nnascati | 08 May 2015 7:08 a.m. PST |
Ages ago, when I first discovered Minitanks and Airfix figures, I happily used them together. Later, it seemed that 15mm figures were a closer match. So, a double question here, 1. Do any of you use Roco and Roskop vehicles? 2. If so, what scale figures do you use with them? |
MajorB | 08 May 2015 7:12 a.m. PST |
Roco vehicles are 1/87. Aifix figures are (mostly) 1/76. So Airfix figures are too big to work with Roco vehicles. 15mm figures are probably a better fit. |
JasonAfrika | 08 May 2015 7:26 a.m. PST |
Roco 1/87-It's a tough scale to work with. 15mm=1/100, I've used Airfix with my Roco stuff before…it was passable. The old Atlantic sets were close to 1/87 but are hard to find and not that great anyway. |
FoxtrotPapaRomeo | 08 May 2015 8:10 a.m. PST |
For the Roskopf Soviet vehicles(1/90-1/100), I use the old Airfix Soviet Infantry set for supporting troops close to vehicles and 1/72 otherwise. My West Germans make do with 1/72. Some of the new Zvezda hot War Soviet kits (1/100) also work (I have a couple of BTR-80s supplementing my BTR-60's – though I really want some of the coming SPGs). . |
Martin Rapier | 08 May 2015 8:23 a.m. PST |
I use Roco stuff with my 15s. It is a bit big, but as long as you don't mix different vehicles in the same unit…. Equally I use Roco stuff with my 20s. It really is an intermediate scale. It wouldn't go so well with bloated 20mm figs, but with most plastics or e.g. SHQ it is fine. As above, Roskopf is a bit smaller, so I only use that with 15s. |
LaserGrenadier | 08 May 2015 8:24 a.m. PST |
I have very large collections of both World War II and Cold War vehicles. I gave up on Airfix and Matchbox soft plastic figures in the 1980's and stopped playing for a long time. When I decided to try Flames of War, I had too much time and money invested in Roco, Roskopf and Herpa to switch to 15mm vehicles. I bought 20mm and 15mm figures to compare and contrast. 20mm should have been the better match, but since most figures seem to be oversized the 15mm worked out better. A 20mm figure would not even fit in a turret and was a joke in the back of a halftrack. I am now using 15mm exclusively for infantry, crew-served weapons and artillery for both WW2 and Cold War. |
HistoriFigs | 08 May 2015 8:41 a.m. PST |
With my Roco pieces, I use Scruby/Eriksson 20mm figures. These figures are in scale with the vehicles, and are 20mm sole to crown. Finding figures sized such is not easy these days. I don't need a lot of variety in infantry, so I'm good with the limited poses available. Newer 15mm (most are larger than 15mm) figures should also work well the Roco vehicles. |
Dye4minis | 08 May 2015 9:13 a.m. PST |
Preiser has several 1:87th scale military figure sets, both WWII and Modern. In their catalog 24, they start on page 58 and go thru page 73. Even have WWII Russians and refugees (oops, I mean Indigineous Displaced Personnel (IDPs- to be politically correct!) preiserfiguren.de and have a look. Wish I had kept all my Roco! They are expensive even here in Germany! Hope that helps. |
Defender1 | 08 May 2015 9:30 a.m. PST |
With the switch to Herpa putting out ROCO they are expensive here in the states to Tom. nnascati didn't mention EKO. I don't think they are in production now but they are more compatible with 15's as they tend to run smaller than ROCO. |
zippyfusenet | 08 May 2015 9:48 a.m. PST |
ROCO used to put out an Infantry Combat Group (US Army) that was scaled to their 1/87 vehicles. They also made sets of seated drivers and passengers, marching US soldiers, some marching Germans in stahlhelm and tank commanders for NATO and USSR. Don't know whether any of those sets are still in production. The figs were all about the height of Airfix HO/OO figs, but more slender. Of course the original Airfix HO/OO sets were smaller than current production. The original UK 1950s Infantry Combat Group, 8th Army, German Combat Group and Afrika Corps sets were all resculpted in 1/72 scale in the 1970s, IIRC. |
nnascati | 08 May 2015 10:43 a.m. PST |
Interesting info from all, thanks. It was really just a question part out of curiousity and part nostalgia. |
