I'm going to order a new range of metals for the shop but the packages I have a choice of are imperial or metric, I'm guessing imperial is more popular?
Imperial or metric?
- Thread starter John
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LOL in ye olde worlde maybe.
its a lot simpler to work out scale in millimetres
Ian M
its a lot simpler to work out scale in millimetres
Ian M
Lol true\ said:
I'd go with metric too as Ian says it's easier to work out the scale.
Vaughan
Vaughan
G
Metric hopefully with out centimetres ie metres & millis.
Matter of interest in 1958 or there abouts the government of the day decided to go metric within 2 years. Bought all my metric scales & they lay for 30 years untouched. Do not think it is official even now. EU missing a trick here ?
Laurie
Matter of interest in 1958 or there abouts the government of the day decided to go metric within 2 years. Bought all my metric scales & they lay for 30 years untouched. Do not think it is official even now. EU missing a trick here ?
Laurie
I am still an 'imperial' man.... as for this foreign metric muck:ranting2:
Also inches can be very confusing. English Inches, Danish ones or US inches. Imperial clears that up but how many times do you see 6 ½ imperial inches. it will just say 6½"
Metric might be eurotwaddle but it does clear things up. See how things went with the ISS the bits built in the US dint match up with the bits in Europe due to an oversight. Some one forgot that US inches are different Imperial ones.... lol
Ian M
Metric might be eurotwaddle but it does clear things up. See how things went with the ISS the bits built in the US dint match up with the bits in Europe due to an oversight. Some one forgot that US inches are different Imperial ones.... lol
Ian M
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Up the imperial revolution but in truth John meteric is your way forward
G
I beelive US inches are the same as UK inches (25.4mm) , its gallons etc that are different. Personally I can work in both but I prefer 4 mm rather that 5/32" 
G
i work in a builders merchant and have to work with both (usually at the same time) but metric is far easier to work with.
It looks like metric it is, thanks for the feedback I must say I find it easier working in metric
G
Another vote for metric from me
G
Here in South Africa we work in Metric, but I work in the aviation repair indusrty. It becomes realy interesting when you work with planes from the UK with 4,5 liters per gal and speed of MPH, the US planes are 3,78 liters for a gal, all bolts in inches , speed in Kts and then the planes from France/Italy and east block with all metric stuff. The Russians also have speed in K'ph and the altimeter in meters, not feet!
The planes weights are generaly given in Lbs, but the Civil Aviation Authorities want it in KG!
Great times LOL!
I do have to say it is interesting to see the US military using "meters" when they talk about field artilary ranges.
Theuns
The planes weights are generaly given in Lbs, but the Civil Aviation Authorities want it in KG!
Great times LOL!
I do have to say it is interesting to see the US military using "meters" when they talk about field artilary ranges.
Theuns
G
I can't help but get a faint smile, whenever I see one of these metric v Imperial debates, since, at the age of 7, I and my classmates, in a small village school, were considered capable of coping with learning both systems at the same time; why are today's schoolchildren unable to cope?
The laugh is that I remember being told, by a Frenchman schoolteacher, that the whole metric system is based on a false measurement of the world's circumference, so a metre shouldn't be the length that it is.
Ever wondered why water has a specific gravity of 1.0? A gallon weighs 10 lbs, and a gallon of white spirit, at an S.G. of .76, weighs 7.6 lbs.
A mile is the distance you can walk in a quarter of an hour; market towns are an average of 7 miles apart because that was the distance an oxcart could travel in a day; the top joint of an average man's finger is 1 inch; a yard is the distance from your nose to the tip of your middle finger, with your arm stretched out to the side (makes measuring cloth a doddle.) Fancy a 10-month year? Or a 10-day week? How about working 8 hours in a 10-hour day, then? How about an hour of 100 minutes? All of these were tried, and got nowhere; just because we have 10 fingers and toes doesn't make it a natural number to use.
Before the Witchfinder General is called out, to deal with me, I see no problem in using both systems. As an example, though, the Spitfire's wheel track is 185.4cm, or 73"; I know which I would prefer to divide by 72, should I contemplate a 1/72 kit.
Edgar
The laugh is that I remember being told, by a Frenchman schoolteacher, that the whole metric system is based on a false measurement of the world's circumference, so a metre shouldn't be the length that it is.
Ever wondered why water has a specific gravity of 1.0? A gallon weighs 10 lbs, and a gallon of white spirit, at an S.G. of .76, weighs 7.6 lbs.
A mile is the distance you can walk in a quarter of an hour; market towns are an average of 7 miles apart because that was the distance an oxcart could travel in a day; the top joint of an average man's finger is 1 inch; a yard is the distance from your nose to the tip of your middle finger, with your arm stretched out to the side (makes measuring cloth a doddle.) Fancy a 10-month year? Or a 10-day week? How about working 8 hours in a 10-hour day, then? How about an hour of 100 minutes? All of these were tried, and got nowhere; just because we have 10 fingers and toes doesn't make it a natural number to use.
Before the Witchfinder General is called out, to deal with me, I see no problem in using both systems. As an example, though, the Spitfire's wheel track is 185.4cm, or 73"; I know which I would prefer to divide by 72, should I contemplate a 1/72 kit.
Edgar
G
Yes, I'm smiling faintly too
Today's children are perfectly able to cope with learning both systems, they're not a different species whatever us oldies may think, it's just pointless teaching a redundant system
I too was taught both but only ever use decimals as they work better for me, something to do with my engineering background maybe, or maybe because measuring things by your finger-length or how far you can walk in a day is no longer relevant, harking back to the "good old days" is very satisfying but rarely helpful in my opinion
I think the metrics win, so those are the one I got from Albion Alloys
I voted Metric as it is,as has been said,the way of the future.
I dispute scale being easier to calculate in millimetres. Popular modelling scales are based on the Imperial system. 1/48 is a quarter inch to a foot for example,hence often 'quarter scale' across the pond.1/72 is an inch to six feet.
The truth is I'm of an age when I'm comfortable with both.
Cheers
Steve
I dispute scale being easier to calculate in millimetres. Popular modelling scales are based on the Imperial system. 1/48 is a quarter inch to a foot for example,hence often 'quarter scale' across the pond.1/72 is an inch to six feet.
The truth is I'm of an age when I'm comfortable with both.
Cheers
Steve
G
Is that why such seemingly odd scales as 1/48 and 1/72 are used rather than, say, 1/50 and 1/100 (though I gather the latter of these used to be more popular)?
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