Let's Settle This...

Everyone debates how big LEGOs should be. I see what they realistically should be.
Rebrickable page: rebrickable.com/users/ShootYo...
00:00 - BIG
00:08 - Stud to Foot
00:31 - SPEED
02:31 - Fitting two minifigures side by side
04:15 - Trains
05:34 - Boats

[@GoranXII]

The problem is, minifigs themselves are too short to be really accurate representations of actual people.

[@Sentoriika]

yea and they are too wide in comparison

[@klaykid117]

They sort of have the proportions of fantasy dwarves

[@s1mp50n4]

Minifig bodies are just out of scale with themselves. The average adult person is 7 to 8 heads (as in their own head) tall and their shoulder width is about 2 head heights wide. However a standard minifig with normal legs and no accessories is 4 heads tall but their shoulder width is about 2 head heights wide. So just in terms of height to width minifigs are about half as tall as they should be.

[@ImmortalAbsol]

Plenty of people are 5'5.

[@flexarnn]

Short people aren't real

[@Mulberr_y]

Minifigure scale is anything that minifigures can fit in without a ridiculous amount of space.

[@ShootYourBricks]

True, I mean you can make a car in real life however big you want

[@Qoobon_]

Any play scale star wars sets:

[@kekchanbiggestfan]

Define ridiculous

[@Mast3rKK]

personally if minifigs fit comfortably in a build, i consider that build minifig scale

[@Qoobon_]

@@Mast3rKK i know its obviously not what you meant, but microfighter have a seat for the minifigs

[@seanrea550]

There is the concept in lego of "play scale" which upscale small things and downscales large things.

[@dickassley5171]

I believe in tabletop wargames this is reffered to as 'heroic scale' For example heroic scale warhammer models tend to have larger hands feet and heads, larger weapons and pouches, all to make the model more readable and easier to paint. By contrast things like tanks are much smaller than they should be, to make them reasonably sellable and playable

[@survivingworldsteam]

It is not uncommon in the model railroad and modeling community to make very large objects smaller so you have a reasonable chance to model it in the space you have available. Even large attractions like Miniture Wonderland often scale down sports stadiums and large ships so they can be included without taking over the entire layout. Sometimes smaller objects are modeled larger because of the limits of the modeler and material he is working with, but that is less common.

[@Swimlikeafishdrinklikeafish]

I think this leads into a good discussion about lego Star Wars and how less than $100 sets are way oversized to scale but then the bigger ones are way to small. The prices are brutal on sets that are bigger than they need to be

[@IamsavedbyGodsgrace]

Phht, like the BARC speeders.. hah! For by grace you have been saved through faith. and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, - Ephesians 2:8

[@christiandevey3898]

Where is my minifig scale Star destroy

[@thomasthemtman]

YES !!!! make the small sets more accurate!!!

[@bobafettjr85]

As a kid it always bugged me that the cars were single seats, so I would make 8 stud wide cars. They looked weird as hell.

[@Giggles4692]

2 studs = 1 foot is a better scale

[@zachbeckman5835]

@@Giggles4692the problem was he did height for studs but not width and since mini figures aren’t the same width as height it makes it inaccurate when measuring width

[@True_NOON]

Thats really common shorter wagons with 8 wide building tech, they feel too wide, while 6 wide accurate lentgh wagons feel too thin, wierdly enough 6 wide shorter wagons and 8 wide longer wagons feel about right

[@nak_attak]

Id love to see someone build an accurately sized cargo ship

[@ProzacgodAI]

my first thought as well!

[@Foremarkex]

There have been a few "True" scale ocean liners made in Lego.

[@Shaun_Jones]

A more achievable goal for something that size would be microfigure scale, which is a 1x1 stud footprint and I think three studs tall.

[@rahlmaclaren1478]

I think those would be called S.H.I.P.s - Seriously Huge Investment in Parts.

[@acegikmo31]

The lego shop Brickmania in the southern california region has a proper minifigure scaled ship based on a current day navy battleship

[@stilettoheelslover]

Minifigs are far too wide for their height. That's the actual issue. The figs are very badly proportioned.

[@Worselthx]

Lego friends sets are more accurate, but serious collectors didn't like them as much.

[@christiandeuer2425]

They are Everytime on widewalk mode.