Bunkermeister | 08 May 2015 12:04 p.m. PST |
I have 10,000 HO scale vehicles from Paul Heiser Models, Roco, Matchbox, Preiser, Artitec, Boley, AHM, Tomy, Eko, Roskopf, GHQ, Hot Wheels, Miniature Soldiers Company and many others. I have 100,000+ 1/72nd scale plastic figures. Unlike most I did not give up on my Airfix / Roco collection and just continued to buy the two different scales. My friend Randy from Fidelis Models, a TMP advertiser, has lots of HO vehicles from many companies. Mike Bunkermeister Creek Bunker Talk blog |
Dye4minis | 08 May 2015 12:05 p.m. PST |
Speaking of nostalgia, the sculpting and poses of those Roco Infantry sets Zippy was talking about were actually down sized Revell and Monogram 1/40th and 1/32nd model kit figs. To this day, I still seek out those figs in unbuilt boxed sets. (FWIW Revell, Life-Like, Snap and UPC infantry kits were all from the same molds!) The renditions of the 1/87th ROCO sets were simply awesome! Brings back lots of good memories! |
nnascati | 08 May 2015 12:24 p.m. PST |
Tom, I remember those Revell and Monogram figures very well,as well as Lido (?) I think who produced vehicles and landing craft with figures. |
miniMo | 08 May 2015 12:35 p.m. PST |
I have a large 1/87 Roco and Heiser vehicle collection. For 1 stand = 1 platoon type games like Blitzkrieg Commander, Command Decision, etc. I prefer using slightly larger infantry than the vehicles.. So I use 1/87 figures for vehicle crew, and 1/76-1/72 infantry. For me, this works with the humanly-proportioned plastic infantry. If I were using the chunkier metal minis, I'd use 15mm for vehicle crew and 18mm for infantry. |
Dye4minis | 08 May 2015 12:36 p.m. PST |
Across the street (literally) where I live, there is an old toy shop. It is a goldmine of toys (and vehicles, trains, etc) from the 20's thru today. I am glad he does not take cards as I would have been broke 5 years ago!!!! Timpo, swoppet, Lionel (from WWI, WWII composition in various qualities), Lido, Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox, etc. ! Haven't seen a landing craft yet but will keep an eye out just to see what it "was". I know what you mean, Nick! v/r Tom |
miniMo | 08 May 2015 9:02 p.m. PST |
n.b. the earliest production run Roco tanks, and the EKO ones, were 1/90 scale. |
zippyfusenet | 09 May 2015 6:10 a.m. PST |
Actually, I thought the original ROCO Sherman, Panther, Tiger I and Mark IV were all 1/100 scale, like Roskopf models. ROCO replaced their original cast hull HVSS Sherman molds with a 1/87 welded hull VVSS model some time in the 1970s, and sold off the old molds. The old 1/100 Sherman molds were later used by Lindberg and Aurora, and eventually were pirated as the basis for the current Johnny Lightning diecast Shermans. ROCO never replaced the 1/100 Panther, Tiger I or Mark IV, and the Mark IV, to this day, is noticeably smaller than the 1/87 scale ROCO Mark III. |
McWong73 | 10 May 2015 5:22 a.m. PST |
Recently bought some roskopf leopard 1A4 and Leopard 2 to check out for cold wargaming. Suspect the Leo 1 is actually too small, its a good 5 to 6mm shorter than the zvezda T72 or the QRF T60 and 80 models. Didn't think the Leopard 1 was smaller than a T64. The Leopard 2 though seems fine. If anyone knows how to remove the turret washer without wrecking it in the process, I'm all ears. |
Bunkermeister | 14 May 2015 11:14 a.m. PST |
Roco did recently replace their Tiger I and it is wonderful and their Mk IV was replaced a few years ago, in a couple versions. It's one of the best they ever made. Paul Heiser Models makes about 30+ Sherman types. Mike Bunkermeister Creek Bunker Talk blog |
Dan in Vermont | 30 Apr 2018 9:37 a.m. PST |
hi folks: looking to revive this topic. I, too, have lots of Roco-Herpa. I've phased out using their older 1970s-1980s models that were closer to 1/100. Using the newer Herpa plus Trident plus Heiser plus SDV (from Czechoslovakia) plus Wespe means I've got most all of the models I need. Any good ideas on finding WW2 soldiers in metal or plastic that are most compatible with 1/87. |