Miniature Scale Chart ~ 1:16 and 1:12 (Printables)

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Do you find yourself whipping out the calculator to convert miniature scales, only to find some crazy long decimal numbers as the result? Where on the ruler is 0.4375? If you get frustrated by this, I think you will find my dollhouse miniature scale chart for 1:16 and 1:12 very useful. Check it out below!

The biggest drag in miniature scale conversion

So you want to make a simple mini… say, a bookcase. All straight lines, should be fairly easy. You measure the 1:1 bookcase and it’s 80 inches tall. You want to make a 1:12 scale version. You divide 80 by 12 and get 6.666667 or 6 and 2/3 inches. That’s the height of the 1:12 bookcase–easy peasy!

Or so you think.

The problem is that your ruler has only 1/16″ increments. In fractions, not decimals. My algebra is rusty and I dread having to figure out which 16th is the closest to 0.66667. But I do it anyway, and it usually goes like this:

• Okay, I need to come up with 2/3 inch for a 1:12 scale. So let’s try 2/3 times 12. That’s 8.
• So is it 8/16 on the ruler then? That’s half, not two-thirds… Wrong.
• Let’s try 8/12. That’s 0.6667. Wait, I’m back to the original problem.
• Hold on… maybe I need to divide by 12, and then multiply by 16. Or is it divide by 16 and multiply by 12? What does 0.8888889 mean???????
• *Throw calculator at wall*

After getting a new calculator, I would do the good ol’ trial-and-error by testing which of 9/16 and 10/10 and 11/16 is closest to 0.666667.

Then repeat the process for the width and depth 😨🤯

There’s gotta be a better way!

I know I’ll be doing lots of measuring and converting to make minis. Instead of calculating and recalculating every darn time, why not just do it once and write it down as a reference? Put all frequent measurements there. Might as well do it for both 1:16 and 1:12 scales. And make it nice and neat!

So that’s what I did!

I made up a chart of common real-life measurements from 12 feet down to the smallest possible, line them up nicely in a table, put in the correct formula, and format the results as fractions to the nearest 1/16″ (or 1/32″ for the smaller measurements. Prefer metrics? These charts show the millimeter equivalents also!

Download the Miniature Scale Charts

Now all you need to do is simply pick the Letter-size format (best for US) or A4-size. Each file comes in two pages: one page for 1:16 and a separate one for 1:12, so you don’t accidentally mix up the scales because that would make us sad. Print double-sided and laminate, if you wish!

The scale conversion charts are downloadable here, and they’re also housed in my subscribers library with all my other files. (Psst… it’s free!)

if you need a ruler with 1/32″ indicators, this is a good option.

Frustrated no more!

When you’re ready to convert your mini measurements, you can easily refer to this chart. Want to make a sofa of 84-inch wide? Just look up 84 under the real-life column, and to the right you’ll see the converted measurement in 1:16 or 1:12, in inches and millimeters. Depth and height? Again, simply look up the 1:1 column and scroll right to get the scaled down version.

Now THAT is easy-peasy! You can almost throw away your calculator! But don’t, you might need it for other things.

I hope you find the dollhouse scale conversion charts useful ❤ If you find room for improvements, do let me know and I’ll do my best to add it!

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