What scale is a 16-inch Titanic model?

Our 16-inch Titanic model is roughly 1:662 scale.

The real ship was 882 feet 9 inches from bow to stern. That's 10,593 inches. Divide by 16 and you get 662.

So every inch of the model represents about 55 feet of the real thing.

At 1:662, a passenger standing on the boat deck would be about a tenth of an inch tall. Smaller than a grain of rice.

At 16 inches long, the whole ship fits in two hands. If you scaled yourself up to match — if the Titanic in your hands were the real one — you'd stand about 3,972 feet tall. Three Empire State Buildings, stacked.

Why not 1:660 instead of 1:662? Because the size came first.

Sixteen inches is what fits a bathtub and can still sink. I designed to that, and the scale is what fell out of it.

Model kit makers work the other way round – they pick a standard scale so their ships line up on a shelf with everyone else's. Mine isn't built for a shelf.

At this size the ship sits level, glides when you push it, and goes down slowly. Any smaller and the sinking happens too fast. Any larger and you need somewhere bigger than a bathtub to put it.