 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups General ModelsRailroadsRocketsRadio Controlled Air ModelsHelicoptersLand ModelsWater ModelsModelGeeks.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Model Forum / General / Railroads / September 2004Model people
Hi all, I'm about to embark on a project to super detail several of my coaches. In my opinion, most models are disappointing since they look good on the outside but the insides are crude white/grey plastic mouldings. I actually own a couple of 12 inches to the foot scale coaches and after spending many hours restoring them, I want to replicate it in model form (4mm). My question is are there any people you can buy who are seated so I can put them inside the coaches? Are they likely to fit given the fact that the interior moulding is an afterthought and is likely to be the wrong scale so people look oversized. Is there a source of bicycles or food trolleys in 4mm so I can place them in the luggage compartment of the brake coach? I seem to recall packs of 6 people and a bench for stations, but these were horrendously priced at something like £5 per pack. I want my train reasonably well filled, not just one or two people! James > Hi all, > My question is are there any people you can buy who are seated so I [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > these were horrendously priced at something like £5 per pack. I want > my train reasonably well filled, not just one or two people! The cheapest sources of reasonably detailed figures are plastic mouldings. You often see models using both HO (3.5mm scale 1:87) and OO (4mm scale 1:72) figures intermixed (hardly a problem, people vary in size). Main sources I know of are: Airfix military style figures. (select carefully and a bit of carving to remove the military bits). Slaters moulded (seated and standing in unpainted sets). Preiser figures. The Preiser ones are available in a big box of unpainted, or in smaller (and much more expensive) painted sets of half a dozen. Available from (amongst many other places) http://www.modelshop.co.uk/pages/home.htm The Slaters are likely to be to 4mm scale, the Preiser are 3.5mm. Airfix varies. You might have to carve away part of the backs of people to fit your interiors, or chop their legs up to make them seated. All should be possible. - Nigel > Airfix military style figures. (select carefully and a bit of carving to > remove the military bits). [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Available from (amongst many other places) > http://www.modelshop.co.uk/pages/home.htm Thanks for this, turns out it's just down the road from my work place in London. I'll pop in and have a look. There is a pack of 1:87 unpainted seated 120 off figures at £18. Don't really fancy painting them all but at £8 for a set of 6 painted ones... They also do some cycles but they are 1:100, guess they could be smaller kids bikes or something. James > > Airfix military style figures. (select carefully and a bit of carving to > > remove the military bits). [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > seated 120 off figures at £18. Don't really fancy painting them all but at > £8 for a set of 6 painted ones... Mass production techniques are called for! Remove figures from sprues and fettle. Start with an aerosol car undercoat (grey) over all of them. Next get Humbrol "flesh" for faces, hands, legs etc. and paint as many as you can cope with in one sitting. Get more tins of matt Humbrol in a variety of greys, navy blue, brown. Open one tin and paint random figure's clothing. etc etc etc. For coach passengers you don't need to do details such as eyes and lips, but reasonable accuracy with clothing edges is worthwhile. Regards, Greg.P. > They also do some cycles but they are 1:100, guess they could be smaller > kids bikes or something. > > James > Mass production techniques are called for! > Remove figures from sprues and fettle. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > For coach passengers you don't need to do details such as eyes and > lips, but reasonable accuracy with clothing edges is worthwhile. In another thread, either here or on another model group, it was recommended to use a matt black undercoat for figures, applying colours with an almost-dry brush. This gives a natural effect to creases and shadows. I haven't tried it for myself yet. I generally find 1:87 figures fit better in 1:76 railway coaches, buses and trams. The 1:76 ones usually sit too high, even with legs shortened or removed. In a lowbridge double-decker I assembled from a kit, 1:76 seated figures simply wouldn't fit on the top teck.  SignatureMartin S. > > Mass production techniques are called for! > > Remove figures from sprues and fettle. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > recommended to use a matt black undercoat for figures, applying colours > with an almost-dry brush. I can't say I've tried that, but as a professional artist I would imagine black would be too harsh and would also be difficult to cover with light colours. (white, yellow etc) > This gives a natural effect to creases and > shadows. I haven't tried it for myself yet. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > -- > Martin S. ... > I can't say I've tried that, but as a professional artist I would imagine > black would be too harsh and would also be difficult to cover with light > colours. (white, yellow etc) Black as an undercoat for skin tones imho for whatever that's worth does tend to given much more realistic skin tones. Again fwiw as a wargamer (albeit near lapsed!) in the past I have tended to paint figures in batches of several hundred at a time and whilst I oce had to suffer critisim on the yellow facings(*) on the uniforms of some figures only 2mm high I haven't had any re my skin tones. (*) The viewer claimed that I had used primrose yellow instead of canary yellow! ... before telling him to go forth I gave the explanation that the the uniforms had bleached in the sun. :-) > > This gives a natural effect to creases and > > shadows. I haven't tried it for