Hi Rudi,

I thought I'd answer your question in regards to the kits I create. I can't answer for other companies though.

You really can't tell any difference in figure scale with Monroe Perdu kits. In my opinion, the building elements that will betray a scale are doors and windows perhaps. When I sculpt my masters, I try to keep a couple of things in mind: Even at 1/32 scale, people were smaller in stature when something like my North African Street would have been constructed. Therefore, I deliberately make my doors a little smaller than modern dimensions. The chance that a larger scale figure would look like a giant standing next to a door is less and a smaller scale figure looks completely normal. Windows could be a potential problem but I'm not sure in what setting they would betray scale. My table and chair kits do not look large for 1/35 scale figures and if you need to actually sit a figure in a chair, the chair legs can be cut to what amounts to 3% shorter. The other give away might be stair steps but I always allow for the fact that steps can fall into a range of dimensions and still be "correct" in real life. If you look at my article with the German officer standing against the wall, there is no way to tell if he is out of scale.
I think the only kit where scale might be a problem is my Parisian Bookseller Stalls. It's easy enough to find photos that show how high the wall is relative to people but I also have instructions in the kit for cutting the wall shorter if needed.
My new Italian Church has larger than life doors but it is a church and even a 1/32 scale figure looks small in front of the doors.
Some of my reasons for sculpting at 1/32 scale is that it opens my products to people who collect "toy soldiers" which are larger than 1/35. I'm talking about metal painted figures from Britains as well as plastic from 21st Century, Conte, and the new G.I.'s from Toy Soldiers of San Diego. The other big reason is that 1/32 or 3/8 scale is an architectural scale and it's easy enough to find an architects scale and dimension stuff if you want to scratchbuild and modify our products.
I'm sure someone's done a comprehensive scale figure comparison somewhere on the web and I wouldn't be surprised if some figures actually end up "crossing scales" more often than not.
Hope I didn't ramble too much here but it's a good question and maybe something I can address on my Articles page later on.
Mike
www.monroeperdu.com