A Question Of Scale

[HOG]

Hi All

Lately I`ve been building a lot of figures to complete dioramas and have hit a problem.
I now work in 1:48 and have generaly found that you can swop bits from various manufacturers with out to much hassle but as I say I`ve been building figures.


From the above shot you can see that there are very differing senses of proportion in them and are as follows:-
Aircam/airwar white metal
Preiser from the USAAF pack
Tamiya from the Ger Inf `manouvers` pack
Tamiya from german infantry pack
Bandai russian tank crew
Preiser From the lufwaffe pack
Tamiya from the Kubel kit.
Now they seem to fall into two `sizes`  white metal and Preiser against Japanese manufacturers, and this size difference is even more noticable in the following picture-



The rough head height is drawn for both sizes and the difference is 3/12ths of an inch or 6 inches in scale, quite a large amount if was to appear in a kit of a tank etc.
Now I know people are not all one size, and that japanese manufacturers have been accussed of small stature figures in the past, being based on the oriental physique, (the Tamiya range being based on older 1/35th ranges may be a possible reason), but a discrepncy of this amount is a big pain.
All the major makers build up quite well, some scoring higher on points in certain areas, all with annoying mould/sprue attachments like on the side of the head where the ears should be or on the very top of hat etc where clean up means losing detail, but the biggest problem is the finished size. either seeming to big or to short.
A case in point, here is my dio` of Condor`s 1:48 He178 depicting it`s first demo flight to the luftwaffe

from this view every thing seems OK but when seen from this angle



The two officers at far right in both views and the figure behind the Kuble are both noticably smaller being Tamiya , the rest Preiser and w/metal
So far I have not touched on resin figures, the scale sizes for these vary even more, but you think a standard "size" could be arranged so as to "standardise" ranges.

I`m in the middle of converting 18+ figures for this dio` and so far I`m getting near giving up!




the idea is to build this as near as possible to the original photograph. and none of these figures are `as kit` all being convertions from various bits

sorry for the long rant but at least it`s out of my system,
Gary

[kitnut617]

Now I know people are not all one size,

Personally I think you are creating a problem which isn't there, your comment nails it down right there, people are all sorts of shapes and sizes.  I wouldn't worry about the different size models of people, in fact if it was my self, that's what I'd be looking for.  Also no one is going to pick up that said fellow in the photo is bigger or smaller than your modeled replica.  Keep in mind that a photo has field of depth, your model is 3D which will give it's own field of depth and you have no idea just how tall any of the fellows in the photo actually are.

BTW, terrific modeling

Robert

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Remember too that some of the earlier models from Japan that were advertised as being 1/48th scale were actually 1/50th scale.  Case in point is the old Fujimi (Academy) Mirage IIIC, Mirage IIIR, A-4E/F and TA-4J kits.  All of these are in 1/50th scale.  Heller was also guilty of doing the same thing but at least their kits stated the actual scale on the box.  

It is quite possible that Bandai and Tamiya figures are actually 1/50th scale.  I found out the hard way about the slight difference in dimensions myself when I attempted to upgrade an Academy A-4 kit with the cockpit from a Monogram A-4 it would not fit within the fuselage due to the scale differences.

[The Rat]

Personally I think you are creating a problem which isn't there, your comment nails it down right there, people are all sorts of shapes and sizes.

BTW, terrific modeling

Robert

I have to agree with this, you're making things difficult for yourself for no good reason. I only wish my modeling skills were up to yours! Here's a pic which illustrates the point of us all being different shapes and sizes:



From left to right that's board members rallymodeller, The Rat (killer handsome individual if I do say so myself, and gorgeous legs), Captain Canada, and kurley. We look like a right motley crew, and we're all waaaay different. And if we're willing to be seen by complete strangers looking like this then your figures are more than good enough.  

[jcf]

A six foot(182.8cm) tall man would be 1.5"(3.8cm) tall in 1/48th, and that six footer would be of above average height during WWII (or now for that matter).
Average height of US males was around 5' 9"(176.7cm) in 1940 and North Americans as a group tended to be taller than Europeans, on average by two to three inches. (Going by figures on muster rolls, according to what I found.)

Of course notions such as 'average size' are for statistical purposes only and have little or no meaning in the real world.

What is more important than the height of the figures is the matter of proportions, and if they are in the ballpark the relative sizes are irrelevant.

http://www.portrait-artist.org/misc/proportion.html

One of my bete noirs with figure models is the huge number that have very poor proportions and those godawful ginormous mitts for hands.

Cheers, Jon

[jcf]

It is quite possible that Bandai and Tamiya figures are actually 1/50th scale.

The 'old' Bandai figures are 1/48th and fall within acceptable range and the Tamiya 1/48th figures are all of recent vintage.

Jon

[braincells37]

...and those godawful ginormous mitts for hands.

It's usually one of the first things I'll take care of. Unfortunately in an attempt to mold detail (like fingers) the hands tend to be a bit overscale. I use a drawing similar to the one in  Jon's link to check proportions. I check the hands of course, arms that are too long, legs too short, heads too big, whatever, will all get attention when I add a figure to a model. Height of the figure is irrelevant.
Is "ginormous" in Webster's yet?
Terry      

[dragon]

Happens in every scale.  The 1/72 scale pilot figures found in the Airfix Tucano kit look a bit amorphous and underfed when compared to similar figures from Hasegawa.   B)  

[Captain Canada]

people are all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Yes, but do you notice how much more handsome the shorter fellows are than the tallish 'freaks' ?

[lancer]

people are all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Yes, but do you notice how much more handsome the shorter fellows are than the tallish 'freaks' ?

Actually...NO! ...      me being 6'4" yer all short arses..