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Do Dapol platform figures suffer from GIGANTISM?


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Is it just me or are the Dapol figures way over scale? I'd like to see them try and squeeze into a OO scale car or through the doorway of a Ratio coal merchants building. Which begs the question, can I get away with HO scale figures such as those from Preiser? I've got a couple and to my eyes they seem more to scale - especially when I size them up against the doorway of a Hornby Pullman which I would consider fairly accurate.

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Guest jim s-w

Hi Matt

 

Do you not own a ruler? What is the point of asking this question when you simply need to measure one and divide the height (in mm) by 4 to answer this for yourself. If your figure is 24mm tall then he is a scale 6ft.

 

Try to think 'can easily answer this myself?' before posting.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

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Is it just me or are the Dapol figures way over scale?

It's just you...

 

They are quite tall though - IIRC the men scale out at about six foot or so. Mix and match with other four mil' figures and you'll get a nice range of heights.

 

Some buildings don't always have full hieght 'modern' doorways - I think it's 6' 6" for a modern door isn't it? Anyway, some lineside huts do have rather small doorways so even someone of my small height (5' 9") has to stoop in order to get in!

 

I also think most mdoel cars in our scale are underscale inside due to the thickness of the castings, espcially so when die-casts examples have fully modelled door cards. in this instance H0 figures are perfect I think. Preiser do a nice set of seated passengers which includes numerous pairs and couples. IMHO many of Preiser's standing figures in H0 are fairly small in statue for H0 so in four mil' are very small. I think careful selection and positioning (toward the back probably) would allow their use.

 

Don't know if any of that has helped or just caused more confusion.

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Hi Matt

 

Do you not own a ruler? What is the point of asking this question when you simply need to measure one and divide the height (in mm) by 4 to answer this for yourself. If your figure is 24mm tall then he is a scale 6ft.

 

Try to think 'can easily answer this myself?' before posting.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

I'm sorry? What's with the attitude? I thought my question was perfectly valid.

 

Try to think 'can I be a little more polite?' before posting.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

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It's just you...

 

They are quite tall though - IIRC the men scale out at about six foot or so. Mix and match with other four mil' figures and you'll get a nice range of heights.

 

Some buildings don't always have full hieght 'modern' doorways - I think it's 6' 6" for a modern door isn't it? Anyway, some lineside huts do have rather small doorways so even someone of my small height (5' 9") has to stoop in order to get in!

 

I also think most mdoel cars in our scale are underscale inside due to the thickness of the castings, espcially so when die-casts examples have fully modelled door cards. in this instance H0 figures are perfect I think. Preiser do a nice set of seated passengers which includes numerous pairs and couples. IMHO many of Preiser's standing figures in H0 are fairly small in statue for H0 so in four mil' are very small. I think careful selection and positioning (toward the back probably) would allow their use.

 

Don't know if any of that has helped or just caused more confusion.

 

Thanks. That makes sense to me.

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Guest jim s-w

I'm sorry? What's with the attitude? I thought my question was perfectly valid.

 

Try to think 'can I be a little more polite?' before posting.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

Sorry Matt but you asked something that you clearly had made no effort to think about yourself expecting someone else to do it for you. If I had a Dapol figure I might have measured it for you but I dont have one and you clearly do. I accept perhaps you didnt even think to measure it but I was merely saying the solution to your question is right there in front of you (I even did the maths for you) Sorry if you took offence but try to think and problem solve for yourself a little.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

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Hi, If I remember correctly the figures are from the old Airfix range and they were 1:72 scale like all their military figures, no-one told them at the time that 'OO' railways were 1:76 scale....

My wife's grandfather was over six foot, a very tall guy for those times, a photo of him on his engine shows him stooping to pose in the cab opening of an NB N15.

As someone has said the HO Preiser figures are useful but in the right context, I put them in coaches as they fit better with the thick floors etc.

And don't mind Jim, I think he's having a bad day today.dry.gif

All the best,

Dave Frk.

 

WWW.lanarkshiremodels.com

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Guest Max Stafford

The Dapol figures are probably a bit tall if you're modelling ScR - we're mostly wee short@rses up here with the notable exception of Dave's wife's grandad... :D

 

Dave.

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Thanks for your responses. As a relative new-comer to the serious side of modelling I'm still discovering some of the hobby's finer points. Dave's point about the airfix 1:72 scale explains a lot. It's not so much just the height but the overall 'chunkiness' of the figures. They look rather odd when standing next to a car for example. I read somewhere that Bachmann's British scenecraft figures are made by preiser (or some other German brand) and hence are actually HO scale!

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The Dapol figures are probably a bit tall if you're modelling ScR - we're mostly wee short@rses up here with the notable exception of Dave's wife's grandad... :D

 

Dave.

[/

 

No problem with the short @rses, I'm only five foot six myself!

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Guest jim s-w

Hi Matt

 

Thats the thing though , if all your people are the same height it would look more than a bit odd. Some HO figures will be fine I reckon.

