Scale Collection Rules?

In my "model railroading" department, I can get away with the "close enough for government work" approach. For example, most people have no idea of the comparitive size of a Bell OH-13, and a 40' box car, so a 1/72 scale helo, in a 1/87 scale environment is acceptable.

In a more limited venue, say....WWII Naval vessels?........mixing scales, in the same "scene", is something I would not choose to do.

Rules?...........there are so many laws on the books, that we are probably breaking some, and becoming criminals, even before we are born!

I restrict my ships to 1/350 only...at least while I have the space for them. 

Generally 1/24-25 for cars/trucks

1/35 for armour and some helicopters

1/48 for my other aircraft, though I am considering dropping to 1/72 for the larger bombers I hope to get around to building one day. Some of those things are huge in 1/48!

Only "rule" I tend to follow is that I tend to build in the scale for which I have accessories and extras.  And one batch of those begets another.

Kind of the same way that scratch building or kit bashing tends to collect things in a given scale, so that's what you work in.

I have only one rule that I follow for my own work - it must fit in the bath tub for testing.  I build mostly radio control scale ships - the largest being a 1:48 scale 51" loa model of CGC TAMAROA, smallest being a 14" tugboat.  I did do some commission work on a radio control 1:48 scale FLETCHER class DD - she was almost 8' long.

As I stated, my own rules started when I was building 1/72 RAF aircraft. At the time, the only Spitfire Mk. I kit I had access to that was decent was the Heller kit. When I picked up that kit, it scaled out to 1/75. The most common Spitfire VB for me at that time was the Nichimo kit; 1/70. I believe Frog's Blenheim was actually between 1/75 - 1/80... you get the picture.

With model ships, it became more of a dillemma.  About the time I wanted to begin building a collection in a similar scale, Aurora was cutting back their production of 1/600 kits. There were the 1/600 Airfix kits as well at Art's Hobby Shop, but the Revell 1/570 battleships could be had far cheaper at the department stores. Then I discovered the joy of waterline models by way of Revell's 1/720 Prinz Eugen. Soon, I built all of the Revell 1/720 kits I could find (sans the USS Enterprise; I was primarily interested in World War II era vessels), and discovered the Japanese 1/700 kits. Still, some models could be had cheaper if I was willing to make some compromises. One was the Lindberg 1/768 Scharnhorst, which was carried by our long extinct local chain Pic-N-Save for the princely sum of $.77 USD. A few hours with sandpaper, files and a razor saw and voila... more or less. 

But even today, especially in sailing craft, there seems to be a real lack of scale coherence. Aside from Imai, the scales are frequently "box scale" or derived from older scales left over from wooden model manufacturers; 1/64 instead of 1/72, for instance. So, I try to keep my models in the ball park, so to speak, whenever I deal with collections.

Right now, my collection (that is being rebuilt) seems closest to 1/200, so that is the range I'm aiming at.

For now.

I use rules but also have exception to the rules.

Ship era and finished ship model size are determining factors. Sometimes comingling is allowable and sometimes it is not. 

Occassionally have to purchase a given scale to obtain a reasonably sized model of a given craft- not too large or small.

1/72 is a great scale for mtbs and smaller sailing ships but not anything larger. A 1/72 Fleet submarine from WWII is about 5' in length! Even a 1/72 Napoleonic Frigate is a 36"x36"  size model.

There are many 1/400 European navy kits balanced by many 1/350 Pacific rim naval kits. They do not appear badly side by side. But best if separated.

1/200 is great for submarines and maybe DDs and sailing ships but quite larger for WWI-II cruiser and larger warships.

I will say that 1/700 makes more sense once the built quantity edges towards a dozen. But I think I cannot go back now.

If you want to do a  development of sailing warships in plastic then it is a cross-section of scales:

1/100 Heller Victory, 1/150 Heller French 74, 1/200 Heller galleon, galleas, Belle Poule, Lindberg frigate, Revell 1/150 frigate, 1/22X frigate,1/22x Victory, Imai 1/150 Napoleon,...

What a mess!

There will always be exceptions. But I think once you starting displaying you find new areas around the house to place different scales.

my rules across the board are 700-720 ships

armor  72  and 35

here is the interesting part (to me )

single eng a-c 48 scale mutli eng  72 scale

and my rules apply only for storage /display space concerns

i think it also depends on the scale category 

ships in the 700 720 area are within 1/8-1/2 in of each other

but the larger the scale the worse things get

in the 350-400 scale it goes from 2-6 inches variance  which to some eyes  can be too noticable

When I was a kid, I didn't care what scale the model was in, just if the box art was cool or not.

But now i try to keep each genre in a corresponding scale so I can show to the casual observer their relative sizes. I try to keep ships at 1/350, military vehicles at 1/35, aircraft at 1/48, etc. I do allow a few exceptions, like the 1/72 subs.