"PSC v Airfix" Topic

Kingsleypark's Wargaming Menagerie

Paul of the excellent Paul's Bods Blog asked how the PSC figures compare with the Airfix figs.

Well here are some comparison pics

link

Having looked at the PSC figures when they first came out I was inclined to thnk of them as Airfix sculpts of the late 1960s. Now, thanks to that comparison, I can see I was being unfair to Airfix.

Very unfair to Airfix.

The PSC guys exhibit all the shortcomings of current metal wargame figures. Dreadful proportions, bloated heads and the arms and legs of a sumo wrestler. What a shame.

Oh dear me Gents, School boy errors here!

Airfix are of course HO/OO scale, 1/76th

PSC are 1/72nd scale

So the PSC ones will be larger and bulkier if they at all accurate to their scale!

Personally I am very happy with them. As I have posted elsewhere, there are a lot of potential 'passengers' in the Russian set, but if you play FOW then they can be used in the Artillery staff teams.

Agreed. It seems to be a very disturbing current trend to make plastic figures mimic metal ones with all of the flaws and none of the advantages.

Thankfully Caesar and Imex stand out from the crowd in this respect and are very compatible with the best of Airfix.

"School boy errors here!"

If you look at the photo, all three figures are almost the same height; that doesn't account for/excuse the swollen heads and out of proportion limbs.

If you're looking for 'school boy errors', look at the undersized gun and wildly incorrect crew poses. These (apart from the missing third figure) are copied from the old Airfix set and have the same mistakes! While Airfix get a pass here, as little information was available about the red army back in the early 1960's, there is no excuse for it now.

I have PSC in both 15mm and 1/72 – I like them and I like hard plastic.

@Sparker – if you check out the Airfix website, they now list their figures as 1/72nd scale.
I am aware that over the years Airfix originally sold them as HO/OO and as 1/76th

Cheers for the comments Tim (and everyone else)

As you will no doubt be familiar, on the Plastic Soldier Review page they do a size comparison of all the major manufacturers and certainly the Airfix Russian figure is dwarfed by the other manufacturers.

It will be interesting to see what Airfix do with the new British set.

And of course just to make the scale issue all the more complicated for people starting out in the hobby Airfix still list their vehicles as 1/76 scale.

The PSC figures are thicker because they're made of hard plastic and making them more 'realistic' would mean they'll be easier to break.

Besides I think for every gamer who prefers realistically proportioned figures in any scale, there is another who likes the chunkier 'heroic' style, so to each his/her own.

i was looking forward to buying the PSC figures but I've been put off by the body proportions. There's just something wrong in the torso region.

Actually, the chunkiness of the PSC figures isn't the issue for me, it's the softness of the detail. Maybe Hasegawa circa 1980 is closer to the mark. Then there's the odd poses and the daft contents. I swear that looking at the 28mm version of the Soviets that the box contents started off as a Soviet version of Dad's Army that spun out of control, there's even a Private Godfrey figure.

Now judging by photos, the quick build tanks they have put out seem pretty good, at least for wargaming items. I'm quite looking forward to the ones they are doing for 28mm figures.

Firstly, thanks KP for the comparison review. :-D
The airfix figs are 1/76th..thereīs no getting round that, they were designed with the trainset scale of the period in mind, namely HO/OO, and even though some of the sets and indeed some kits (the WWI tanks comes to mind) have been labelled 1/72nd, they are all 1/76th.
Itīs suprising though to see that from the review that they are proportionly more accurate..(of course this doesnīt apply to all Aifix figure sets) and yes it could be due to the fact that the PSC figs have been made chunkier due to the possibility of breakage but what about prieser figs??
Cheers
paul

Chunky can look better. I have Skytrex 1:200 and Pendraken 10mm, and they are very close in height. What you do notice is how thin the 1:200 are. I think they are probably correctly proportioned, but the Pendraken just look better.

Based on the comparison pics, I would buy the PSC anyday.

Best thing about this thread is that I've found two fantastic blogs: Paul's Bods (quirky, creative fellow he is) and Kingsleyparks very useful blog.

Thank you very much.

Thanks raducci *grin
Cheers
paul

Aw shucks! Cheers Raducci!!

Since I already have a lot of the Airfix figures, and put a lot of time and effort into painting some of them, I won't be getting any PSC figures.

You're much too modest, gents. They are, indeed, top-notch blogs.

Don, the Pegasus figures are proportionally very close to Airfix link
And if you can find them cheaply, the Nexus reissue of the old Atlantic Red Army set is worth getting for that wonderful fellow in the overcoat and fur cap on the end of row 2 here link