discussion Help needed finding figures

[Gern]

Hi guys.

Some of you will have seen I've just bought a small batch of Zvezda 1/100 kits. I'm thinking of joining Ian's Corvid lock-down build with a small dio using some of them but I would like to include some figures.

Zvezda do some really nice little sets of figures which are supposed to go with these kits but they're in 1/72 scale - as they're designed for wargaming I guess the gamers aren't that fussed about scale.

I've seen some sets of generic civilian figures in 1/100 scale but nothing military. I'm thinking my best bet is likely to be 1/87 or HO scale. I know Preiser and Roco do sets which would be OK, still not to scale but much closer than 1/72 - but they're all from sites overseas. The postage - particularly from the USA which is generally more than the cost of the figures - makes the figures too expensive.

So, can anyone help with UK sources or alternative manufacturers please?

I have to say that I'm not interested in metal figures or those in 15mm scale. 15mm in 1/100 scale equates to only 1500mm - about 4ft 11in in real money - and I don't know of any armies with soldiers all less than 5ft tall!!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Gern
You do need 15mm war games figures, they are about 1/105. 15mm is measured as the distance from base to eye level.....don’t ask me why They will be about 18mm over all in height, which is 5’ 11”.
Try the Plastic soldier company if you don’t want metal figures.

 

[boatman]

HI Dave ive just bought 100 plastic model railway figures which I will covert to sailors to go on my tiger for £3.53p an I think on the site they do smaller figs or do you need them as military figs an not alter them like id if u want the site i'll try an find it up for you
chris

 

[Gern]

Hi Gern
You do need 15mm war games figures, they are about 1/105. 15mm is measured as the distance from base to eye level.....don’t ask me why They will be about 18mm over all in height, which is 5’ 11”.
Try the Plastic soldier company if you don’t want metal figures.

That's seriously weird! Why do they measure them like that I wonder? So 15mm it is then. Thanks Tim

 

[Gern]

HI Dave ive just bought 100 plastic model railway figures which I will covert to sailors to go on my tiger for £3.53p an I think on the site they do smaller figs or do you need them as military figs an not alter them like id if u want the site i'll try an find it up for you
chris

I've seen similar figures Chris. Alas, I don't got the skills to convert such tiny figures. I was mistaken about the size of 15mm figures (see Tim's post above) so it looks like that's what I'm going for. Thanks for looking though.

 

[Gern]

I checked out the Plastic Soldier Co as suggested Tim. I'm well pleased! I managed to get both Russian and German figures and decals.

Ta muchly!

 

[Guest]

That's seriously weird! Why do they measure them like that I wonder? So 15mm it is then. Thanks Tim

It’s the traditional way to measure figure size in millimetres. I don’t know the history behind it, but I suspect it’s because the widely varying heights of headdress worn can make it hard to measure accurately to the top of the head, while the eyes are pretty much always visible on the figure.

 

[Gern]

It’s the traditional way to measure figure size in millimetres. I don’t know the history behind it, but I suspect it’s because the widely varying heights of headdress worn can make it hard to measure accurately to the top of the head, while the eyes are pretty much always visible on the figure.

Good thinking that man! Sounds logical and reasonable now you've said it. I wish I had a brain that worked

 

[Tim Marlow]

Sounds logical to me as well, All I need now is an explanation of scale creep which has morphed some ranges of 15s into 18s, and all ranges of 25s into 28s, or even Into 32s.....

 

[Guest]

Scale creep is probably (I would guess) because of the tendency towards “heroic” sizes in fantasy and science-fiction wargames figures. That, in turn, is likely to have been a two-pronged marketing strategy (I’m looking at you, GW): a manufacturer making their figures bigger will have them appear more badass than those of other makers, so people will think them more appealing, and at the same time figures by competing manufacturers will look out of place next to them, encouraging buyers to only use figures from the first manufacturer.