🧑 Scale Figure Height Reference Chart

Where the heights come from

Every figure in the chart is the same 5'9" adult - 1,750 mm - divided by the scale ratio:

figure height = 1750 mm / scale ratio

HO 1:87.1  ->  1750 / 87.1 = 20.1 mm (0.79 in)
N  1:160   ->  1750 / 160  = 10.9 mm (0.43 in)
O  1:48    ->  1750 / 48   = 36.5 mm (1.44 in)

Any other height goes through the same division. A 6'2" (1,880 mm) figure is 21.6 mm in HO, and a child of about 4 ft is 14 mm - a third shorter than the adult beside them, which is what makes a group read as a family rather than a set of clones.

Buying figures that actually match

Boxes are labelled by scale, by millimetre height, or both, and the two do not always agree:

• Wargaming millimetres are not model railroad millimetres. A "28 mm" wargame figure is usually measured to the eyes and sculpted with heavy limbs and hands; it stands taller and bulkier than a true 28 mm S scale person.
• O scale figures vary by country. At 1:48 an adult is 36.5 mm; at the British 1:43.5 the same person is 40 mm. Mixing them in one scene shows.
• Vary the heights. Real adults run roughly 1,550 to 1,900 mm, which in HO is 17.8 to 21.8 mm. A platform crowd all cast at exactly 20 mm looks wrong even when nobody can say why.

Frequently asked questions