BernardTPM Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Actually the Airfix and Dapol figures are from different tools; it wasn't just the bases (Airfix - rectangular block, Dapol - near elliptical, tapered) that changed. As I now have a 'new' camera and have learnt where the basic buttons are, here's some comparative shots of the Airfix and Dapol 'Platform Figures': The last pair show the most change as the orientation in the mould was changed, though this results in the loss of definition in the side of the folded newspaper (I assume that's what it is) which just becomes an odd shaped projection. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Well I must say a vast improvement on the usual debris we're offered and I'd even go as far to say almost on par with Prieser - but how many modellers are going to ruin them and coat then from head to foot in supergloss paint ?! Well, if it was down to me, I for one, that's why I used to let Dave Coute's wife, Maureen, paint all my figures for me - THE best ! Cheers. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 I reckon Dapol's schoolboy has had too many jam doughnuts! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
J C Fenton Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I tend to agree that faces are vital. I offer pictures of some of the Royal Navy figures produced by Gunthwaite Miniatures; http://www.gunthwaite.co.uk/ The faces are full of character, and I suggest perhaps better than most railway figures. Next time you want the cliché group of sailors waiting for a train, compare these to the Merit default option. The nominal scale is 1/72nd, though I have seen reviews that claim they are suitable to use with both 1/76 and 1/72 figures. Anyway, the manufacturer states: "Our figures are designed to be true 1/72 scale. Figures are typically 24 mm in height which corresponds to a person about 5' 8" tall (1.73 m) in 1/72 scale" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Very nice castings; a shame they don't do civilians! Still, I'm sure I could remove the hats off of these ones (well, the two wearing them) and make them into happy campers: http://www.gunthwaite.co.uk/GM72-010%20painted.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
J C Fenton Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 More sailors! http://tablewarfare.com/20mm-world-war-ii-miniatures.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldmansminion Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 yep, i like them, ....though there will be people saying that they are disproportionate, but they have heaps more detail, great faces, nice poses, natural looking, and character i would rather have that, than a crap figure to begin with. ironically i picked up the july issue of, i think, model rail, and had a bit about figures and getting the best from your figures. these were an improvement, but again very flat, and after checking, very expensive. to populate a saturday afternoon, with a hundred figures on a platform... well ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I agree with much of what has been said regarding the quality of some whitemetal figures. Regarding the Dapol figures, I note that the Plastic Soldier Review site mentioned previously states that these are "probably meant to be suitable for layouts with trains of the 1950s or earlier. However many could pass for civilians from much of the 20th century if required". At some point in the future, I will be looking for figures to populate an early 21st century layout (circa 2007), so I would be interested in opinions as to their suitability for the current day. Would I be correct in saying that what dates the figures most is the fact that almost all seem to be wearing hats (which are rare these days). Having never considered modifying figures before, would I be correct in assuming that, being plastic, it should be possible to remove the hats with a sharp knife? Also, in terms of whitemetal figures, does anyone have an opinion on how well the Pete Goss figures (eg http://www.petegossrailwaymodelling.co.uk/p343357713/h541d0dea#h52d517fc) compare to the Monty's range from Dart Castings (which I agree are most definitely the best in the comparative post earlier in this thread)? Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Both the Airfix and Dapol versions are in styrene, so are easy to both cut and glue and will provide a stable base for filler too. The Dapol plastic is a little softer so a little easier to carve. Removing hats shouldn't be a problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_1066 Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Those Dart Castings ones look the business and the prices aren't too bad either - I think that is the direction I will head once I get to populating my layout as I enjoy painting toy soldiers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
J C Fenton Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 I will try to take more and better photos over the weekend, but here is a rough comparison between Monty's (left), Dapol (centre), and Pete Goss (right): Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Well I would say, Dapol has got it fairly licked and while Monty's offering on the left is a great improvement, Peter Gross's effort is nothing short of a monstrosity. Just an opion, nothing more. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Well, today I've put my knife where my mouth is, so's to speak and started making some 1972 holiday passengers. The figures come from the Pecoscene unpainted set 5202 which contains all the figures from the painted sets 5122, 5123 & 5124 (same numbers whether Pecoscene or Merit) and are two of the five 'Hikers' (5122). As they come the woman is sitting on her rucksack reading a map while the man is holding his in one hand and pointing. I'm planning to make the woman a seated figure, reading a newspaper or magazine while the man has had his rucksack altered to a plastic bag. I've done a basic clean-up of the mould line, a few enhancements (clearer finger separation where necessary, deepening round collars, etc.) and started the resculpting of the rucksacks: Unfortunately the white plastic doesn't photograph too well, but it should give a reasonable idea of how they look. Next up is a little Milliput to finish tidying the mould lines and complete the plastic bag. I'm not sure yet whether I'll remove the turn-ups from the guy's shorts; I'll study some of my contemporary slide collection before making a decision on that. Incidentally, the models pre-date Saturday Night Fever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted July 11, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 11, 2013 Those aren't too bad as figures go. I was going to say something positive about the legs looking good, but it came out wrong! That looks like a plastic bag already, nice work. I'm glad you say he's pointing, I was sure he was flipping the bird! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldmansminion Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Well I would say, Dapol has got it fairly licked and while Monty's offering on the left is a great improvement, Peter Gross's effort is nothing short of a monstrosity. Just an opion, nothing more. Allan its a shame that there is only 12 figs in the Dapol set, which is what i was getting at on the first page, someone else metioned that they did another set, which i'm assuming had another 12 in it...that only gives me 24 figs, could use them twice, or even 3 times, but thers only so many guards i can put on a platform. just as a reminder the four Dapol figures from Bernards post #79 preiser HO on the right assuming the Dapol figs average 6' the presier are at most 5' high...even TAKING the base into consideration, and whilst we're on the subject of scale... all the bits for this are taken from "OO" scale items, the large arch windows are from wills, along with the english bond brick, paving slabs, wooden planking, corrugated sheeting and the hand rails. the door and all the other windows, the telephone exterior box, downpipe and guttering is from peco, to "OO" scale the door (exterior) should be approx 6'6", so use that as your base line, now it pretty much looks in proportion, but HA! not a chance, i'll get apic with the same figures in front of it for tomorrow, just for starters there should be a minium of 26 courses of bricks up the door jams, the down pipe is approx 9" ! the guttering 9" wide, Paving slabs are about 4'X 6' (they should be 2X3) the sheeting is twice what it should be, and the top hand rail comes to about shoulder height, when it should be at waist height. and there should be at least twice as many steps, with half the width tread....but that just dont look right more critisms tomorrow, when i've got another pic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 13 different figures in the Workmen set, though you get three of the same sprue in a pack as shown here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dapol-RAILWAY-WORKMEN-1-76-Scale-scenery-Kit-00-HO-C002-/181139966112?pt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_JN&hash=item2a2cc888a0. Oddly enough Dapol say 38 figures on their website! Again there are subtle differences between the 1979 Airfix version and the current Dapol ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 ive been trying to find oo figures for a late 1980s layout for ages but have just about given up and agree most look terible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Never mind the figures Mr Oldmansminion, let's have more magnificence like that truly awesome water tower, pumping station? - definately the work of a true master who has been blinding us with the oft mishaped geometry of plastic mankind instead of stunning us into silence with model making like that ! Those colours, that ingenuity, a perfect example of what you can do with parts not intended - how on earth did you plan it, more like it please !!! Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldmansminion Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 thank you allan, thats very kind! as promised, a couple more pics apologies for the quality, flash decided, that i havent got anything of worth to add (oh the shame) Dapol guard, in front of the door, not to bad, scale wise to the door looks pretty good but the steps really stand out, as not enough, the drainpipe is ridiculously proportioned. the bricks , at scale are about a foot by 4"....more like breeze blocks than brick the telephone bell, box...well it just looks all wrong to me and you can also see how much the corrugated sheeting is vastly out of proportion, it should be 3" from ridge to trough in real life, its near 6" at scale and now with a presier figure on the right , from a previous pic,( with a bit of extra colour) but its not finished yet the poor sod is a right runt, and everything now looks massively overscaled, bit depressing really... Allan, in answer to your question, it was upposed to be based on the water tower at Brighton, and i belive it did have a large beam pump house in the building circa 1950, but to be honest i kind of got carried away. the more photos of it i found, the more i just supposed it was the base, and the more it moved away from the original structure firstly the tower at brighton had an open roof, i didn't think it looked right, so i added the roof, to give it a more ramshackle feel...then the toilet block on the left, then some steps a small wooden maintenace platform, then extened it round the back a bit. i wanted it to feel, as if it was quite large at first (with the open window frames), and then as steam became less important, and with repairs, was shrunk to a more manageable size. on the layout, i'll also have the two large cylinders, i assume this was the softening plant at brighton, that, luckly, a couple of washing bottles will form the base. got a couple of more pics, this time guildform coaling stage (with artistic licence, lol) again a similar story to brighton water tower, i liked the look of it, started to to build it, then began to find more pictures, and more of its secrets were revealed...so its loosely based on it! this is nowhere near finished yet, still got to do the gangway and the rest of the roof. i would