[@j0hn00]

The recent tall minifigs in the Avatar sets, for the Navi, are interestingly very close to regular human proportions, just the arms slightly too short

[@Llortor]

Fat people arent real

[@DerAlex86]

A minifig is 1.6cm wide at the waist when the average adult is about 40 cm wide at the waist, which is about 1:25 scale. A minifig is 4cm tall when the average adult is about 180cm tall, which is about 1:45 scale. A small LEGO city dwelling (e.g. mini modular) is some 12 studs wide and 6 studs deep, which is ~45 sq. cm, while a small apartment is about 20 sq. m (200 sq. ft) = 200000 sq. cm, which is a 1:66 scale. So "minifig scale" is not a real scale, it's not a single number, it's a lifestyle. LEGO is not for scale models, it's a creativity toy.

[@jkb2016]

Don't forget that minifigs have a totally different width to hight ratio than humans. May Rule of thumb is this: ideal main body width for passenger cars is six; vans and trucks are allowed to be 8 studs wide. However, the best example for the right size of a LEGO car is set 6612.

[@NishimotoBricks]

finally someone reasonable

[@cybersilver5816]

I hear that they use 6612 as a reference vehicle for all speed champions sets. Can't beat perfection

[@jkb2016]

@@Joe_Potts Uhm, yes, it was meant ironically. Now, you've destroyed the fun.

[@DerAlex86]

IMHO, the best examples for the right size of a LEGO car are 6523 and 6540. Unfortunately, to be to scale with 4w cars and 6w trains, I would have to design 5w trucks, which didn't go well because most of the required parts are only intended for 4w and 6w (windscreens, car roof hinges, wheel holders...)

[@thomasthemtman]

6612...... suuuuuuure

[@DutchDeLorean]

I've used the 1 stud = 1 foot scale for the last 20 years. It makes model building so easy. I only ever built one 10 stud wide train though, it looked perfect but was too huge.

[@zombieoutbreakprod]

Always sucked trying to do functional size internals for trains and tanks in lego

[@ShootYourBricks]

I would consider making the actual body of the train 8 studs wide and then have a stud on each side for railings and stuff.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

@@ShootYourBricks That's what I do, though it is still a compromise as you only get two seats per row that way, were real trains usually have 4. But I tried 10 wide once, and it was a nightmare!

[@SniperOnSunday]

That's what I've subconsciously worked with.

[@MiguelCastro-ow5ho]

The correct scale of vehicles depends on if you base it off the figures' height or their width

[@Giggles4692]

2 studs = 1 foot is a better scale

[@digitalrandomart3049]

it should be an average of both

[@pauldeddens5349]

@@digitalrandomart3049 Then you end up with half studs, which is prohibitively difficult to set up with a simple small space like a car. Let alone making it playable and look good.

[@j0hn00]

I scale all my stuff to the _width_ of a minifigure, rather than the height. They look short next to all their cars and stuff, but at least they fit normally enough. Compared to when you scale to their height, and you barely have enough space to fit two figures in a car

[@HegeRoberto]

I'd argue that using the "height" of the minifigure isn't good to use as standard, as minifigures are exactly stylized in that regard, squished down. If we apply the same logic for the width, an avarege man shoulder-to-shoulder is 1,5 feet wide. A lego minifig is 3 studs wide counting the arms as the shoulders, making 1 stud equal to 0.5 feet width. Making 6 feet wide car's proper stud-size 12 studs.

[@Worselthx]

I think lego should make more use of its micro scale figures for larger models. That would roughly translate to 1 stud = 3 feet.

[@pauldeddens5349]

They should, but that complicates existing scales. For instance, with the Eiffel tower, quick math works the microfigure scale to ~300 ft tall, about 1/3 the scale of the real thing.

[@IZAQ_]

Now one thing to note regarding ships is that they come in a lot of shapes and sizes, there are probably cargo ships that are 12 foot wide, but yea most are a lot bigger

[@ShootYourBricks]

True. There might not be quite as much a difference in size.

[@tammo100]

@@ShootYourBricks even small cargo ships are much wider than 12 feet. The real-life old pirate ships and small caravels of the 1600s-1700s were about 30 feet wide. And those were really small. Cargo ships are just not doable on minifig scale

[@classicallpvault8251]

@@tammo100 People have built the Japanese battleship Yamato as well as the Titanic in minifig scale. Of course it's possible. Just only for teams of advanced model builders.