 

under%20the%20light.jpg

 

This chap is one of the Bachmann/Preisler figures and he is a scale 6ft (bit taller if he stood up straight)

 

HTH

 

Jim

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The last time I squeezed into an automobile on that side of the pond, it seemed to be a bit under scale! wink.gif

it's because they are all made in Japan and we need smaller cars because they used our roads in the past to build houses along. ;)

 

Ok jim s-w so it is easy to measure a standing figure but what about ones that are sitting? a photo of two sitting 4mm figures on my Portram Lister topic. It is not only height of a figure that gives us impression of size the whole proportions can make them appear to be giants.

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Guest jim s-w

Hi Kenton

 

Given the greek ideal a person is 8 heads tall. Legs are half and thighs are half again thus a sitting person is 75% of their standing height. In reality most people are not 8 heads tall but closer to 7 - Still 75% of their hight when sitting though.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

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I read somewhere that Bachmann's British scenecraft figures are made by preiser (or some other German brand) and hence are actually HO scale!

The earlier series were by Preiser ('Exclusive to Bachmann by Preiser') but the current ones are made in China. I have a set 36-002 and the male figures are 22 to 23mm high - 5'6" to 5'9" in 00 or 6'4" to 6'7" in H0. I have some of their H0 figures too and the men are 20 to 21mm high. Incidentally, I wonder if that makes me H0 scale? :D

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'Hmm, I'm the same height as my brother seated, but several inches shorter standing.'

 

Probably because you're shorter in the leg. Leg and body lengths vary in proportion by different amounts in different people. I have fairly short legs, which makes buying trousers a bit annoying as I have to shop around a bit. Some people are long in the torso. Long torso and short legs together looks a bit odd but isn't that unusual. However these variations when modelled tend to stand out more and not look quite right, although my experience is largely with 54mm (1/32 scale) and 1/35 figures. In nominal 4mm scale it's less obvious. I'm not sure about the ex-Airfix Dapol figures as I haven't looked at a pack recently, but Airfix figures from their 1/76 military kits were usually ok for size. I always found it odd that they made 1/76 RAF vehicles and advertised them to go with 1/72 planes. Some manufacturers of nominal 1/76 figures, both military and for railways, seem to make them very chunky, with large heads. Those are what don't look right to me, as they look like heavyweight wrestlers.

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Hmm. Perhaps this Greek ideal was formulated to exclude short legged Keltoi? A pint of hemlock all round!

 

Maybe Airfix oversized their figures after the first releases of their military range - I remember the German WWII infantry and their British counterparts were 1:87 whereas later releases were 1:76 - remember that they were advertised as HO/OO. Airfix never, IMHO, set out to make 1:72 figures in the railway range, but they are hefty lads and lasses. During wargaming days a handful of them, suitably equipped, made some heroic-looking partisans.

 

The Preiser range is a source of frustration - the seated figures are very useful for putting in things (no, not hot drinks or trifles - pay attention now...) but the standing ones do look too small to my eye, even for short valleys men of previous generations(we have grown since). The annoying thing is that they look so good.

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problem with the short @rses, I'm only five foot six myself!

 

Your a blessed giant then. I'm only 5'4".

 

Two of my good mates are over 6' so we are 3.5mm and 4mm figures but on the same layout. But in real life.

 

All you have to do is look on your 'High street' and see if all the people are the same height and the same build. If they are then just get a pack of the same height figures, and that will look wrong, you've got to mix and match them to get it all to look right.

 

OzzyO.

 

PS, don't even look at the Slater's people.

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Guest jim s-w

Hmm. Perhaps this Greek ideal was formulated to exclude short legged Keltoi?

 

I think the clue is in the word 'ideal' Funny but Elle McPherson is 8 heads tall! Seems the perceived ideal still stands in some cases. (is there a drool icon?)

 

Cheers

 

Jim

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Actually whatever the ideal proportions are normal adult male people range in height from somewhere around 4'8 to 7' Dodie Weir a Scottish rugby player was about 7'00 tall and normal , i went to school with a guy who ended up at 4'11" and there was nothing wrong with him.Elle Mcdrool is 6,0 so is Rebecca Adlington, my wife is 5,2 and a bit my Daughter in law 5.0, they are all normal. also whatever the clever medics say about normal weight, that can range dependant upon mesomorphism ectomorphism and endomorphism. I am 6,00 and weigh 15stone 10, when I was 23 I weighed 17 stones and played in the front row,apart from that I think I am and was a normal person.Point is mix figures up tall short fat thin and so on.Also and perhaps relevant is that in 1914 the average for a UK male was around 5,5 it is now nearer 5.9. doors and so on are different heights .Most buildings produced within the industry are underscale.

To answer the question from my angle yes they are big but mixed in with a crowd it doesn't matter.

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in 1914 the average for a UK male was around 5,5 it is now nearer 5.9. doors.

So I'm average height?? Would love to know where all these short people are - most people I know are taller than me! :lol:

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