"O Scale or S Scale - which is closer to 28mm?" Topic

I want to get some scenery and see some O and S scale available, any know which goes better with 28mm minis (Hasslefree, TAG, Black Scorpion, Heroclix)? Thanks

S guage is 1:64 while O is 1:43 to 1:48, depending on the manufacturer. I think the S stuff is harder to come by.

I use O scale buildings with no problem – your figures will be based & look good with the O scale doors & windows – the K-Line brand is generally a little smaller and better for 28mm – Bachman/Plasticville is all over the place scale-wise with some of the oldest small houses being way too big – but most all the newer stuff is mighty fine – truth is – well painted & on the table most folks won't care – I ran a Dust Tactics game that had several HO scale industrial buildings on the table & nobody noticed – S guage is very limited in both choice and availability and much MUCH more expensive -

O Scale better and cheaper. 28mm is technically about 1/56, but even 1/56 can seem small sometimes when dealing with heroic sized figs as in "sure the door is tall enough but can the shoulders fit through the doorway?"

O scale stuff is going to be slightly taller than it has to be, but you wont notice it because the mini is on a base and it just looks right. I use 1/43 and 1/48 die cast for the same reasons.

S is often more expensive, but the ERTL farm buildings are in 1/64, and they look good alongside 28mm and are usually pretty good priced compared to railroad buildings. Probably that's partly because most of the entrances are for trucks, though the few regular doorways that do exist do look small. I use them anyway as seen here: link

All that said, go O, but if you find an S scale industrial building for a good price, it's probably worth picking up.

I also agree with DS frank about HO scale industrial buildings. As long as you can find one's without pedestrian doorways or modify them, you will be fine. Here's a Walther's engine shed that I use with 28mm.
link
I did some conversions, but I could have used it as-is and it would have been fine.

Thanks all. How this topic came to be is that I was searching for some O scale street scenery on ebay and some S scale showed instead (which looked pretty nice).

S is nice but hard to find in a b&m store.

Technically (yeah, I know…) S Gauge is 1:60, though 1:64 is commonly used for die cast autos, etc. O Gauge is 1:48, though it seems that scale creep has been around among model railroad accessories even before it crept into war game toys.

For me, the test of which scale is closer to the "28mm" figures most of us deal with these days is simple. If you favor 1:48 (O Gauge), your agreeing that a 1" tall figure (minus hat, boots, etc) is a Four Foot Tall Man, while the identical figure if considered to be 1:60 is a Five Foot Tall Man.

Similarly, at 1:56, 1" represents 4' 6", and at 1:64, 1" is 5' 3".

In reality (you remember, right?) most humans are closer to 5 Feet than 6, and far more than to 4 Feet.

On that basis, S Gauge (and it's slightly larger brother, 1:64) is clearly a better description of what our "28mm" figures are. The extra height of a figure above 1" still falls easily into the normal range of human height based on either scale.

That said, ironically, I find that 1:48 furniture works perfectly well with all my "28's," and is much more easily found and cheaply bought (generally) than any other scale. Go figure.

While I suspect we all want to think our 1"-plus figures represent great strapping soldiers/etc of 6' or more in height, we'd actually be playing with 1:72 scale, which we all know as a modeling scale is generally far too small for compatibility.

So there it is!

Are you playing with Munchkins, or reasonably tall Hoomans?

TVAG

@TVAG: Those are good points all. However, most 28mm figures are no longer 1" tall. Indeed, the 28mm (around 1 1/8") has been measured to the eyes (or thereabouts) for years now, making the figures closer to 30mm (around 1 3/16") as people's heights are actually measured.

Thus, using 1:48 would entail supposing that figures represent around 4'8" humans, while using 1:64 would mean that they are 6'4".

"His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking…"

I use O scale for use with my 28mm figures.

@Flintloque: What? Are you suggesting that 28mm figures' stockiness should also be considered?

TVAG and Skeptic,
For use in wargaming, the stockiness/girth should be considered and it's not a bad idea to give some thought to additional height added by the base, though this last bit is optional. That said, the best way is just to compare the items in person.

Put an average 28mm figure next to a 1/64 door and it's narrower than his shoulders. Put him next to a 1/64 car and it's clear that there's no way he could fit in there.

Numbers will get you partway there, but when you put the figure next to the vehicle/building/accessory it's pretty clear what works.

Also, as skeptic says, 28mm is to-the-eyes, which changes the math a bit. 28mm is already more than an inch and a 28m figure is taller than 28mm.

Skeptic:
@Flintloque: What? Are you suggesting that 28mm figures' stockiness should also be considered?

Absolutely!