BUILD NOTES / KIT REVIEWS... Please take a peek BEFORE you send a nastigram... (you know who you are)

Static model aircraft are primarily available commercially in a variety of scales from as large as 1:18 scale to as small as 1:1250 scale. Plastic model kits requiring assembly and painting are primarily available in 1:200, 1:144, 1:72, 1:50, 1:48, 1:32 and 1:24 scale, often depending on the size of the original subject. Die-cast metal models (pre-assembled and factory painted) are primarily available in 1:400, 1:200, 1:72, and 1:600, 1:500, 1:300, 1:250, 1:48. A variety of odd scales (e.g. 1:239) are also available but less common.

The scales are not random but are based on easy divisions of imperial measuring systems so that 1:48 scale is 1" to 4 feet, 1:72 is 1" to 6 feet. Even numbered scales are similarly based on metric systems. 1:72 scale was first introduced in the Skybirds wood and metal model aircraft kits in 1932. According to "Fine Scale Modeler" magazine, 1:72 was also popularized by the US War Department (renamed the Department of Defense) when it requested models of single seat aircraft at that scale. The War Department also requested models of multi-engine aircraft at a scale of 1:144. The War Department was hoping to educate Americans in the proper identification of aircraft. These scales provided the best compromise between size and detail. After WWII, the toy manufactures continued to favor these scales. More detailed models are available at 1:32 and 1:24. Some manufacturers introduced 1:50 scale and 1:30 scale. Japan offers 1:100. The French firm Heller SA is the only manufacturer to offer models in the scale of 1:125. Herpa and others produce promotional models for airlines in scales including 1:200, 1:400, 1:500, 1:600, 1:1000 and more. A few First World War aircraft were offered at 1:28 by Revell.

A number of manufacturers have made 1:18th scale aircraft to go with cars of the same scale. Aircraft scales have commonly been different from the scales used for military vehicles, figures, cars and trains - the armour equivalent of 1:72 was 1:76 and the rail version was 1:87 scale however the difference between the scales can be noticeable and so a small number of kits have been offered over the years that match these alternate scales, while there has been a growing tendency in recent years for smaller military vehicle kits to use aircraft scales. This has resulted in a substantial amount of duplication of the more famous subjects in a large variety of sizes, which while useful for forced perspective box dioramas has limited the number of possible subjects to those that are more well known.

Other less popular scales are 1:50, 1:64, 1:96, and 1:128; however, old models are often revived in these scales. Many older plastic models, such as those built by Revell do not conform to any established scale as they were sized to fit inside standard commercially available boxes. These kits are often called "box-scale" and are often reissued in their original, unusual scales.[2] Some helicopters used to be offered in 1:32 scale, similar to some fixed-wing aircraft models. The trend is to issue helicopters in 1:35 scale, similar to most land vehicle models.