Quote Originally Posted by SJS View Post
I may be misunderstanding your project here... but if the goal is to create a 3D globe with elevations to scale then the end result will be a completely smooth surface. The diameter of the earth is 12,742 km. The elevation of Mt. Everest above sea level is 8.848 km. This represents a deviation of 0.07%. If the entire globe were 3 ft. in diameter then Mt. Everest would be represented as an increase in height from the smooth surface of the globe of 1/40th of an inch.

Obviously this is assuming you're doing things to scale, which maybe wasn't your intention after all?
Well, you're not wrong! Doing everything to scale would be ideal, but since I don't really want to make a giant globe (and I still want to get the relief), I'll have to make some compromises
I plan to use the thinnest tracing or layout paper I can find to minimize the error...

Thanks for pointing it out, anyway! :-) If you have any other feedback on the matter, I'd love to hear it!