[@tammo100]

@@classicallpvault8251 of course it's possible, they built a 1:1 functioning supercar too. But not as a regular model.

[@Playmation]

Minifig scale is a real puzzle since a fig doesn’t have the same prepositions as we do. And we don’t work in a world where everything connects to studs and fits in a system. So it’s impossible to pin point. However I’d love to have 1x2 foot bills 💵 and 1x3 feet 📞

[@guard13007]

As much as I love the simplicity of your conversion, I have to point out that minifigures are too wide, and thus a more accurate measure would be to take a value between measuring their width as if it were a person and their height as if it were a person. Additionally, since these things /are/ to match a minifigure, not a person, perhaps we should be using a different number for width measurements than we use for height measurements. Now having said all of that, I think I'm just going to use your method.

[@HNBGamer]

To be fair, it's just the limitations of Lego. If you apply the same analogy of 'correctly sized car should fit 2 people side by side' to a normal bus (12 meter ones), which should be able to fit 5 people side by side, 10258 London bus is the one you're looking at!

[@ShootYourBricks]

lol true

[@EvixtheScrub]

Lol, I laughed so hard at the ship width part

[@ShootYourBricks]

Haha. Glad you got a laugh

[@LucasStraub]

Nice to point out that price scales with volume, making something twice as big actually 8 times pricier

[@christiandeuer2425]

Thats strictly Legomanagement.

[@joshslater2426]

I’d say six studs is the best scale to work with. I’ve built many steam trains and six is the best scale to work with so that it doesn’t overshadow the landscape. Same goes for the cars.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

How do you make steam trains at only six studs wide? Even the Emerald Night was still 7, technically 9 if you count the pistons.

[@Fanunic]

Great video -- love esoteric Lego deep dives like this lmao

[@JanKustersSittard]

I had an art education, with drawing and sculpting to live models. One of the more important things I learned was 'art anatomy does not have to be right, it has to look right'. Something similar goes with Lego minifigures. As mentioned in the video, the mini figs are horizontally uhm, a bit off. Way too wide compared to their height. This translates into all kind of weird problems with cars and trains, once to try to fit them in. All in all, Lego is not a 'model-building-medium', it is a world building medium. You can make what you want!

[@julienthijs1271]

What i liked about the lego movies is that they showed that most scales could look good in the right context. Cars ? Tiny ! Space ship ? Toy accurate ! Interiors ? HUGE ! And it's not even a hard set of rules. Like you said it's about imagination but also aesthetics. It must feel nice and look good.

[@SmitzPNK]

the car body mold that came with the Johnny thunder theme fixes the problem quite nicely

[@ShootYourBricks]

Yeah, I have one of those. It's really cool

[@Delerane]

Personnaly I consider that 6 studs = 5 blocks height = approx. 2 meters (a little more than a minifig with something on it's head).

[@maxpospischil4425]

Really informative video comparing LEGO sets to real life vehicles! To have a proper scale, I usually consider 1:35-1:45 minifig scale. The range is quiet big as a minifigure's proportion is just completly off. The height of a minifig is about 1:44 while the width is about 1:38 so there is no definite minifig scale but rather a range the model should be built in to be considered minifig scale. Nevertheless speed champions models are oversized (approximately 1:25-1:30) but I can understand that as they still want to include a minifig while still retaining a good structual integrity. Just for reference, the Lambo Countach is about 2 meters wide which is about 6 studs in 1:43 scale. This would it almost impossible to include a minifig while still making it look good. The issue doesn't end here tho. I'm currently working on a 1:44 recreation of the Eta-actis 2. It's an incredible small ship to tackle. It's about 15.5x12.1 studs wide. Going with 1:44 for height didn't work for me as it looked cramped next to a minifig so I needed to go with 1:38 to make it look better just because a minifig's proportion is off.

[@Dodos622]

The first lego city sets where made for HO train system, so the scale was 1:87. The current scale for city / modular buildings / trains are between 1:40 and 1:50

[@ShootYourBricks]

Interesting. Didn't know that.

