Model 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)

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

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".

Preiser and Kibri do HO scale figures (1:87) I think Slaters do 1:76.2 scale figures.

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!

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.

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

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

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.

Which kind of begs the question of what to do with 120 pairs of unwanted legs ;)

Pete

Shoe shop stock? Prosthetics maker? A strange butchers shop? Unmarked grave site? (Bosnia)

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.

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)

Another use for all the spare legs, a Chinese Dragon. Regards, Bill.

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. :-)

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.

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.

Are these what you had in mind?

Regards,

Stuart.

Were your family missionaries then?

Ken.