A moan about 4mm scale figures. A lack of 1970s or am I wrong.

[dasatcopthorne]

Here's a bit of a moan about 4mm figures suitable for 1970s ish.

 

When ever I try to find figures for my layout they seem to me to me set in the 50s or 90s +.

 

I'd like some for platforms and trackside but the men either seem to be wearing flat caps or hard hats. There seems to be very few without some sort of head gear.

 

How do other modellers find the situation.

 

Dave

[Gareth Collier]

A great selection of quality figures here: https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/railway-and-lineside/

[Right Away]

Have you considered repainting some proprietary figures to the era you are modelling.

Granted, it’s not as preferable as those ready made but working from photographs of the period (always recommended), a fair representation can be made. A little surgery with scalpel, file and glue, limbs can be repositioned, hats removed and a completely new “being” can be achieved.

 

[cypherman]

I always thought the Airfix figures were from the 1960/70's. They are now sold by Dapol.

[Il Grifone]

2 hours ago, cypherman said:

I always thought the Airfix figures were from the 1960/70's. They are now sold by Dapol.

 

The original Airfix sets are late fifties/early sixties. The Dapol workmen are later, but are a bit on the 'beefy' side (1/72nd scale?).

[D6775]

This site is worth a look. I'm mainly looking at late 80's early 90's and find most supplies seem to completely miss anything between 60's and the present day. 

 

https://finescalefigures.co.uk/

 

[hmrspaul]

10 hours ago, dasatcopthorne said:

Here's a bit of a moan about 4mm figures suitable for 1970s ish.

 

When ever I try to find figures for my layout they seem to me to me set in the 50s or 90s +.

 

I'd like some for platforms and trackside but the men either seem to be wearing flat caps or hard hats. There seems to be very few without some sort of head gear.

 

How do other modellers find the situation.

 

Dave

I suspect the manufacturer's don't believe what we were wearing, nor how long our hair was! Modelu would have its work cut out to reproduce my generation - I happen to be watching a TOTP2 about John Lennon, the clothing is fun!

 

Perhaps winter station passengers are easier - parkas or afghan coats over flares or loons. Girls in kaftans or ponchos with bare legs/tights and high boots. 

 

And, of course, all a lot slimmer than today - which is my main gripe with Modelu they insist on using live models who are all several stone heavier than they would have been in the 1970s. Heavier manual work didn't build a physique like todays gym users. 

 

Paul

Edited May 15, 2021 by hmrspaul

[Nearholmer]

Averages are what they are they are, but these snippets from an article about the subject make the point:

 

In 1967, Mr Average was 5ft 7.5in tall, weighed 11st 8lbs and had a chest of 38 inches and a waist of 34 inches. He had size seven feet, a collar size of 14.5 and a life expectancy of just 68.

 

Fast forward 50 years, however, and British men have grown significantly. The average British man is now 5ft 10in tall, weighs 13st 3lbs and has a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in. He wears size nine shoes, has a collar size of 16 and is expected to live to the age of 81 - 13 years longer. 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Il Grifone]

I've just realised that I think metric and am going to have to translate those figures....

[Michael Hodgson]

6 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

He wears size nine shoes, has a collar size of 16 and is expected to live to the age of 81 - 13 years longer. 

The life expectancy data was probably calculated before residents of old folk's homes died of covid.

[Nearholmer]

"The life expectancy data was probably calculated before residents of old folk's homes died of covid."

 

Those are 2017 figures. Average life expectancy rose a tiny bit 2017-19 , then during 2020, UK average life expectancy for men fell by 1.3 years as a result of Covid. The impact in 2021 clearly can't be known yet.

 

However, that reduction wasn't anything like wholly due to "old folk's home" residents dying from Covid, because:

 

- something like two-thirds of Covid deaths have been of people who were not residents of care homes (I can only find figures summed-up to February of this year, not for 2020 in isolation); and,

 

- care home residents are typically quite old*, which means that their deaths will have had a disproportionately low impact on overall average life expectancy**.

 

None of which alters the fact that a shockingly high proportion of care home residents have died as a result of the pandemic - somehow, we have failed to protect some of the most vulnerable.

 

*Relatively few (c10%) of people living in care homes are <75yo, and the typical age at which people move into care homes seems to be c80yo, by which time average remaining life expectancy for men is between 8 and 9 years. 

 

** If I'm doing the maths correctly, one "additional" man dying at 45yo will have roughly the same impact on the overall average as six "additional" men dying at 85yo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Butler Henderson]

People of course come in all heights and of differing mass; a better reflection of reality can come about through mixing appropriate "HO" figures  in amongst the "4mm" ones and appropriately clothed HO adults  can readily portray older children / teenagers .

Edited May 16, 2021 by Butler Henderson

[corneliuslundie]

If you want to see what can be done to alter figures look at ChrisN's thread on Traeth Mawr in Railways of Wales. Not your period but the principles are the same.

One thing which has certainly changed in recent years is the amount of obesity in relatively young people. Whether we want to represent that on modern image models I don't know. And yes, since the 1960s women's waists have got larger - sewing patterns show this. They recalibrated the sizes some years ago so that the users would not not feel so big.

Jonathan (not an average size)

 

[lapford34102]

Have a look here   https://www.sanddmodels.co.uk/images/ff001.jpg

 

They were first done some time ago and the staff uniforms are definitely 70's

HTH

Stu

[Steamport Southport]

Some of the ones Bachmann make seem suitable for the 1970s.

 

https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/category/model-railway/scenecraft/oo-scale/oo-scale-figures?page=1&sortby=5&numper=50

 

 

 

Jason

[rob D2]

On 15/05/2021 at 21:20, Nearholmer said:

Averages are what they are they are, but these snippets from an article about the subject make the point:

 

In 1967, Mr Average was 5ft 7.5in tall, weighed 11st 8lbs and had a chest of 38 inches and a waist of 34 inches. He had size seven feet, a collar size of 14.5 and a life expectancy of just 68.

 

Fast forward 50 years, however, and British men have grown significantly. The average British man is now 5ft 10in tall, weighs 13st 3lbs and has a chest of 43in and a waist of 37in. He wears size nine shoes, has a collar size of 16 and is expected to live to the age of 81 - 13 years longer. 

 

 

 

I’m guessing the reduction in smoking has had a better overall effect , than the obseity that now plagues the nation .

 

Dave, you can ad flares to Bachmann figures with milliput !