[@survivingworldsteam]

There is a group of LEGO model railroaders promoting something called L Scale. They say that Lego trains should 1:43; a typical seven foot doorway works out to 1.95", which is 6.5 studs; which is hard to do. Making a stud an even foot makes seven studs tall 2.125", which works out to 1:39.5, or let's just say 1:40 scale, at the bottom of @Dodos622's range. So that is a good rule of thumb; my son and I made a model of our current railroad museum from blueprints before it was actually built, and that was the scale we used. It turned out just about right. Your assumption about trains is correct. The width and height of trains (known as the loading gauge) is not determined by the track width, but by clearances when going by things like station platforms, tunnels, and bridges. Ten feet/ten studs is indeed the average width of most standard gauge trains, the height varies depending on the loading gauge (or plate) you are using. BUT, most model railroad tracks have much tighter curves than real railroads. A full-length passenger car for example can look very awkward on a tight model railroad curve, with the center of the car hanging way over the inside of the rail, which also made it more likely to tip over. So, it was not uncommon for model railroad manufacturers to model passenger cars much shorter than reality, so they looked and tracked better on tight curves. Going a step further, Lionel trains should be 1:48 scale or O scale, based on the gauge of the track. But most of the pre-War Lionel tinplate and even some of the post-war Lionel trains were actually 1:64 (or S scale) for the same reason that LEGO trains are smaller than scale -- small tracks with tight curves. If you put a LEGO train next to an old Lionel tinplate train (like we have), you will see they are very close in size; a tinplate Lionel boxcar I have in front of me is six studs wide, 26 studs long, and has oversized trucks and couplers, just like LEGO trains. The fact that minifigs are not correctly proportioned aside, a stud per foot is just an easy way to scale LEGO creations based on drawings or blueprints. You just round everything up or down to the nearest foot, and count that many studs. The finished proportions also look pleasing next to a minifig.

[@survivingworldsteam]

@@JJJGGG538 yes, the cars that came out with the LEGO city sets were indeed HO scale, so they look correct on an HO Scale layout. Conversely, I have seen a LEGO City setup from the 1950s-1960s that incorporated a Marklin HO scale train layout. It looked good. My son was given boxes of random LEGO pieces that included doors, windows, and benches from the original LEGO City sets. I used to them make a station that duplicated an incomplete HO scale station I had on hand. LEGO Micro figures are roughly HO scale in height; so I populated it with Micro figures. I have a plastic tree that dates back to my childhood; looking back, it may have come from a friends LEGO City setup, or my memory may be correct, and I found on the ground somewhere. When I realized it came from the original LEGO City set, I added it to the station, the cars would have been perfect as well if I had some. I then placed the station with my son's LEGO layout on side and my HO Scale layout on the other, with the station facing my track.

[@mountstag]

This is a great video, very well made, i loved the ship part xD!

[@MrPolleyr]

The thing that bothered me the most is the different heights of floors in Lego buildings. You build two three story building’s and one is taller than the other? I realize that normal buildings can have 8 ft, 10’, or even 12’ ceilings. But it’s annoying when you start designing a MOC and discover it’s a midget compared to the building you we’re going to place it next to.😜

[@TommySkywalker11]

Except for single family homes and skyscrapers, ground floors are normally a higher ceiling than the rest, so that seems reasonable for them to do

[@WelcometoEuphoria]

I normally design my building MOCs to be 9 or 10 bricks high (+/- a plate or two) for the ground floor and about 7 to 8 (+/-) for the upper floors. Bearing in mind that a brick's height is 1.2 studs, that gives floor heights of about 12 feet and 9 feet (using the 1 foot = 1 stud scale). Also buildings usually have some depth to the joints and the floor itself. If you're designing a MOC it helps to consider its context and criteria, so if it is supposed to match the height next to a particular building then it's worth having a look at that first and designing to fit.

[@AminalCreacher]

The biggest issue with 10-stud trains on official Lego track is that Lego only makes curved tracks at a very tight radius. The larger the scale of your train, the sillier it will look around these unrealistic curves.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

My 8 wides already look quite silly! I did build a 10 wide steamer once, but it took 3 9v motors (1 on the engine, two under the tender) to power it, and even then it could only run at one speed: any slower and it got stuck on curves, and any faster it would flip.

