How do You Say 1:1?

[#1 model citizen]

I'm a bit puzzled over 1:1. Its great shorthand, but how do you say 1:1? 1:25 = one twenty fifth & 1:32 = one thirty second but what = 1:1? One oneth? Full size? Real? One colon one? What say you?

Edited October 25, 2017 by #1 model citizen

[Toast]

I'd just say "Full Scale".

[ChrisBcritter]

If you mean how to say it, I'd guess "one to one".

[Miatatom]

Down through the ages, great minds have contemplated this riddle. It is one one. Saying one oneth means 1 is a fraction of itself. Now I may be a fraction of the man I used to be but this is math. It's one one. Case closed.

[Richard Bartrop]

One to one.

[smhardesty]

One to one is correct.

[Belugawrx]

I agree Sir with your summation of the query

One One Say I

[Ace-Garageguy]

When 1/25 (one twenty-fifth), a fraction, is expressed as a ratio, 1:25, it's pronounced "one to twenty five".

Likewise, 1:1 is always pronounced as "one to one".

[Xingu]

Before I got back into building models, I would say "car" or "truck".

[Draggon]

Until the day of the interwebs I said "real". 

Good grief, "interwebs", I sound like Richard Rawlings. 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Draggon

[smhardesty]

And to expound, 1/4=2/8 when read as ratios would be, "one is to four as two is to eight".

[#1 model citizen]

[JohnU]

Before I got back into building models, I would say "car" or "truck".

I always thought 1:1 was kinda goofy referring to a real car or truck. After all, it’s not a “full size” plastic model.

[#1 model citizen]

I hope that you all are having some fun with this 1:1 topic. (That was my intention anyway.) As I read the responses I realized that although 1:1 is indeed a ratio, I have always expressed scale as a fraction & that is what made 1:1 seem peculiar to me. It still seems/sounds a little strange to read it as 1 to 1 in some texts. I will probably continue to think of 1:1 as real, full size or life size. 

I guess that would make 2:1 twice as big or larger than life!

Thanks to all you 1:1 people for making this topic 2:1

[#1 model citizen]

I always thought 1:1 was kinda goofy referring to a real car or truck. After all, it’s not a “full size” plastic model.

I agree! 

Edited October 26, 2017 by #1 model citizen

[#1 model citizen]

I'd just say "Full Scale".

I like this 1 !

[KENNEDYJR]

One one

[Mike999]

"One to one" here.  I sometimes search "1:1" on eBay, looking for the best known model kits in that scale - full-size scale model guns. 

AFAIK, the first 1:1 kits were done by Pyro and Revell in the 1950s. Most Geezer Modelers probably built a Pyro Western .44 or Revell Pepperbox pistol as a kid.

The idea really took off in the 1970s, when the Japanese company LS started releasing its 1:1 scale guns in ABS plastic.  LS did an incredible range, from Derringers all the way up to M-16s and AK-47s.  The models worked just like the real thing and came with brass-colored "bullets."

According to Mr. Internet, LS went out of business in 1987. That was shortly after ultra-realistic toy guns were banned in several countries.  After LS disappeared, some of its gun kits were re-issued by the companies Academy and Crown.  I went to Asia on several business trips in the 1990s, and those 1:1 gun kits were still being sold in hobby shops in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Not too many years ago, Lindberg re-issued the old Pyro 1:1 blunderbuss and flintlock pistol with a "Pirates of the Caribbean" tie-in.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I always thought 1:1 was kinda goofy referring to a real car or truck. After all, it’s not a “full size” plastic model.

It may sound "goofy" to you, but in the real world, that's sometimes exactly what it is. Engineers often refer to scale development or styling models as fractional sizes. 1/10 (one tenth) and 3/4 (three quarters) are old favorites.

My model here is 1/10 scale.   

But full-scale models (and full-scale models are regularly still built of many vehicles and products) are routinely referred to as "one to one" or "full scale" interchangeably. Maybe because I live in the world where the terms are used this way, it doesn't sound "goofy" to me.  

Below is the 1:1 model of the same vehicle under construction in my shop.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[#1 model citizen]

I know 1:1 (and larger such as statues) exists but I'm a hobbyist & it just sounds goofy to compare a 1:25 model to a "1:1" subject when that subject is real, not a full size scale model. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by #1 model citizen

[Ace-Garageguy]

I know 1:1 (and larger such as statues) exists but I'm a hobbyist & it just sounds goofy to compare a 1:25 model to a "1:1" subject when that subject is real, not a full size scale model. 

The original question was "how do you say 1:1 ?"

The answer is one-to-one. Goofy sounding to you or not, that's how you say it.   

 

[Fat Brian]

I know 1:1 (and larger such as statues) exists but I'm a hobbyist & it just sounds goofy to compare a 1:25 model to a "1:1" subject when that subject is real, not a full size scale model. 

Years ago we used to refer to 1:1 vehicles as "real" when discussing models but then some people got offended and claimed that models are real too so that is when the 1:1 thing started. I don't agree with it and feel it's needlessly pedantic but it seems to keep the peace.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Years ago we used to refer to 1:1 vehicles as "real" when discussing models but then some people got offended and claimed that models are real too so that is when the 1:1 thing started. I don't agree with it and feel it's needlessly pedantic but it seems to keep the peace.

I just can not understand what the argument is about. Far as I can tell, there are no language police trying to force anyone to call anything either "real" or"full scale" or "1:1".

We all know what the terms mean. so use whatever you're comfortable with.  

I tend to use them all pretty much interchangeably, somewhat dependent on context, and somewhat dependent on what flows well in the sentence or phrase.

Why, oh why, should there be any need for peacekeeping?   

And sometimes I refer to models as "little cars" and their real 1:1 full-scale counterparts as "big cars". So far, everybody seems to have understood the difference. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Rob Hall]

Another term I've heard for real cars when discussing models is 'prototype', but that word has another meaning when discussing real cars only (i.e. production cars vs prototypes). 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Another term I've heard for real cars when discussing models is 'prototype', but that word has another meaning when discussing real cars only (i.e. production cars vs prototypes). 

Excellent point.

"Prototype" is and has been just about forever the term of choice in the model railroad community to mean "full scale" "1:1" and "real".