I have a question for the Forum. I’m currently working on HO scale vehicle lighting. In particular a M38 Military Jeep.
My question is why when the jeep is very very close to 1:87 scale don’t 1:87 figures fit in the jeep? The real M38 is 133” long and my HO scale M38 is 1.6” = 139”, 133” = 1.52”. I’m not a rivet counter but .0689” is close enough for me.
It’s seems to be the same no mater what I’m putting people into, passenger cars or any other scale goodie.
Just wondering what or how others handle this problem.
It just doesn’t look right for a driver of a M38 Jeep to have chopped off feet to fit. I’m 6’ 2” and I had a M38 years ago and I don’t remember having a problem sitting in my jeep.
If all you’ve got to do is cut feet off, your way ahead of the poor person I put in a Woodland Scenics convertible. They are cut off at the waist, and had to trim part of the back away to wedge them in between the seat and the wheel.
Putting figures in vehicles is hard, since as mentioned there is no give in either when they’re styrene.
Below is a figure I put in a 1/25 crane cab. The figure and the controls were built at the same time, working around each other. The arms and control levers were positioned at the same time, and the pedals and his legs and feet too. There is no cushion in the seat or backrest, theyre carved out to fit the guy. And he is removable by making the seat slide back far enough to pull his feet out. That would be a lot to ask in HO, (was a lot in 1/25) but maybe some of the ideas could be applied.
Think about it this way. The exterior of vehicles is what is to scale. The interior is a different matter. Almost all are smaller than they should be because the materials the model is made of are all relatively thicker than on the prototype.
When I putting figures in things where the chopping doesn’t show it doesn’t bother me. When the figures are easily seen it’s a different matter.
The M38 figures will be obvious. At this point I don’t have much to work with. I spent several hours with the lighting and now I’m struggling with a driver.
1:100 figures look terrible, obviously wrong.
At this point I’m going to try and do some massive surgery on a couple of my castings, selective chopping while keeping the feet and most of the body.
Filing some material from both the back and bum will not likely be readily seen, as people usually sink somewhat into the seat.
You may be able to also take a small amount out of both the upper and lower portions of the legs, then cement them back together at the knees.
Shorten the feet, too, if needs be, and you could also cut them off the legs at an angle, removing any excess, then cement them back on at an angle suiting the foot-pedals.
While it’s not likely a feature of that particular vehicle, another option might be to change the angle of the steering column, in lieu of shortening the driver’s arms.
I was saving the amputated limbs for creating a gondola-load of slaughterhouse “offal”, but I’d need to operate on way more citizens to load even just one car.
I have over 50 molds of figures with arms legs and heads in different positions. I don’t have one that will fit the M38 so I plan on making a driver and passenger to fit.
The M38 is unique in that both driver and passenger are in full view from all angles. I’ll shorten some legs first then have a go at it. Some time ago I spent a couple of days making arms in various positions then made a mold with a couple dozen arms on a sprue. I need to do the same with legs, both male and female.
I originally was planning to make the driver male and the passenger female with a dog in the back.
This M38 has been a hair puller from the get go, if it could go wrong it did go wrong. A couple of days then set it aside for a couple of weeks, been working on it for a long time.
Most “scale” figures look like they come from Milwaukee. Cheese eaters.
The problem, if it is a problem, can be readily illustrated if you have good knees. Slowly start to sit in a chair. The moment your [word that starts with B] touches the chair, stop - if you can. That is how a plastic figure sits. Now continue and notice how much further down you go. Things give, things spread, things compress.
Even the old “Flexible Freddy” figure wasn’t flexible that way.
Word has it that Rapido is doing 3D scans and is looking into the issue. Any volunteers?
{I do believe Allan Pollock’s Fun & Games line of figures had some sitting figures which had been, um, adjusted to meet the reality of what sitting does to the puffy parts of our backsides.}
P.S. years ago I lived in a hi rise and one neighbor was an undertaker. I once asked him how I’d be crammed into a casket when the time came, as at that time I was6’8". He unhesitatingly answered, “we’d cut your feet off. We do it often.” So there’s your prototype …
Most of the female figures I use are castings of 3D ShapeWays figures. The detail on the ShapeWays 1:87 figures is outstanding! My second generation castings are very good.
Many of my castings are third generation, second generation chopped up and reconfigured, molded then cast.
I also make furniture castings.
Some of my molds are 20+ yrs old and still usable. I have several boxes of molds t
As a figure sculptor of about 50 years experience (Junes Small World ,Pheonix Model Developments ,David Piper,Dart castings ,all mainly in OO and O scale ,I can tell you fitting even a master figure into auto ,plane ,race car ,train is very difficult as often the model is only to scale on the outside measurment .The actual thickness of a train body or autobody as paper thin in small scale amd impossible to cast sa,e for the floor and seats . Compromises have to come into play to get it to fit .I was once given the large scale plans of a locomotive , even a card mock up of the cab but when I went to fit the figure to the seat with its arm resting on the window sill looking out nothing fitted anywhere .The guy blamed me so I sent him some plasticene and told him to make me a quick mock up .Silence followed followed by a check for wasting my time .The drawing must have been wrong and the seat in the wrong place for no human normal or super distorted was ever going to sit on the seat ,look out the window , and have his arms on the side .You can do it if you work on everything at the same time so that seats are compromised and poses allow for thickness.to be honest the best way is to the cast seat and person together but even then it will probably end up with short legs as the floor is too thick .
