Safari Ltd Nasutoceratops (2015) scaled to an adult human

Sizing Up Our Dinosaur Collection Part 1: What Scale is the Nasutoceratops (2015) from Safari Ltd

The first in an occasional series in which I explore the scale of the miniature figures in our prehistoric animal collection.

I love collecting dinosaur figures. I returned to the hobby a couple of years ago after a long time away and found it to be a relaxing way to escape real-world problems by time traveling back to another time and place. And I have found I'm not the only one. It seems almost everyone has a fascination for the gigantic beasts of the past.

A Nasutoceratops figure in front of an 11 oz. coffee cup.

A Nasutoceratops figure in front of an 11 oz. coffee cup.

When holding a dinosaur figure in your hands, it's only natural to try and imagine the full-size animal standing before you. This, of course, can be a complete guessing game if you don't know the relationship between the miniature and its life-size counterpart (its 'scale'). Manufacturers sometimes publicize the intended scales of their figures. But they do not always, leaving it up to collectors to figure out a figure's scale for themselves.

In this series, I will delve into the scale of each of the dinosaur figures in my collection, starting with the Nasutoceratops (2015) from Safari Ltd.

What is Scale?

Scale refers to the ratio that describes the difference in size between a miniature figure and its life-sized counterpart. For example, if a miniature figure is thirty fives times smaller than its life-size counterpart, it's said to have a scale of 1 to 35 (1:35). It can also be stated as a fraction- the figure is 1/35th the size or the original. Of course, the opposite is then also true- the life-size animal is thirty five times larger than the miniature. A simple way to visualize this is to imagine 35 identical miniatures lined up nose to tail in a straight line. Their total combined length would equal the total length of the full-size animal.

How is Scale Calculated


From Royal

Scientific drawings with ruler for scale

There are different approaches to calculating a figure's scale, every method depends on first having some idea of the animal's full-size dimensions. This information can usually be obtained through some quick research on the web. From there, it's just a matter of dividing one of these dimensions by the corresponding measurement on the miniature to calculate the scale. For example, if you know the established length of the life-size animal, you can measure the length of the figure and divide the former by the latter, with the resulting number representing the scale.

While using overall length can give you a good approximation, using that particular dimension to determine scale can sometimes be problematic as a figure in a life-like pose is often twisted and contorted making it difficult to measure its actual length. For this reason and others, some collectors will use the measurements for particular bones (usually skulls and leg bones) to work their calculations.

Safari Ltd Nasutoceratops (2015) with skeletal overlay.

Safari Ltd Nasutoceratops (2015) with skeletal overlay.

Using my method, I have determined that the Safari Ltd 2015 Nasutocertops figure is approximately 1/25th the size of the Natural History Museum of Utah (UMNH) VP 16800 holotype for the species described in the article found here https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.1186. This means that the life-size animal was approximately 25 times larger than the Safari Ltd figure, giving the Nasutoceratops miniature a scale of 1:25 when compared to the holotype.

Safari Ltd Nasutoceratops (2015) scaled to an adult human.

Safari Ltd Nasutoceratops (2015) scaled to an adult human.

From Royal

Nasutoceratops in the wild

External Links

Wikipedia - Nasutoceratops

Sampson, Scott D.; Lund, Eric K.; Loewen, Mark A.; Farke, Andrew A.; Clayton, Katherine E. (2013). "A remarkable short-snouted horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian) of southern Laramidia". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1766): 20131186.


Posted on 24-02-26 by Stunt Kitty Films in dinosaurs
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