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4mm Edwardian figures


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I have just come across the website of Andrew Stadden who makes figures, many in 7mm.  However, he is thinking of doing some Edwardian figures in 4mm and I have attached a couple of photos of test pieces.  I think they are extremely good and would make a welcome addition to the relatively small range of such figures available in 4mm when compared with those available to the 7mm modeller.

 

At the moment, Andrew is gauging interest and would appreciate an email form anyone interested and / or with suggestions and comments.  One suggestion I have made to him concerns separate arms as are available in some of his 7mm figures.  These are early days; Andrew would need a range of 18 figures to make one mould and Edwardian railway staff are a further possibility.  They would be sold in smaller sets.

 

I don't actually know Andrew but am posting this because I would like a range of Edwardian figures myself.  If, like me, you are interested and like what you see from these early test pieces and the rest of his site (do look at his 7mm pieces), please send an email to Andrew Stadden at enquiries@acstadden.co.uk.  It will only be through your interest that a welcome addition might be made to the 4mm range of quality figures.

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David,

 

I picked up this on the S4 forum and have contacted Andrew to express an interest. A new source of decently sculpted and cast figures will be very welcome.

 

I need forty plus figures for the extended London Road and so far have only some specially selected Langley (I picked over some packs at a recent show and only one turned out to be worth getting).

 

I've also a pack of pre-painted Preiser, nicely modelled but too small. They'll only get used if I can place them so that they don't look too small against the buildings and other figures.

 

Jol

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An interesting point picked up from a colleague in forensics. In 1914 -16 when the army was recruiting the average height of recruits was around 5,6 . this compares with 5.8 in 1960. a significant proportion of recruits were under weight.

A conclusion is that in edwardian times people were smaller generally than now, in my view the Preiser figures may not be too small, more that modern figures are too big.

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An interesting point picked up from a colleague in forensics. In 1914 -16 when the army was recruiting the average height of recruits was around 5,6 . this compares with 5.8 in 1960. a significant proportion of recruits were under weight.

A conclusion is that in edwardian times people were smaller generally than now, in my view the Preiser figures may not be too small, more that modern figures are too big.

 

A 6ft figure in 3.5mm would be 21.0mm high, the equivalent of 5' 3" in 4mm. To my mind, the disparity is still too great.

 

When set against standard LNWR buildings, which had 8ft high doors to allow for ladies and gents hat, Preiser figures look very small.

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A 6ft figure in 3.5mm would be 21.0mm high, the equivalent of 5' 3" in 4mm. To my mind, the disparity is still too great.

 

When set against standard LNWR buildings, which had 8ft high doors to allow for ladies and gents hat, Preiser figures look very small.

good point

 

A lot of old cottages have low doors, as anyone tall who has been house hunting will know! Is this because it was normal for people to duck, or because they were shorter?

they were shorter, quite a bit shorter

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People have got bigger in the last 100 years. This has even created problems for the London Tube lines were the rolling stock is now more cramped despite being of a 'standard' size. This has led to the seats being placed longitudinally instead of across the car. This does not apply to the sub surface stock as that is of similar size to mainline stock.

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I have also sent an email to Andrew expressing interest. I do agree that some less grand figures would also be good - although I would expect that in the Edwardian period you would often be wearing your best clothes if you were lucky enough to travel by train.

Edited by Mikkel
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People vary in height and always have. However, during the Victorian period nutrition was notoriously poor, and this led to quite a lot of the population being particularly tiny. (It was the difficulty of getting suitable recruits for the Boer War that led (eventually) to the establishment of the welfare state.) So for the era we are talking about some small people are quite appropriate - in World War I there were actually 'Bantam Divisions' formed of short men.

 

As to Andrew Stadden - his 7mm figures are top notch. Certainly among the best on the market.

 

(EDIT) Just checked and the minimum height for normal soldiers was 5ft, reduced for the purposes of the war from the normal 5' 3".  The Bantam Divisions reduced this to 4' 10" with a maximum height of 5' 3".. Two whole divisions were recruited, so there were quite a lot of these small guys around. Sadly, they took very heavy casualties.

 

We can probably assume an equal number of women would be around 4' 8" or so.

Edited by Poggy1165
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Had a reply from Andrew today in which he said:

 

 

...I've had a few replies so far which is promising but please spread the word to anyone that may be interested in these figures and ask them to email me here enquiries@acstadden.co.uk

The intention behind this is to create a list of modellers who will be likely to buy some of the figures as soon as they are released, so hopefully I can recoup at least some of the large costs fairly quickly...

 

So, if you're interested and haven't mailed him yet, please do...

 

Nick

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Following a successful showing of the first 3 figures at Scaleforum last weekend, I have heard more from Andrew this week. He has been working on more of the range but I should stress that these are 'work in progress', so the attitudes and arms are not in final positions.

This is what he writes:

"As things stand I am aiming to have 10 upper class civilian figures and 10 middle/working class figures each for sale as a set of 10 figures.
Further emails have been coming in, and it is all looking very encouraging.

I have had a few days free recently, (and I also enjoyed making them) so as you can see in the attached photo I now have a set of 10 upper class civilian figures. These are still work in progress, and as you can see I have done nothing with the arms yet.

My thinking now is that I will have the arms fixed on passenger/civilian figures, in the usual sort of poses, and that I will only do separate arms on selected railway staff figures (assuming the passenger sets are successful). They will be very small and fiddly (to pack as well as assemble). I may well produce a pack of body parts later on to assist anyone with conversions."


So, please keep the emails coming to express your interest: enquiries@acstadden.co.uk

 

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I would just email him and tell him that you are interested.  He also has a Facebook page which you can 'Like'.  I posted the web site link to RM Mag and someone immediately bought one of his 7mm figures.  It must all help as unlike us he does not do it as a hobby.

 

I model 1895 so they are a bit late for me, but as most people think that Victorians and Edwardians all wore the same thing and clothes never changed from year to year then I should be ok.

 

He will make them in pewter apparently so they may be a bit more difficult to modify if you want to.

 

It is interesting that they are all standing so they will be out on the layout not in a coach, or tea room.

Edited by ChrisN
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I saw some samples at S4um and thought that they looked very good, although the poses were a bit "stiff". Andrew has emailed to confirm that there is still a little work to do to improve them.

 

If the initial figures sell well enough, then the next two sets will be of railway staff. Further  on down the road he is considering producing accessories and "body parts" to personalise the figures.

 

Jol

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