Free miniature / terrain builder scale converter. Convert real-world dimensions into 28mm / 32mm tabletop, HO scale, 1:35 or 1:48 model sizes, plus how many foam-board layers you need to stack.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software
Use when building scale terrain — castle walls, cliffs, dungeon corridors. The foam-layer count is the practical "how many sheets do I cut?" answer.
Most scale converters target railroad modelers. This one adds tabletop gaming scales and a foam-layer counter.
Convert any real-world dimension to your model scale by dividing by the scale ratio (e.g., 1:60 for 28mm tabletop).
Foam-layer count is the scaled height divided by foam thickness, rounded up.
HO scale (1:87) is the standard for model railroads — handy for building modular dungeon tiles.
Roughly 1:60 (a 6-ft tall miniature is 28 mm). Slightly heroic — 32mm scale (1:56) gives chunkier proportions.
Walls and cliffs are usually built by stacking foam sheets. Knowing the count helps you cut materials.
28mm heroic scale is roughly 1:56, so divide the real-world dimension by about 56. A 6-foot (1828mm) doorway becomes roughly 33mm tall on the table.
They are close enough that terrain often works for both, but figures placed side by side will show a noticeable height difference. Pick one scale for characters that need to look consistent and reserve the other for scenery.
Input
Real height 30 ft, 28mm tabletop, 12 mm foam.
Output
152.4 mm in scale. 13 foam layers.
30 ft × 304.8 mm/ft = 9,144 mm real. Divided by the 1:60 ratio of 28mm scale = 152.4 mm. At 12 mm per foam layer, you need 13 stacked sheets.
Scale converts a real-world dimension to a model one by a fixed ratio, but the common miniature labels are heights rather than true ratios — "28mm" describes the approximate eye-to-foot height of a human figure, not a division of reality. Manufacturers differ on where they measure, which is why 28mm figures from two ranges frequently do not match.
That is the origin of "heroic" proportions: bodies scaled one way and heads and hands another, so details read at tabletop distance. It means a strictly scaled prop can look wrong beside the figures it is meant for.
Buildings and terrain scaled exactly to figure scale usually play badly — a correctly scaled doorway is too narrow to move a based figure through, and a correctly scaled room does not hold the models a scene needs. Practical terrain is built oversized on purpose.
Material thickness has the same issue at small scales. The foam thickness input exists because a wall built from stock foam is scale-inaccurate by definition, and knowing by how much lets you decide where to cheat.
Six feet divided by 28 millimetres is 1:65, but every terrain converter says 28mm is 1:60. The gap is a measurement convention, not a rounding error — and it decides whether your buildings sit right next to your miniatures.
A "two-story building" means a completely different physical size on a wargaming table, a model railroad, and a diorama shelf. The ratio arithmetic that turns real-world feet into miniature millimeters — and into foam-board layers.
Capes, skirts, armor → yards / meters needed.
Maker & workshopScale a custom paint recipe to your army size.
Maker & workshopNote divisions in ms / Hz for any tempo.
Maker & workshopMold dimensions → resin volume, weight, and cost.