When previously talking about Asian figures, the subject of height came up. Japanese are in fact shorter than Europeans and Americans (due to diet, etc.). This came up when trying to figure out putting Hornet's Asian heads upon figures in Western clothes, and it was discovered that it would create overtall Asian figures. So, with figures from different companies being of different heights in some cases, I came up with this calculation:

1) Measure the figure height in centimeters, adding leg, torso, and head heights.

2) For 1/35 figures, multiply by 35 to get the total centimeter height.

3) To get inches, divide by 2.5, and to get feet, subtract 12 inches per foot until you get so many feet and less than 12 inches.

Grade school stuff, I know, but useful if you want actual heights of figures.

Examples include:

Tamiya Famous Generals: figures calculate to 5' 5.8"; whether these people were that height I don't know.

Fine Molds Tank Figures: figures calculate to 5' 3"; at least they have the right average Japanese height. (Unfortunately the Masterbox Japanese Navy figures are nicely detailed but unacceptably tall.)

Dragon and Zvezda figure kits: samples I've taken shown them to represent 5' 10" heights.

A triviality? Maybe, unless you want to depict specific people at their proper size.

While asians of the 1940's may have 'averaged' 5'3" or whatever, there would still have been some that were taller.

I do remember reading, decades ago, a book by Pearl S, Buck (don't remember the title) where she describes Chinese as comparatively tall while Japanese were short.

Heights may be based on genes and/or environment, but are only true as "averages" - individuals may be taller or shorter. To take a famous example, Admiral Nelson was 5'6" (an average height for the time) but Captain Hardy was a whopping 6'4"! Having toured the Victory (and being 6' tall) I wonder how on earth he managed? No doubt he wore a crash helmet below decks...

Tom