"What's The Most Realistically Proportioned 15mm SF Range?" Topic

In your opinion, which SF range still in production has human figures that are sculpted in realistic proportions (or nearly so)?

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Dan

None of those drawings look like anyone I have ever known or met. :-)

Haven't measured them out, but the GZG figures look pretty decent for proportions.

Oddzial Osmy's would fit, I think. Leaner than most 15mm ranges.

Those drawings are actually really interesting. It does show how far many of us fall from the ideal. Sigh…

I agree with CorpsCommander, I'm certain I've never seen a living human being who looked remotely like that. ;)

-Will

I once took a 25 mm figure that I found to be well-proportioned and measured it. The figure came out to be about six heads tall. In addition the limbs were also much thicker than would be expected. Yet, at tabletop distance the figure looked good. A realistically proportioned figure at 15 mm scale would be really fiddly, and probably quite fragile unless cast in a hard metal. It likely wouldn't look right, to boot.

I know what you mean, though. I wasn't trying to shoot down your original post, just saying that it's not that simple.

Ron

in 15mm size the wrists and ank;es nrrd to be beefed up for metal flow and support.

We used 1:100 architectural models to make a crowd in this game. They do have more realistic proportions than the troops but, as Coelacanth says, they are fragile.

The detailing at "table distance" looks better on miniatures too.

BaldLea-- BEAUTIFUL work on those Critical Mass buildings!

check out Kurasan miniatures or rebel minis. Both a great line.

I have figures from all producers (30+) and to answer Your question: IMNSHO Criticall Mass Arc Fleet is the most realistically proportioned range in 15 mm scale.
Not the best, bear in mind.
Legs are prone to break a bit more then other popular producers.

The top drawing of the guy on the right is off, in terms of listed proportions.

Based upon measuring the guy's head, his shoulders are closer to 3 x his head's width, and not 2 1/3 x it.

Khurasan Federals, Nova Respublik, Raathists and CMG Arc Recon troops.

I'm not sure this is the question to be asking, more so "Which has the miniatures which fit the style you like the most".

The problem is that "Realistic proportions" often look off on the table top and can be not as fun to paint as well, especially at this scale.

People can easily come in size from 5' to 6' 8" which at 15mm scale is almost a 5mm difference! I would think you put those on the table and people would swear they were different scales

Khurasan Tom Meier sculpts..
Especialy women.

And they are bloody delicate !

Re: Mako11

When an artist measures a figure in "heads", he refers to the distance from the crown to the chin, regardless of whether the distance is to be applied vertically or horizontally.

Ron

Armies army British come to mind

Khurasan Tom Meier sculpts..
Especialy women.

And they are bloody delicate !

Yes, yes they are.

Almost outside my painting skill, too.

"None of those drawings look like anyone I have ever known or met. :-)"

"Those drawings are actually really interesting. It does show how far many of us fall from the ideal. Sigh…"

"I'm certain I've never seen a living human being who looked remotely like that. ;)"

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LOL. But then again, you'd want your troops to be in top shape! However, with most 15mm metal figure ranges head sizes are ridiculously large, particularly with those wearing helmets.

In truth though, other than the Rednecks in Highland Studios and one or two of the civilian sets sold by Rebel Minis, I haven't seen too many figures that look like most of us "regular" (sedentary) guys:

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When the Aliens finally come to invade, they are definitely going to complain about our false advertising practices:

Dan

Our 15mm Spec-Sec line has very realistic proportions for the humans (and a little less so than the cyborgs). We've heard that Agent Ionia and the Medium Intensity armor dudes look spindly and not human when they were specifically designed to be "true proportion". Funny how the eye perceives things…

Are the pictures from Loomis's "Figure Drawing" book? I've seen them before somewhere.

The Rangers Project Hunter Infantry Squad looks pretty well proportioned to me:

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auction

I love that the chap in "fashion, 8 1/2hands" is holding his pipe*… :)

@ BaldLea – nice shot of some snappy looking kit: show us more!

@ Dave L – agreed: splendid and very proportional looking chaps

John T

* No that isn't a euphemism…

Khurasan Tom Meier sculpts..
Especialy women.

And they are bloody delicate !

Yep! His not-Agent Scully is one of the most delicate figures I've ever handled. The painted end result was remarkable, even if I wasn't able to achieve Jen Haley's insane level of detail.

then again, you'd want your troops to be in top shape!

Perhaps, but they'd still have varied physiques and heights. And having a pot belly or post child bearing thighs doesn't necessarily mean a trooper can't pull their weight.

I'm all for variety! I'm just not for having heads twice the size of a normal human head – or even bigger.

And weapons shouldn't look like they weigh 150 lbs either.

Dan

The Rangers sculpts are in proportion, but are tiny and I'd be hard pressed to call the ones I have 15mm. Gorgeous, but useless for my needs.

I do think models are better proportioned than we realize, due to helmets, armor, and stance. But even then more are slightly thick in what should be spindly areas, and about a head too "short" (it's more that the head is moderately large). Most noticeable with no helmeted figures.

Personally I think my Rebel Minis are the most consistently accurate in their proportion. Khurasan characters are as accurate (and more detailed) but their regular models are more like GZG, which tend to be great models but 6:1 body:head at best… RAFM and 15mm.co.uk are similar but smaller in general (but also are often more squatted or hunched in their stance). I don't have CMG but they look pretty good, and next time j decide to make a full force (as opposed to character models for skirmish games) I'll probably get a platoon of their recon troops…

Ditto Tom Meier and sculpts by PP. rebel and Khurasan carry stuff by them both. And yes they are a bit more fragile and slight but that's because of the accuracy.

And GZG has some PPs in the merc range but mostly alien types – but even they seem more human proportioned than humans from some other ranges.

While I respect the skill required to sculpt a realistically proportioned gaming miniature (in 28mm, 15mm, 6mm), I loathe painting them and find they look very disappointing on the table. Sculptor's exaggeration is rarely due to error, but design for the task at hand.

The Mercs/Colonial Security from MrHarold at ClearHorizon Miniatures are also very realistically proportioned: