Dollhouse Miniatures 1:12 Scale,1:24 Scale OR Others – Some Insights

While using dollhouse miniatures 1:12 scale is most common in the miniature world and most interesting for collectors, there are all kinds of sizes and scales. Before you decide which scale of dollhouse miniatures you are going to buy or build, you should determine what skills you want to apply or what your collection is going to be about.

UPDATE Feb 2023: By the way, I have now a scale conversion tool on the homepage of my website, but also below.

Convert any measurement in a known scale into another known scale.

Convert in scale

to in scale
=

This will help you figure out the measurements from one scale to any other scale, in cms, but also inches! Handy no?


But let’s dive into the topic of the difference between dollhouse miniatures 1:12 scale and 1:24 scale and others.

 

1:6 dollhouse scale.

This scale is used for children’s dollhouses and figures and furniture to play with, like Barbie or Action figures. Meaning that 1 inch is equivalent to 6 inches in full size. An adult male doll would be 12 inches tall and doorways 15 inches. There are some miniaturists that use this scale, but I haven’t seen any yet, have you?

Re-Ment, a Japanese company that produces plastic toys, also uses this scale for its miniatures toys.

 

1:12 dollhouse scale.

As I said before, this is the most used and bought scale in the miniature world as hobby crafting or collecting. That means that it is the most available on the market to purchase. And if you buy dollhouses magazines, watch dollhouse TV, or YouTube clips about making dollhouses or miniatures, it will mostly be on this scale.

I have done some research on how this happened in history and it seems it got accepted as the standard scale because Queen Mary’s dollhouse was built on this scale.

By the way: WOW, have a look at her house, there are over a thousand miniature objects in it! (watch the video below):

On a 1:12 scale, doorways will be 6 to 7 1/2 inches tall or larger, and the adult dolls between 5 inches and 6 inches tall.

This scale is not popular though for collectors of miniature trains or cars etc, so those are kind of hard to find in that niche. Some more details of Queen Mary’s dollhouse, you can read in my blog post about the most famous and/or expensive dollhouses in the world.

 

1:16 dollhouse scale- also known ass 3:4 scale.

An adult male doll would be 4 1/2 inches tall and a doorway would be 5 3/4 inches to 6 1/2 inches high.

One inch on this scale equals 16 inches on a real item.

This was a very common scale in the mid -1930s to the 1950s.

The only places that I found these miniatures are these companies: Petite Princess, Marx, Tri-ing, and Brinca Dada toy company.

Petiteprincess

 

1:18 dollhouse scale -also known ass 2:3 scale.

These are not very different from the 1:16 scale. Swedish Lundby dollhouses are all in this size (they have been around for almost 70 years ! ). They are often furnished with 1:16 scale furniture.

I have written about Lundby in other articles. In this one, I describe what exactly the Lundby dollhouses are (I love them by the way) and in this blog post, I am showing you where to get these if you are interested in collecting them.

Lundby dollhouse

 

1:24 dollhouse scale.


The male dolls on this scale would measure between 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches, while doorways are between 3 to 4 inches.

In the play world, this scale is used for Playmobil houses and furniture and accessories. It is also available for die-cast car collectibles, so street scenes are easier to make with this scale than on the 1:12 scale.

1:24 scale is in the artisan miniature world not so widely made or available, it is kind of a niche, although it is getting more and more popular. As I have seen on AliExpress and Amazon with some wonderful dollhouses kits. Little ‘room boxes’.

UPDATE: In the meantime, I made a few dollhouse miniature kits myself on a scale of 1:24, read about it here.

The big advantage there is that they don’t take as much room either as the dollhouse kits on a 1:12 scale. This would be ideal for when you live in a small house or apartment. Then you wouldn’t need a craft table saw either because the walls and such are already made.

1:48 dollhouse scale, also known as ass Quarter scale miniatures.

This scale is getting popular also for dollhouses in the UK and some parts of the United States.

Railroad building parts made for railroad buildings are being used for quarter-scale houses. It is also called the ‘O’ scale.

It is a scale that is used by gamers as well and their figurines or gaming buildings.

 

1:144 dollhouse scale.

Talk about tiny! I once had a gift from ‘Dollhouses Nederland’ magazine: a tiny house that I could put as a 1:12 scale dollhouse IN my 1:12 dollhouse. So you can definitely use those microscale houses in for example a children’s bedroom. Isn’t it cute?

 

Other scales.

  • 1:148 scale: British ‘N’ scale railway
  • and 1:160 scale: North American. A popular use for Christmas scenes.
  • In the picture below, you can see the different scales for model railway trains and maquettes, there are a lot of different ones

 

Final Conclusion.

This is just my opinion: I think that, whatever scale you choose, you should definitely keep in mind that not every scale is available for collectors or artisans miniaturists. Although some professionals aim for expertise in a particular scale or niche.

Which one do you prefer? I love the 1:24 scale for miniature kits ( I could NOT make the parts myself, it would be way too tiny to cut out with the craft table saw ).

