Stosstruppen | 07 Oct 2014 10:07 a.m. PST |
I had purchased some Raventhorpe Fallschirmjager a year or so ago for a 20mm Crete project. I finally had them up to paint, and was quite excited. I pulled them out and had them ready to go, then I grabbed a bag of FAA Greeks I had purchased not too long ago….WTH???? The Raventhorpe are no where near 20mm! What a buzz kill. I guess I'll paint them up and sell them so I can get some real 20mm Fallschirmjager. |
steamingdave47 | 07 Oct 2014 10:14 a.m. PST |
Too big or too small? "20mm" seems to be a minefield, I bought a few Empress US infantry-they tower over my AB and Foundry figures. |
MajorB | 07 Oct 2014 10:20 a.m. PST |
"20mm" can range between 1/76 and 1/72. |
Stosstruppen | 07 Oct 2014 10:30 a.m. PST |
They are closer to, or really, 25mm. I size compared my Musket AWI figures I am currently painting, they are about 18mm, my FAA which was slightly larger at a solid 20mm. Then the giant Raventhorpe. Looks like I'll stick with FAA. |
Who asked this joker | 07 Oct 2014 10:55 a.m. PST |
I found this out the hard way when trying to mix them with my 1/72 scale plastics. Raventhorpe figures are a bit tall and very well fed. I am always on the lookout for North Africa WW2 figures. Especially 1s and 2s like tanks commanders and gun crews. I am going to purchase some Lancer Miniatures tankers and a few other odds and ends to see how they match. The Raventhorpe tank commanders would have probably looked OK if the beret was not so big. I have one mounted on an A13 Cruiser and he makes it look tiny. |
Prince Rupert of the Rhine | 07 Oct 2014 11:10 a.m. PST |
Yes Raventhorpe are big they fit well with Valiant plastics though. Both are 1/72 which isn't really 20mmm more like 25mm. The funny thing is if you ever look at the photos in the Rapid fire books they mix Raventhorpe with loads of other manufacturers and they look really good. Must be some sort of trick photography…. |
Who asked this joker | 07 Oct 2014 11:59 a.m. PST |
Must be some sort of trick photography…. A good paint job goes a long way to hiding size differences. I suspect folks will be too dazzled with the details of the job to actually see the figure is huge. That and photography makes things flat which does take a way some of the size discrepancy. |
Vintage Wargaming | 07 Oct 2014 11:59 a.m. PST |
And of course the FAA Greeks are on the small side anyway |
ITALWARS | 07 Oct 2014 1:13 p.m. PST |
i mix Raventhorpe with everything…as said by WATJ ..once painted who care about… |
Stosstruppen | 07 Oct 2014 3:10 p.m. PST |
My goal with 20mm was to have something heftier than 15mm, yet small enough to make the ground scale look somewhat realistic. Thus, the FAA size is what I am shooting for. |
Dagwood | 08 Oct 2014 11:07 a.m. PST |
Major B – in 1/72nd a six foot man would be 25.4mm tall. In 1/76th he would be exactly 24mm. To get a 20mm figure the scale is more like 1/ 90th. The manufacturers never could get the hang of the simplified maths ….. |
ridgeback123 | 09 Oct 2014 8:46 a.m. PST |
I do a range of 20mm FJ made for the SOGGY Crete game so loots of photos on the SOGGT site. Including Crete specials like the Do-Gerrat rocket system As always happy to send a sample so you can see the size & style in the flesh Ian ( Shellhole & 20mmZone ) |
Murvihill | 09 Oct 2014 9:55 a.m. PST |
"Major B – in 1/72nd a six foot man would be 25.4mm tall. In 1/76th he would be exactly 24mm. To get a 20mm figure the scale is more like 1/ 90th. The manufacturers never could get the hang of the simplified maths ….." The mm scales were first used for Napoleonics and the hats were so varied they only measured to the eye. If you want to convert you should just go with accepted norms. 20mm=1/72. |
Monophagos | 09 Oct 2014 3:22 p.m. PST |
Valiant scale out to more like 1/64 and they look like wargamers in uniform – ie fat. |
BlackWidowPilot | 12 Oct 2014 9:44 a.m. PST |
Major B is correct on the math of the matter of 20mm "scale" versus 1/72 scale. Murvihill is correct on the *why* of how figure manufacturers with very few notable exceptions have created the epic *scale* mess we're in as consumers trying to make heads or tails out of what is compatible with whom as it were. Phooey! For the record, nearly 40 years ago American figure maker John McEwan (who is still alive and kick in' running Reviresco!) wrote to his fellow American figure makers including Ral Partha and urged everyone to cone together with him and standardize their figure scales the way the model railroad industry had done. Besides being an environmental engineer and avid sculptor of toy soldiers, John was and remains enough of a business man to know that if the industry were to standardize their scales, then everything in a particular scale would be compatible with one another, and like the model railroad industry, everyone's sales would only increase as a result. Alas, no takers, so John just kept right on doing what he's been doing all along, sticking to actual, recognizable scales for his figures and models and measuring his human subjects from the bottom of their feet to the top of their heads, not the eye level AND not including any headgear. Ironic indeed that one of the very few manufacturers who stands out from all the rest does so because he actually sticks to real math… Leland R. Erickson Metal Express metal-express.net |
Murvihill | 13 Oct 2014 8:16 a.m. PST |
Leland, you're saying that Reveriresco's 25mm figures are compatible with 1/72? |