Scale Rulers

FREE scale rulers

Tired of converting measurements from the real 1:1 scale world to your Lilliputian world? Try these free scale rulers. If for instance an article says you have to put your telegraph poles at 80 feet intervals, simply measure the distance in scale feet!

Right now we only made HO and N scale rulers and a couple of spin off narrow gauge rulers (HOn2 and HOn3). We may offer rulers for other scales, if there is any demand. Of course we won't know if there is unless you notify us! You'll find the address on the contact page.

We have a big ruler 33 cm, i.e. about 13 inches long) and a shorter one (27 cm, i.e. almost 11 inches long). Your choice should depend on the paper size your printer can handle.

Downloads
Big ruler HO-scale as TIFF- file (large, best) or as a GIF-file (small)
Short ruler HO-scale as TIFF- file (large, best) or as a GIF-file (small)
Big ruler N-scale as TIFF- file (large) or as a GIF-file (small)
Short ruler N-scale as TIFF- file (large) or as a GIF-file (small)
Big ruler 0-scale* as TIFF-file (large, best) or as a GIF-file (small)
Short ruler 0-scale* as TIFF-file (large, best) or as a GIF-file (small)

For our narrow gauge friends, we made these very special HOn2 and HOn3 rulers.

*Chuck Downing made the 0-scale adaptions.

Printing tips
The ruler should be printed vertically (as pictured) for best results. The TIFF-version has the highest quality, but the GIF will print just fine. On a good inkjet with decent (photo)paper, the prints should be pretty good.

However, if you print from MS Word, the GIF has to be reduced in size. The actual image has to be exactly 330 mm x 27.5 mm (for the big ruler) and 270 mm x 27.5 mm (shorter ruler).

Seal them!
You can glue the prints on thick cardboard or on a regular ruler. However, you could also use one of those sealing machines. That way the ruler is protected from moist hands and it remains a little flexible, which can be good.