myself yet. You might also wish to try a very thin wash, this is a very good way of picking out details. I have several pages of info produced by a professional figure painter. I'll try to upload them. SignatureAll the best, Chris Wilson That's cwilson at britwar with a dot uk and dot co on the end. (Reply address is blackholed) http://www.britwar.co.uk - British Wargames http://www.the-dormouse.org - The Dormouse Line Model Railway > Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > own a couple of 12 inches to the foot scale coaches and after spending many > hours restoring them, I want to replicate it in model form (4mm). Generally the base of the interior moulding is sitting on various other bits and pieces such as a steel weight and the body cross bracing. Because of this the depth from floor to seat is somewhat reduced, neccesitating lower limb below knee amputation. I would also suggest that the floor/floor covering be painted a very matt colour to give it more "distance". > My question is are there any people you can buy who are seated so I can put > them inside the coaches? Preiser and Kibri do HO scale figures (1:87) I think Slaters do 1:76.2 scale figures. > Are they likely to fit given the fact that the > interior moulding is an afterthought and is likely to be the wrong scale so > people look oversized. You're going to need to do some extensive clipping and file work to get a good appearance but the amount will depend on the dimensions inside any particular model. If you got really carried away you could build your own interiors from scratch! > Is there a source of bicycles or food trolleys in 4mm > so I can place them in the luggage compartment of the brake coach? > > I seem to recall packs of 6 people and a bench for stations, but these were > horrendously priced at something like £5 per pack. I want my train > reasonably well filled, not just one or two people! You don't want whitemetal figures because your coaches would end up grossly overweight. Probably you don't want as many figures as you might have passengers on a busy commuter run, but even a figure at every window starts to add up to a lot of figures in total! Just who are all those people heading out to the suburbs at 10am on a Monday morning??? Regards, Greg.P. >Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >James Preiser (spelling suspect) a German firm offers packs of 120 unpainted people at reasonable cost. They do some sitting people, but I cannot remember the details. Given that you are unlikely to see much through an N or OO coach window you can cut the legs off and glue them to the seats, if the lack of legs bothers you you could sit them on Milliput putty shaped to look like legs (ish), those closest to the window, or sitting at a table would not require that detail. Most of the interiors I have seen have been close enough to pass muster if given a lick of paint. At Pendon they even have the water colours on the compartment walls. Trolleys are easily made using plastic card and strip, push bikes are available from various sources in plastic, white metal and (IIRC) etched brass, although adding spokes to the wheels is hard work, luggage can be made up from plastic card (suitcases) and Milliput (rucksacks) HTH Mike >Preiser (spelling suspect) a German firm offers packs of 120 unpainted >people at reasonable cost. They do some sitting people, but I cannot >remember the details. >Given that you are unlikely to see much through an N or OO coach >window you can cut the legs off and glue them to the seats, Which kind of begs the question of what to do with 120 pairs of unwanted legs ;) Pete Signaturehttp://www.bristol-rail.co.uk an archive of photos from the Bristol area http://www.bugpics.co.uk pics of bugs > >Preiser (spelling suspect) a German firm offers packs of 120 unpainted > >people at reasonable cost. They do some sitting people, but I cannot [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Which kind of begs the question of what to do with 120 pairs of > unwanted legs ;) Shoe shop stock? Prosthetics maker? A strange butchers shop? Unmarked grave site? (Bosnia) > Pete > -- > http://www.bristol-rail.co.uk an archive of photos from the Bristol area > http://www.bugpics.co.uk pics of bugs Another use for all the spare legs, a Chinese Dragon. Regards, Bill. > > >Preiser (spelling suspect) a German firm offers packs of 120 unpainted > > >people at reasonable cost. They do some sitting people, but I cannot [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > http://www.bristol-rail.co.uk an archive of photos from the Bristol area > > http://www.bugpics.co.uk pics of bugs > Another use for all the spare legs, a Chinese Dragon. > Regards, [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >> >> > Pete If its a 50s layout quite a few sticking out from under cars ... > If its a 50s layout quite a few sticking out from under cars If its a 70s layout quite a few sticking out from under bushes ;-) SignatureAll the best, Chris Wilson That's cwilson at britwar with a dot uk and dot co on the end. (Reply address is blackholed) http://www.britwar.co.uk - British Wargames http://www.the-dormouse.org - The Dormouse Line Model Railway > <Mike@notigg.not.no> wrote... >> "William Pearce" <ben_issacs@optusnet.com.au> wrote: ... >> >> If its a 50s layout quite a few sticking out from under cars > > If its a 70s layout quite a few sticking out from under bushes ;-) Male pointing down and female pointing up. SignatureMartin S. >>> If its a 50s layout quite a few sticking out from under cars >> >> If its a 70s layout quite a few sticking out from under bushes ;-) > > Male pointing down and female pointing up. Were your family missionaries then? Ken. > I seem to recall packs of 6 people and a bench for stations, but these > were > horrendously priced at something like £5 per pack. I want my train > reasonably well filled, not just one or two people! Are these what you had in mind? http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/590-1014009 Regards, Stuart. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.