates to 12 feet, 2 5/8 inches.

The Change Scale tab is self explanatory, insert the model dimension, enter the original scale, and input the scale you wish to change to. The result is your new model dimension. A model that's 3ft. 6 1/2 inches in 1/72 scale is 5ft. 5 3/4 inches in 1/48.

Finding a scale can also be helpful, especially when trying to figure out box scale. By entering the model dimension and the dimension of the actual subject, you can come to an accurate scale.

This one is a bit tricky...but can save you days of mathematical computations...your hull on the drawing is 3 feet, and your actual hull is 300 feet...simple, right? It's 1/100 scale...(it's real easy with nice round divisable numbers). Well, let's say you want to convert those measurements into 1/72 scale and you want to reduce or enlarge...confused yet? I am...

This is what sold me...since I'm always enlarging or reducing plans down to various scales. How many times have we been asked about scaling down plans from 1/192 to 1/350 or 1/700? Now, all you need to do is fill in the fields.

Quick Scale is Shareware (hmmm...maybe that should be ScaleWare?). You can download and demo it for free, but you'll have to deal with annoying pop-ups and a 10-second timer before you can get your results. The cost of registration is only $10 payable through Paypal, which removes the splash startup screen, the pop-up, and timer. This program is as important to ship modelers as photoetch and X-acto knives, especially if you do any form of scratchbuilding, conversions, or kitbashing.

The program is available for download directly from Mike at the following site:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/stooch/quickscale/

I can't say enough about this program. I've tested it for about 24 hours now, and I've used it for model calculations 3 times already, saving me (mathematically challenged) hours of calculations and swearing, misplacing decimal points, etc. The beauty of the program is its simplicity in operation, the multiple tabs allow you to compute your data effectively and without hassle. Although I don't typically use metric units, it's extremely handy for those overseas who use the metric system, or for the odd times when you're converting plans done in feet and inches into meters. The program was developed by a ship modeler for ship modelers...so consider yourself lucky!!

Jeff Herne, Modelwarships.com