The base IS full size, but the harp area is narrow. this is the same way the White 77 and Domestic 153 are. They also put a big nose cone on this one (to hide the light), but the distance from needle bar to flywheel is shorter than a standard machine. On the bigger machines, the base is the same but the flywheel sticks out past the base end. and then the cover base usually has some sort of storage on the end to make up for the difference. On a lot of "new" machines, the base has all the electronics on it, so it takes up way more room. Would be interesting to take some measures of the needle to flywheel, as even though they seem "small" its due to the larger pillar and not shorter machine.