Midgets and Giants

[ModernKiwi]

I thought I'd post these, the worst example I could find in my collection of weird scaling by the same manufacturer - in the case Revell. Revell's Modern British and their KSK.



Both sets are well sculpted and look great, so long as you don't mix them with any other sets.

A further comparison of Revell's British midgets my other modern Brits.



From left to right, Revell, Airfix, ESCI and Matchbox. The Revell look like children playing airsoft.

[T. Dürrschmidt]

Very interesting comparison.

[Martin]

Hi Thomas,
As ever: the truth is in the middle:
The British are too small (22mm) and the KSK are too big (27mm)
Source PSR.

[Maurice]

Geez, they almost look a completely different scale... (and leave the almost out)

It should be more or less like this:

According to Plastic Soldier Review, the average human height is 173cm, so scale should be:

scale 1/62: 173cm : 62 = 2,79cm (28mm figs)
scale 1/72: 173cm : 72 = 2,40cm (24mm figs)
scale 1/76: 173cm : 76 = 2,27cm (23mm or 00 gauge in model railroading, British standard and what you find in most Matchbox and Airfix sets)
scale 1/87: 173cm : 87 = 1,98cm (20mm or H0 gauge in model railroading)

[je_touche]

Since 173 cm is nowaday's (European!) avarage we may assume that for most historical epochs the avarage size was even smaller, e.g. 167-168 cm round about 1900. (We are taling from head to heels here, because many refer to eyes instead.)

The same holds true for non-European peoples.

When sculpting my figurines in 1/72nd scale I try to keep them at 23,5 mm, which scales up to ca. 169 cm, so they are good for Napoleonics and earlier. Variants do occur though but they don't matter as long as they stay within natural size variants.

Most important is not an exact size standard but scale consistency of weapons and equipments. The figurines shown by GrumpyKiwi are blatant examples of either out-of-scale sculpting or, more likely, erroneous tooling when scaling down from bigger masters. I am taken aback that a manufacturer like Revell normally known for well-proportioned figures would produce such ludicrous dwarfs and giants.

[ModernKiwi]

To give Revell a little credit, the figures were produced 4 years apart. And maybe the giants were to compensate for the midgets. I'm sure if you average their heights, it comes out normal.

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to Caesar's Modern British to see what they come up with.

Meanwhile, when I use Revell's, I tend to transplant the legs from the ESCI NATO troops set.

[Benno]

Revell made more figures over more years, but this is a huge difference no manufacturer should make. I think the US paratrooper set is also a bit disappointing, they're rather small too.

[kit95]

Very Amusing when you put them together!

[Valion]

Dear Je touche,

you are absolutely right about the scales.
Thanks also for telling us that different measuring methods. I did not know about that.
I just wanted to add that recent historical research found out that at some points in history, men were already taller.

So for the early Middle Ages period, it would be okay to assume the people were close to our size, on average (173cm).
The human race shrinked from that point on, reaching it's low point in the 17th and 18th century (167cm, for some strange reason, French were even smaller).

Those data are pointed on the German wikipedia, calculably correct for northern european caucasians.

@ Kiwi
I found Caesars saracen cavalry so small I even brought them back to my fave shop..
Without question, it's an superbly sculpted set, but I did not feel like slaughtering children with my crusaders.



So all in all, this is one of the seldom cases where SIZE DOES MATTER.

[Adam]

When sculpting my figurines in 1/72nd scale I try to keep them at 23,5 mm, which scales up to ca. 169 cm, so they are good for Napoleonics and earlier. Variants do occur though but they don't matter as long as they stay within natural size variants.

A good plan, but don't do it for eary prehistoric people, viking warriors, and possibly some roman legionaries. (last is not so certain) their average heights were the same as us (indeed this is true of many richer peoples/warrior in many periods pre industrial revolution), except the viking warriors are consistently taller (6ft being a good/average size). This is not true of viking civilians, but the hard dudes definately.

The Repton burial is a great example of these viking guys for those that don't know it.

[je_touche]

A good plan, but don't do it for eary prehistoric people, viking warriors, and possibly some roman legionaries. (last is not so certain) their average heights were the same as us (indeed this is true of many richer peoples/warrior in many periods pre industrial revolution), except the viking warriors are consistently taller (6ft being a good/average size). This is not true of viking civilians, but the hard dudes definately.

The Repton burial is a great example of these viking guys for those that don't know it.

There is no danger I will ever sculpt any of those.

[Adam]

There is no danger I will ever sculpt any of those.

ME either, I love the viking era, and reenact it, but the figures leave me totally disinterested- not sure why?

I quite like the Roman period though, but thats is for a looong way in the future!

[Peter]

I quite like the Roman period though, but thats is for a looong way in the future!

I thought this period was a loooong way in the past!!!!

Greetings Peter