To make them myself from scratch, I really prefer the most common dollhouse miniatures 1:12 scale, because then I can still buy ornaments that I can’t make myself, to really put my dollhouse FULL of stuff. It is so much fun to just look at everything and fantasize about the ‘people’ living in it 🙂

Do you have any questions or comments? You are very welcome to post them under this article!

Also, if you prefer to discuss this with me, or others, you are free to join my Facebook group or Youtube channel! Feel free to share this article with your friends!

I wish you happy crafting!

Best regards,

Lizzy

17 thoughts on “Dollhouse Miniatures 1:12 Scale,1:24 Scale OR Others – Some Insights”

  1. I love a doll house, I do not care if I am older now. It such a nice thing to have and you get to move things around and imagine it is your place. I used to be obsessed with Polly Pocket too, not sure if it is still around. Thank you so much for your review on all the doll house scales, they are so adorable!! Very affordable too and the best part is it is from Aliexpress which I shop regularly. Can’t wait to get my hands on them.

    Cheers!

    Reply
    • hi Nuttanee!,

      It sure is suitable for any age, it really doesn’t matter how old you are 🙂 . Thank you for your nice review and keep playing ! Oh yes, Polly Pocket is still on the market 😉

      Reply
  2. Now I know where my playmobil collection fits! It is very interesting to know the type of scale now that I see that there are many since for example when I want to buy some accessories of other things I can do it knowing the scale and in this way everything will coincide!

    I showed my daughter’s doll houses and she loved it, so now let’s look a little on Aliexpress where you’ve seen this.

    These doll houses come to put everything together? How do they get from China?

    Do you have any brand to recommend?

    Thank you very much for the review.
    regards
    Pablo

    Reply
    • Hi Pablo !

      Thank you very much for responding to my article and yes it is good to know which scale your playmobile is in 😉 . And yes these come from China on AliExpres, I believe they get shipped, not sure if they come by airplane or not. Yes these ones they come in premade kits that you can assemble together, I will write a new article(s) about these soon, also to be found on Amazon etc. So keep an eye on my website !

      Reply
  3. Thanks for writing this article on dollhouse miniatures 1:12 scale or 1: 24 scale or others-some insights. It was very informative. You have awesome pictures too.
    I really loved the dollhouse that was in the 1:144 scale. Do you know if there are any companies that make outside furniture for this scale? I would love to get a house and some furniture too in this scale.

    Reply
  4. I’m hoping Santa will bring me a dollhouse this year! I’m 60 years old and on recent disability but I’ve always loved to craft! I am so happy I found your article about scale options since I just noticed there’s a difference. I look forward to learning much, much more!

    Reply
    • Hi Liza!
      You are very welcome and if you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to ask and I will see what I can do;-)
      Also, there are a lot of tutorials already on my site, and I will ad much more in the future 😉
      Happy crafting!
      Lizzy

      Reply
    • Hi Monet,

      That is a good question and I had to look it up.
      Wikipedia is telling me that the size has been changed over the years. So if you could find out how old the ones are that you have, that would be helpful.
      But I would assume that the dolls are 3 inches (if I read that well) and thus these would fall into the category of 1:24 scale.
      But don’t shoot me if I’m wrong lol!
      Thank you for your question,
      Kind regards,
      Lizzy

      Reply
  5. Thanks so much for this post. I was just reading on the Lundby website that their scale is 1:18. Do you think it’s changed over time?

    Reply
    • Hi Bailey!
      You’re welcome!
      That is new to me, the scale of Lundby having a 1:18 scale, I should change that then as I thought it was 1:16 🙂
      Anyway, if you want to find suitable furniture and such, you can probably not see much difference between the pieces of 1:18 or 1:16, as far as scale is concerned.

      I honestly have no clue if this has changed over time,
      All my best to you,
      Lizzy

      Reply
  6. I have just had a dolls house made in 1/30 scale bought for my birthday.do you know what the basic dimensions are for the doll and basic furniture needs to be I have never come across this scale before
    Your advice would be appreciated .Cath

    Reply
    • Hello Catherine,

      I have never come across that scale either, so I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. Maybe someone in my Facebook group can help you out?
      Also, I am planning on implementing a scale converter on my website in February this year. Hopefully, that will help a lot of people with scale issues 🙂
      Kind regards,
      Lizzy

      Reply
  7. Hi Lizzy,
    Thank you for the information you have provided. I have been trying to make a 1/12 scale “wing back” chair type. When I go by measurements of real chairs they seem to be larger than the miniature chairs you buy. Is this just a case of upholstered chairs coming in a variety of sizes?
    Thanks. Sandra (Australia)

    Reply
    • Hi Sandra!
      You are welcome!
      About your question, I’m not quite sure about the answer sorry. But I would imagine if making the upholstery to large, that it would show in miniature size.
      thanks!
      Lizzy

      Reply

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