[@ShootYourBricks]

*If you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing. Thanks!* *P.S. I think a meter would be slightly more than 3 studs.*

[@JuhanaSiren]

Meh, 1 stud = 30 cm is close enough.

[@PltOffPPrune]

If I'm building at minifig scale I aim for 1m = 3 studs, so that's less than 10% different from the 1' = 1 stud calculation

[@llcrulez3942]

Actually, metric is technically given exactly due to the Minecraft sets. In Minecraft 1 block is a cubic metre. In the Lego sets, one blog is 2 studs wide. Therefore, mini figures are roughly 275cm tall, or in Imperial about 9 foot tall. Now isn’t that a horrifying image.

[@GearsAndBricks]

Measured center to center across two studs = 8mm = 0.3125 in (5/16”). I’m from the USA, and can still testify that metric is so much simpler. Imagine skip-counting by 5/16” or .3125” … just- ouch. I’m really good at it now, though! (Remember that the distance across 3 studs from center to center = 2 studs = 5/8” = 16mm.)

[@pilotgroosum8314]

Great job, I misunderstood the start and thought you were measuring height of bricks, not width but you have a plate on its side.

[@CandFBrickfilms]

Great video, I’ve always wondered how minifigures compare to humans in terms of scale since a minifigure is proportionally much wider than a human

[@Giggles4692]

2 studs = 1 foot is a better scale

[@nosebleed7]

there is also the problem, that in lego the smallest measurement with "regular" pieces is 1 stud. you can go a bit smaller with some brick modified, special pieces or building techniques, but it still doesn´t translate to reality. like if you build the body of the car with 1 stud bricks it would mean 1 foot/30cm width of car body on either side, of course you are not going to be able to fit 2 minifigs, if you have to "waste" that much space... even something like windshields, if you assume 1/4 stud, it would still mean glass as thick as 1/4 foot or 7,5 cm when in reality its a fraction of that...

[@Zinochron]

didnt expect someone saying "good measurement system" and using the unit foot in the same context

[@putzidem]

I love the way how you calculate the length of the mini figure back to 1 stud = 1 foot. And it's true, if you literally look at the foot of the mini figure, it takes up 1 stud.

[@andrewphillips5771]

Very interesting video, I was curious about this topic.

[@TheAtoll]

I really enjoyed this!

[@ttlars6thunder576]

Very good reasoning. Great video!

[@YannickFilms]

Thought I would know more after this video, then he started talking about foot...😂💯

[@huszar1075]

Great video! Keep it up man!

[@Tulemasin]

I like the speed champions' scale for my city because it's focused on pedestrian areas and the cars look and feel awkwardly huge like they are in real life.

[@SophisticatedWaffle]

in my eyes, as long as a minifigure can use a build and not look incredibly small, its minifigure scale to me.

[@wolfox6954]

I believe most lego modelers go with S scale (or semi scale), which is scale used in train modeling. While things may not be accurate, they're big enough to look cool and close enough in scale where nothing is too jarring

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

Wait, isn't S scale 1:64? I feel like that would be way too small.

[@survivingworldsteam]

Both the old Lionel tinplate trains and the American Flyer S Scale trains were S Scale (1:64) in size, even though O Scale Lionel is supposed to be 1:48 scale. If you put the commercially available LEGO trains next to one of them, you will see that the size and proportions are pretty close. L Scale, the name given to LEGO scale trains whose scale is based on the track width, is 1:42 scale. LEGO train kits, like Lionel tinplate, were made smaller so that they looked and behaved good going around the tight curves that come with LEGO track, they are much, much, much tighter than actual railroad curves. Correctly scaled Lionel and LEGO trains are larger and look better, but have a hard time negotiating the tight curves on LEGO tracks, as my son is finding out.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

@@survivingworldsteam I was just confused at the use of S Scale, which is smaller then LEGO trains. Lionel O Gauge is pretty close though. It goes beyond just the tightness of the curves, compared to the track gauge, most LEGO trains would need to be 10 studs wide to be accurate! I've gone with 8 myself, not counting piston rods and the like. And yes, if you try and correctly scale passenger cars in terms of length, they really don't like standard LEGO curves (and especially switches!) Even my 52 stud passenger cars already have difficulties sometimes, and they are only about 75% the accurate length.