like to have the cranes working, but i think this might just be a fickle detail, that time would be better spent on other stuff i believe there was a timber foremans hut on the inside, and another similar, but brick building, more of a shed on the approach. , and once on the layout, blend in the ballast, theres also an inspection pit, and walkways to add around the back...but these probably wont fit on the layout i will start a proper layout thread, when all the details have been finalised... the loco shed that i'm in the process of building, well it kinda takes my breath away...its gonna be SO epic...lol, and then theres a carriage shed 4 roads and 5' long...yikes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 With stunning model making like that and you're 'worried' about dead scale bricks 'n' stuff !!! Well, if anyone pulled me up on that after building something half as brilliant, I'd ask 'em to demonstrate what they mean by building a model of it themselves ! It's simple realy, or so I've found out, that dead scale isn't as important as a convincing representation, something that you can feel proud of cos you built it and not some factory in China - 'scale' is all about what LOOKS right, whether it is or it isn't - take a window glazing bar for example, in the 4mm scale, it's little more than a hair's thickness, in 2mm you could say it doesn't even exist, and the next time you look at a 'dead scale' whitemetal loco, check out the 'dead scale' thickness of the cab sides etc - 6 inch steel plate in 4mm, a FOOT steel plate in 2mm - why, even the Fourth Bridge ain't that strong ! Now take Pendon for example, the absolute best, no arguement, nothing even comes close - but only close up - anything beyond a couple of feet and all that dead scale detail is lost in a blur of colour the defeats the human eye, and that Vale Scene's a hell of a lot deeper than three foot, thirty foot more like, and at that distance a cottage that took Roye England TWO years to make, looks about as geometrically challenged as a house that fell out of a Monopoly box ! No Siree, your modelling looks perfectly in scale to me, and anyone else I shouldn't wonder. Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebs Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I'd have to agree with Allan about the model making - utterly mind-blowing - and the colouring is just brilliant. I know what you mean though - I agonised about guttering width for ages on my station building Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
J C Fenton Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Stunning Water Tower and coaling stage. The former just oozes Victorian charm and is perfectly captured. On the question of figures, I think that the Dapol (nominally 1/76) figure works well. I think that 1/72 figures would too. Though 1/72 figures should generally be a little taller, figures to both nominal scales vary in size, in my experience, as do the prototypes, and I have 1/72 figures no taller than some of Monty's. In terms of height, and, possibly more importantly, "heft" (as the war-games cognoscenti seem to call it), I suspect nominal scale is not a great guide where 1/76 and 1/72 is concerned. You have to compare the figures in question and see if they work together. What is clear from the photo, is how the 1/87 (HO) figure is not going to convince anybody when standing next to either or both of the building or the Dapol Porter. The Preiser-runts do look OK on Mr Downes's platform and they also look OK, for instance, on Kings Torre. They don't look good by the door of Mr Oldmansminion's equisite building, and anything that has to be placed that carefully in order to look right is unlikely to be the answer to the lack of sufficient 1/76 figures of sufficient quality that this thread has highlighted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Does anyone have first hand experience of the range of MRD figures http://www.emardee.org.uk/epages/BT4589.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT4589/Categories/%224mm%20Figures%22 I need Victorian and Edwardian 4mm figures and other than Preiser (3.5mm) and Langley, haven't seen any others in person, as it were. The Pete Goss figures look detailed but "heavy" and the Langley don't always seem that well modelled. Jol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Does anyone have first hand experience of the range of MRD figures http://www.emardee.org.uk/epages/BT4589.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT4589/Categories/%224mm%20Figures%22 I need Victorian and Edwardian 4mm figures and other than Preiser (3.5mm) and Langley, haven't seen any others in person, as it were. The Pete Goss figures look detailed but "heavy" and the Langley don't always seem that well modelled. Jol I wish companies would post photos of their product. I frustrates me immensely when you have no idea what you are buying. Small photos are just about as helpful as none at all. In this day and age there is no excuse for it at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I've just realised something. Why the Prieser figures look reasonably well proportioned on the platform pictures that I put up is because the model is 7mm to the foot - O gauge and, as we know, O guage is twice the size of HO which could account for it. The OO Guage is a one off scale exclusive to the British Outline market and because it is, it screws everything up, even our commercially produced trackwork which is anything but 4mm to the foot is in effect terribly out of scale, yet Peco/Hornby/ Bachmann et al, sell enough of it to the British Outline modeller, namely us lot, each year to circumnavigate the Planet ten times in any direction ! So, I reckon our efforts to get everything in the right scale should start where it really counts - with our trackwork, and until we do, just put up with all the regular commercial crap that struggles to look like anything like a human being and, while nobody really cares, it never will. Right, I'm now off to paint some Prieser figures, and out of scale or not, at least they'll look human... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.