"15mm is..." Topic

Excuse the naviete of the post.
Since my return, I've been in hobbyist AAD mode and bouncing from military, family, job, art, ect.. I frequently come to the forums in between tasks and to catch up in hobby goodness.
SOooo, window shopping 15mm…it seems most of the cool kids are doing it with all the new shiney out there.

Still window shopping!…is the 15mm ho scale like matchbox or larger like airfix/ atlantic/esci?

There is a wealth of stuff, but plastic, metal, or resin?

I may do more than window shop….Anything out there reminiscent of Alien Legion?

Common view on the historical side tends to be that 15 mm is nominally considered to roughly match 1:100 or 1:108 scale (depending on whom you ask).

The world of scale is rather unclear.

Here is a link to help provide some details:
TMP link

But basically, 15mm is 1/100th scale.
HO is 1/87th scale.
And figures like Airfix and ESCI are 1/72th scale.

You will also see the mm scale of 18mm, 20mm, and 25mm commonly used. These measure the distance between the sole of the foot to the eyes of the miniature standing up straight. This is not an exact scale but just a guide. Turns out to be very difficult to make metal figures to an exact scale.

Most people will say you can mix 15mm and 18mm, but it really depends on the makes and the sculpting style.
As far as terrain goes. You have much more freedom. 15mm can look OK in HO terrain for the most part.

I hope this helps.

"Anything out there reminiscent of Alien Legion?"

Try: Khurasan's miniatures: Kingdom of the Jasmine Throne's foreign battalion units.
Also Critical Mass games: mercenaries
Rebel Miniatures: Pangalactic Legion
Those should get you started.

There is always scale creep as well, some 15s are larger than others. Some look good with 1/87 matchbox cars and others do not.

The airfix stuff is more 1/72 or 20mm….I am jumping into the 15mm scale with both feet. Rebel and Khurasan are fantastic scifi ranges. I may ditch the few 28s I own!

18mm figures are pretty well a match for 1/87 HO scale. Matchbox cars don't have a fixed scale, but are considerably bigger than 1/87. There are extensive lines of 1/87 cars for the model railroad and general collectors' market.

The best thing to do is buy a trial pack and see if you like them. It will give you the best idea if they are the size you want and if you like painting the figures. It will probably only cost you about 10 bucks with shipping and will answer your questions better than words and pictures can.

Here is a picture of some 15mm Rebel Minis next to a Hot Wheels Police Car.

Thanks,guys! With your assistance my hobby AAD has increased.
My home is the place for castaway hobby train sets, so I have no shortage of ho/oo terrain that does see use with my small plastic WW2 forces. So long they look close to my old plastic kits, they can serve as pulp style alien invasion B movie scenarios. As well as standard scifi warfare. Thank you all, again.

Most of the Hot Wheels cars and Matchbox cars are going to be too big for 15mm. Recall that a normal full-sized sedan's roof hits a 6' tall person about mid-chest.

The Matchbox trucks, on the other hand, are often quite close.

While 15mm nominal scale is 1/100, most of the judgement of what is or isn't 15mm is how does it look next to the figures.

While HO in stated at 1/87th, different manufactures vary a lot, generally the cheaper the HO model is the better chance it is under scale.

As for Hot wheels and Matchbox cars, the trucks that fit in the standard pack often work, while most of the cars don't.

15mm is also a compromise scale in some respects in that vehicles make more sense on the table in 15mm than they do in larger ones.

If you like to tinker and build 15mm is great.

My kids have been helping me clean out the shed of all the boxes placed there when I deployed. Work is slow due to $$ paying work time hacks and we keep opening boxes to see what is inside. My son now has all my WW2 troops from Airfix, Atlantic, and ESCI. The Naps, ACW, and Ancients are with my girls, but I suspect they just want because little brother got!
We have also found the bridges, warehouses, and other train layout structures( and trains) those plastic troops battled over. Ah, anyone remember that famous conflict where French Hussars and Curissars attacked a diesel locomotive holding a cohort of Romans!
The matchbox trucks, tanks, and construction vehicles saw lots of use mixed in with Airfix, Atlantic, and Roco tanks.
It seems that if nothing else, I will be able to own my very own Alien Legion. They can fight against my…er my sons WW2 troops or assist Ceasar against Napoleon in stealing Diesel locos.
But those "not" HALO troops look pretty nice too for more "structured" gaming!