[@survivingworldsteam]

@@scottthewaterwarrior to try to resolve the confusion, I have a Lionel 1679 tinplate boxcar here. Measuring it with LEGO studs, it is about 7 studs wide and 25 studs long. If I then place this same boxcar next to an S Scale American Flyer boxcar, you will see it is the same size. So even though Lionel is technically O scale, many of their offerings were closer to S scale. American Flyer did the same thing in tinplate, and finally decided to come out with their true S Scale two rail track after World War II, rather than continue compete directly with Lionel in the O scale arena. Lionel collectors know that Lionel played fast and loose with the concept of scale over the years, offering some products that were a true O scale, and others that were smaller. If Lionel can "get away with that", so can we. As you have done, scaling them down a bit makes them work better on switches and tight curves, the same reason Lionel did.

[@Brickman.cinema]

Great video and great idea! Scale is so important in regards to designing anything. As an architecture student this was super interesting

[@survivingworldsteam]

We made a model of our railroad museum before it was actually built from the blueprints we had, to give visitors an idea of what it will look like. We too used @ShootYourBricks scale of one stud equals one foot and rounded everything to the nearest foot. I used commercial stick on letters to do the lettering on the front of the museum and fudged the windows slightly to use the available windows we had. It turned out amazingly good.

[@speedybrick]

Agree with you regarding the small cars, minifig scale differs depending on how you measure length or width. I think the new 8 wide speed champions are great with lots of nice buildings techniques and more accurate design but they are not minifig scale. I have been using 1:27 scale for mocs recently. Ideally we would have a taller minifig with bendable arms and legs so they fit scale wise. 5 and 7 wide is actually a better fit for the available wheel sizes (one of the size constraints) more of a challenge to make (I’m just finishing a 1:27 scale 7 wide Land Rover moc with 30 high wheels )

[@zealot777]

I've always estimated a minifig (if human) to be 5'-6" height. That's always worked out in my Mocs.

[@sh1nxus990]

underrated channel! new subscriber.

[@J4R0D]

Thats why the Adventurers car seat piece is the best lego car piece for fitting minifigures

[@taqresu5865]

As other people have pointed out Minifigs don't cleanly fit into the 1 foot per stud ratio, and large part that's because of the proportional sizes of the Minifig's body.

[@squishyazalea9970]

I think Jay and Nya’s evo race car is the closest to being correct from an official set, not as big as speed champions, still sits 2 figures side by side

[@twobee-1654]

"So one stud is one foot" it's almost like one lego foot fit's perfectly on one stud

[@joe1205]

Their proportions aren't right to a normal human. They're either too wide or too short. Minidolls have better proportions, but I don't know anyone who prefers them.

[@3Y3ECE]

I grew up with lego's, as I am sure many have... I find it fascinating how many different ways people go about building the things they choose to build... This scale question has bothered me a long time, and I came up with a very similar answer. Your scale is as accurate as lego allows it to be, but, the proportion of the minifigure are completely skewed as well. We have to use tricks like you've done for your car, so they can sit the way you want them to... Solid video, thanks!!

[@BrokeLego]

with this information, I can finally build a minifigure scale planet!

[@Pigness7]

Clearly we should measure based on lego minecraft where 2 studs is a meter

[@onewiththestud]

this was very imformative and a question ive been pondering recently

[@Rocka5438]

i think minifig scale ranges anywhere from 1:35 to 1:40, minding that you dont count in studs and go off actual measurements

[@siegebrickstudios4828]

Using Chase McCain in the thumbnail. Immediately subscribed

[@tyeklund7221]

You also have to consider that mini figs would be nearly 3-4 feet wide at this scale. Each foot takes up one stud plus their arms. The only conclusion is mini figs are extremely short

[@AngusAngus]

I really like the in-depth look. I think about this all the time.

[@richardpalmer3998]

I was thinking about this the other day. A standard car should be 5 studs wide. But windows and axles don't lend themselves to this. I'm a massive fan of models that manage to get minifigs sat next to each other. I'm thinking; 10197, 77017, 5988 + others that use this seat mould. Other than the fire station, I think this is an area where modulars with vehicles have been let down.

[@realbricksmocs]

My channel is uses a lot you have used in the video, I build my Cessna plane to the exact correct scale, I also like thinking 3 studs in LEGO = 1 meter. I loved the video thanks !!

[@SlothOfTruth]

"I mean, real cargo ships are supposed to be 78 studs..." Me:"Yeah, that makes sense-" "Wide." Me: 💀

[@alexbarrett3832]

So th e problem with minifigure scale isn't so much height as proportions. In scale modelling and toy soldier land we have a few systems for defining scale: eye height is the most common in wargaming, and lego figures are 35mm from floor to eye line. This equates to 1:48 scale. However they are much wider than a real person, with a much bulkier profile. This means that a 1:48 scale vehicle will always be too narrow to accommodate the right number of figures. Compare to model train sizes where lego had to be bigger than scale to fit with the figures!

[@NA-yx4wc]

Awesome video!

[@thatsnotright07]

to be fair i dont think they were going for realism as much as they were a toy but i do love how the community has used said toy for such awesome things as they had

[@Countryballs24992]

Nice vid bro❤

[@julienthijs1271]

As someone who is both in the lego and transformers fandom, i've learned that scale is more of a ... suggestion really XD If it feels "right" i'm usually fine with that.

[@bemusedpanda8875]

Lego should definitely consider 8 and 10 stud wide trains.

[@survivingworldsteam]

Besides the added brick count and cost, an exact scale train would have a hard time negotiating the curves in LEGO track. It would also look awkward, Lionel scaled down their prewar tinplate trains for the same reason.

[@JohnSmith-tc7ti]

Oh no. This could keep me up at night...

[@ahalfsesameseedbun7472]

To be fair the lego mach 1 is also a modified mach 1 meant for racing. So its been given a wider stance to help with balance and control.

[@TheExileFox]

There was several cars that let you put two minifigs side-by-side, such as some of the Dino Island vehicles.

[@amazingfireboy1848]

"Real Cargo Ships are supposed to be 78 studs..." _Well it's really not too far off-_ "... wide." _Oh._

[@michaelyoung7261]

Because minifigs are not proportional to a human, you need to adjust the proportions on what you want to model. Making it look good in lego is easier, but making something look good in proportion to a minifig? That’s where the master builders reside

[@k4productions]

The trains are look wide because of all the brake and other mechanisms and the stuff on the side of the wheels are called “bogies”

[@A..D..D]

Now I need to see a scale MOC Black Seas Barracuda .

[@callsignapollo_]

The thing with lego trains and the fixed size of the wheelsets vs how real trains do it is pretty simple to explain. As real life trains got bigger, outside-frame wheelsets became more common, and once diesels took over and boilers werent a limiting design factor, we could build trains to take advantage of the loading gauge better, which is why some early british diesels had that strange tubular look, they were the maximum size allowed by railway standards. We built heavier and wider trucks or "bogeys" and added more wheels to handle the weight rather than making the wheels bigger or the rail gauge wider.

[@xymaryai8283]

i love how with cars, you always specify the model, but then you just say "diesel locomotive" instead of a GP or SD

[@ShootYourBricks]

Lol. Like I said, I don't know anything about trains😅

[@sirtng]

Thing is mini figures aren’t to human scale either if 1 stud is one foot then they are 3 studs wide st shoulder and 5.5 tall. A speed champions car would at minimum need to be 7 studs wide inside to simulate any normal car

[@rocketbunny2677]

4:54 Hi a guy who know a bit too much about trains. The measurement you're referring to is called the track gauge, and for standard LEGO train tracks, it's actually 4 ft 8.5 in, not 5 ft. The width of 10 ft (technically 10 ft 3 in) that you mentioned is what we call the loading gauge. The loading gauge specifies the width and height of a rail vehicle, and it's separate from the track gauge. It's interesting to note that two countries can have the same track gauge but different loading gauges. For instance, if you're building a MOC of a British train, it would be narrower (9 ft 3 in or 9 studs) compared to an American one (10 ft 3 in or 10 studs) due to these differing loading gauges, even though they both run on the same standard gauge track. (Yes, I did use ChatGPT to fix my comment. I like to write but comments aren't my strong suit.)

