Mako11 | 23 Mar 2016 3:13 p.m. PST |
It seems to me that a lot of the other scales have a far wider selection of WWII and Modern era European buildings produced in resin, by various manufacturers. I'm really surprised at the perceived lack of European building for WWII and the Cold War era in 1/144th – 1/160th scale, especially given their small size, which would seem to make them fairly affordable to cast in resin compared to 15mm (1/100th scale) ones. Maybe I'm just not aware of some of the options available, but the plastic kits in N-Scale seem to be overpriced relative to their much smaller size, compared to the HO and 1/100th scale ones on the market. They run as much as, if not more in some cases, than their larger brethren. In cubic dimension comparison, the smaller scale buildings require only about 30% of the resin that the same building in 1/100th scale does. Seems like we could use some more manufacturers of buildings in this scale, to produce some nice, single-piece structures, at affordable prices. |
Weasel | 23 Mar 2016 3:50 p.m. PST |
10mm is still a "minor" scale compared to 6mm and 15mm and has really only come into its own in the last few years, so I wager that has a lot to do with. |
Leon Pendraken | 23 Mar 2016 3:59 p.m. PST |
There are buildings out there for a variety of periods, but it's certainly an area that could do with some expansion, especially the 20th Century. We've got some new pieces planned for the next few months, so keep an eye out for those. For WWII and beyond, have you had a look at TimeCast? They've got some extensive ranges of European buildings, plus industrial structures and a dedicated Falklands range as well: link |
Glengarry5 | 23 Mar 2016 5:44 p.m. PST |
I'd suggest taking a close look at JR miniatures 15mm resin buildings. I've heard that while it says 15mm the buildings themselves are modelled to 10mm to reduce the models "footprint" on the table. |
MiniPatton | 23 Mar 2016 6:07 p.m. PST |
I'm running into this as well – especially the lack of pre-painted or ready to play stuff. |
Long Valley Gamer | 23 Mar 2016 6:42 p.m. PST |
Probably not enough demand |
Cold Steel | 23 Mar 2016 6:48 p.m. PST |
I use MBA 15 mm buildings and they look just fine. Like Glenn says, most buildings have a scaled down footprint. |
miniMo | 23 Mar 2016 8:02 p.m. PST |
For European image buildings, look at N Scale model railroad kits from Faller, Kibri, and Volmer. Pricey, but really pretty! IN the US and Canada, Euro Rail has the best prices: link |
Mako11 | 23 Mar 2016 9:34 p.m. PST |
Thanks for all the info, and suggestions. I've looked into the plastic kits, but they are shockingly high for such very small structures. Many prices seem to be about the same, if not higher for N-Scale structures than their larger HO cousins, which I find very odd, given how much smaller they are, e.g. about 50% of HO ones for walls, in height and width, and only about 30% of their size in overall volume. |
UshCha | 24 Mar 2016 2:08 a.m. PST |
Does seem strange as you could laser cut some. We use our fold flat stuff as its quick, cheap and takes minimal space. There is a lot of 1/144 at Paper Terrain, not reasin but a start. paperterrain.com As for prices they will not scale by volume as that is the low coast bit. design and tooling are the big costs. Not really a big fan of over detailed houses, by the time you get a decent looking village of 10 houses or more the detail does not get seen. |
Some Chicken | 24 Mar 2016 5:36 a.m. PST |
I have found the same issue. Having switched from playing Normandy/NWE in 20mm (where the old Sentry range is the gold standard)to 10mm, it has been hard to find much that fits the bill. Escenografia has a very nice Caen townhouse and some farm buildings, but the range is growing veeeeeeerrry slowly as they are dividing their efforts between other periods and scales. I also had high hopes of a Portuguese chap who custom makes Normandy specific buildings, but after over a year of waiting he told me he had stopped doing 10mm and would concentrate on 15mm scale now. Very frustrating as the quality of his work is first rate. I suggest pestering Escenografia to let them know there is demand out here and that the 10mm WW2 market in particular offers an excellent opportunity as it is so neglected at the moment. |
aegiscg47 | 24 Mar 2016 7:06 a.m. PST |
Just a casual observation, but it seems like most 10mm gaming is Ancients and there is very little need for terrain. Our group has quite a few armies in this scale and we would like a few buildings for some scenarios, but they re difficult to find. |
Grunt1861 | 24 Mar 2016 8:44 a.m. PST |
Allen at GameCraft Miniatures has a pretty good selection of 10mm: gcmini.mybigcommerce.com/10mm Also, you can always contact him about something you would like to have custom made. |
dsfrank | 24 Mar 2016 9:27 a.m. PST |
go to ebay for N scale model railroad buildings look for used deals rather than new stuff |
davbenbak | 24 Mar 2016 9:58 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the link to timecast. Found some great Italian/Spanish structures. Now to see what the cost is for painting. |
steamingdave47 | 24 Mar 2016 3:38 p.m. PST |
link Total Battle miniatures do some European 10mm for Europe- many of these would be very suitable for WW2. They also do some Middle Eastern structures which might be suitable for 1940 to 43 North African campaigns. For more modern stuff, I would echo the advice re N Gauge model railway buildings A starting point might be somewhere like this: link Kestrel make kits, Faller produce buildings suitable for European settings, Hornby have a range for N Gauge. Langley do some ready painted stuff, which includes industrial type buildings:- link And then there are card kits from Metcalfe:- link I realise you are on the wrong side of the Atlantic for these links, but I am sure there are similar in US and there is always mail order. Re your cost point, I think that design/sculpting represents a major part of the cost of any model. If production runs are relatively small then this becomes a significant part of the final cost, with material costs relatively small. |
VicCina | 27 Mar 2016 11:36 a.m. PST |
Depending on the size of the battle I'm trying to represent will depend on the scale of the building. For WWII I use 15mm buildings because I'm usually fielding platoons. For larger battles Brigade on up, I will use 6mm buildings or 10mm depending on how close the fighting will be to those buildings. At least to my eye the scale difference doesn't seem to matter especially when deploying a division or more of troops on the table. |
WeeWars | 30 Mar 2016 5:46 p.m. PST |
I have a range of 10mm buildings available and a flat postage rate to US. link |
wargamer6 | 01 Apr 2016 7:09 a.m. PST |
As dave47 said its not about the material costs its about the fact that potential sales are a hundred times greater in 15mm for similar sculpting costs. Unless people are prepared to accept the economic facts and pay a little more then nobody will be tempted to make more buildings in 10mm. |
Phrodon | 01 Apr 2016 12:51 p.m. PST |
SHQ makes 10mm buildings, etc. link Mike |
Some Chicken | 04 Apr 2016 4:43 a.m. PST |
Phodron – thanks for the link. I had no idea SHQ did buildings in 10mm scale. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any photos of the range on the SHQ website. Do you know if they are specific for Normandy/NWE and whether they are any good? |