[@thisissketchy9339]

As far as cars go, 7 studs is the perfect width for LEGO cars, fits 2 figs easily and with recent introduction of 1x5 stud plates, that's a lot easier to achieve than before

[@amalgamorthefallenking]

this was actually a nice video i swear i heard somewhere that Lego was 1/40th scale, if not at least the closest

[@SeaBeast4Life]

I have a shelf display thats set up as a city street corner with a couple of modular buildings, minifigures everywhere, new road plates for streets and 8 stud Speed Champion cars on the street, they don't look too big. I set the road plates up as each plate being one lane so the cars fit perfect amd the perspective looks pretty realistic, they go great with modular buildings.

[@dillpickle7633]

You just reminded me of my first lego set from 2013 that my dad got me when I was 4 camper set 60057 such good memories

[@PinguinPascal]

Great video, enjoyed your thoughts about the scale issue! What do you think about the scale of 4 wide classic Town cars compared to LEGO set buildings and houses? If I could give you a tip it would be to include the metric system as well, it will attract more audience.

[@derrickbonsell]

I have that car on the left, lost a few pieces but found them all last week.

[@NowhereMan260]

Actually, Standard gauge track in the United States is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. 5 foot gauge is considered broad gauge and actually was the The gauge that the South used during the Civil War period.

[@survivingworldsteam]

But three and a half inches is not much. There were some steam locomotives that were built for five-foot gauge that were supposed to be shipped to the Soviet Union during World War I. When the Communist Revolution took place, the locomotives were never shipped, and were adapted to our standard gauge by using wider tires, they were bought by the Frisco a few others. Search "Russian Decapod" for more details.

[@Boxttell11]

This is exactly why my lego cars are 5 blocks wide

[@mr.einsteinofficial]

In my mocs i use 1/33 to 1/35 when i design minifig-scale. I took it from my favourite designer The Darth Designer.

[@christophstahl8169]

You could just look up the scales for the different types of lego figures - the community has extensive material on the subject. The minifigure comes in at 1:43 by height or 1:25 by width. Since those are very different, if you build anything to scale, no scale will feel quite right. And cars are always to tall if you try to build them in minifigure scale, so most just build them bigger.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

I tried building 10 stud wide trains once, it was a massive investment in parts and didn't run well at all. Switched over to 8 wide and you can build some really amazing looking models that still run quite well (especially when you "cheat" and lubricate the axles). Though they are technically 10 wide counting handrails and the pistons on my steamers, but the main frame is 8. Though I also build my road cars 8 wide, so that means the trains look too small in comparison, but I'm like 15+ years, so a bit late to change now.

[@Feelthebricks]

I usually think 4 stud is 1 meter. so minifig scale cars are actually 7 stud wide, because most cars are 1,75 meter width. But i still build a car MOC with 6 stud wide, because it saves money and pieces.

[@ToxicAtom]

A lot of people don't count the fenders and wheels when discussing the scale of Lego cars because of the way lego cars are proportioned. Also, due to the nature of Lego being a brick-based system, that means the "walls" of your vehicle are essentially a foot thick. I don't know about any cars you've driven, but my car certainly doesn't have 12-inch-thick doors.

[@TheOtherGuys2]

And then there's airplanes. Lego's passenger jets tend to be either six or eight studs wide (fuselage, not wingspan), but as an example, a Boeing 767's fuselage is nearly 16 feet wide. Of course it also seats seven across with two aisles.

[@lyricaltherapy6293]

Lego minifigs are now canonically 4 feet wide due to their arms

[@jffishing4859]

1:49 this takes me back

[@DREDD_BOT]

That's why I use mega blok action figures with my Lego car mocs

[@Pseudo548]

“Some people like it big, and some people like it small.” agrees.

[@SirSamuel_Smith_Squirrel_TheIV]

How I see it is I put them in different scales, personally I’m not a minifig scale guy, since it’s to hard to make so I just separate them into Minifig scale( usually hard to build) and city scale( downsized or slightly upside, but good enough)

[@ShootYourBricks]

Yeah, the smaller the car, the harder it is to make it detailed.

[@BruhOmeter-_-]

Fun fact! Lego was actually first made for architecture and if you compare it to other techniques it actually fits with 1/4" : 1' scale :D

[@EvanMoon]

Very interesting video.