"HO Scale Vehicle vs 15mm?" Topic

Okay so my question is would it be better to go the way of HO scale vehicle or run with 15MM?

I had bought some 15mm U.S. Army 5 tons and HUMVEES they look great but were rather small when comparing them to My 15mm figures and I would rather go with something that would look closer to scale.

So would going with HO Scale vehicles be a better route to go?

Does anyone have comparison pictures? That would help as well.

Even a Humvee is ~18mm wide and about 14mm tall in 1/100 scale. I think the problem is the extra 2mm in basing that 15mm infantry end up with.

Rebel Minis makes a scary-huge MATV MRAP, thing looks like it can eat a humvee for breakfast.

Real things:

I tend to agree with Lion, in reality both man and machine 'sit on the ground'.
However, w/ miniatures only vehicles do, "human figures" require a base.
Imagine if you will, w/ in scale, if we were to wear shoes with 3-4in soles. It would give the illusion we were taller than we are.

Btw Lion, I love the mini's, cant recall the 'line. Ive been tempted to get a few walkers.
But like most, Ive a good "To Do" stack, plus those I know I'll see that "I just have to have", one day.

I always base my vehicles for that very reason- amongst others.

Those Rebel Minis vehicles look right as far as scale goes, the 5 Tons that I have look more like pick-up trucks and the HUMVEES are more like a regular size car, when compared to 1/100 scale architectural car that I use for gaming because they look right for scale, they are the same size.

I may get a couple of HO vehicle and just see if they will work scale wise.

For what it's worth, HO scale is 1:87.

Thanks, I know HO is 1:87 scale and many times you can mix HO Figures in with little to no notice at all and I can live with vehicles being a pinch bigger roughly 13% which I think I would like much better then having a lot of clown cars on the table.

I like to use Match Box Trucks they work really well and they too dwarf the 5 ton truck and the HUMVEE as well.

Like many of the HO scale buildings the manufactures scale them back a bit to save space on the table and I'm hoping they do sort of the same for their vehicle too.

I would like to use a lot of Modern Military vehicles, and my thought is to go with ROCO or Herpa.

So I have been doing some Homework as to say and here are some interesting finds;

TMP link

link

You can ignore this one seems it is one that I had started along time ago and have forgotten the answer, HA HA old age.

TMP link

TMP link

So it seems that I have answered my own question, which means only one thing! Time to go SHOPPING! and I will post my findings.

War Monkey
I had bought some 15mm U.S. Army 5 tons and HUMVEES they look great but were rather small when comparing them to My 15mm figures and I would rather go with something that would look closer to scale.

Just curious, who were the makers of the '5 ton'ers & Humvees' and who made the 15mm figs?
As we've all found out, often different companies sell the same item, same scale, but will be a bit off when side by side.

*War Monkey,
Im guessing the FedEx in the above pic, is a Matchbox car?
Ive never really thought of those for gaming, seemed too small, but then when 15mm's came up, it was only in discussions w/ friends into Nap. period games, never anything modern, let alone Post Apoc.

They were from QRF'S, I know for most war gaming perspective is that vehicles for the main part are only a representation of the vehicle and to conserve space on the table.

The van is a HO Scale vehicle.

10mm is about 1/175
N is 1/160 = about 11.0mm
1/144 = about 12.2mm
15mm is about 1/115
TT is 1/120 = about 14.6mm
HO is 1/87 = about 20.1mm
OO is 1/76 = about 23mm
1/72 = about 24.3mm
25mm is about 1/70.1

These are my calculations based upon the average height of a man at 69" = 1.7526 m.

Plastic Soldier Review has a very good figure size diagram for all figures reviewed detailing average figure height for the 1/72 figures they review and they vary substantially.

From the pictures I'd guess that the "15mm" figures you bought are subject to 'scale creep' and are actually 18mm.

If you are buying to build a diorama and getting paid say $10,000 USD by The Smithsonian then exact scale is pretty important.

If you are buying to play wargames, then exact scale only matters to the purest who you don't want to be playing with anyway (IMHO). I frequently put 15mm figures with my 1/144 tanks, and freely mix 20mm / 1/76 / 1/76 / HO. Many folks mix 15mm with 1/100 scale stuff. If you make an entire unit the same scale it looks okay, especially WWII and on – you could even mix scales in Ancients on the assumption that not every Gaul in the army is 69" tall! Problem with more modern stuff is equipment especially firearms. A 1/76 figure's M1 Garand rifle is going to be smaller than a 1/72 scale figure's M1 rifle so if you put them together it is pretty noticeable. A 1/72 scale Pict's spear next to a 1/76 scale Pict's spear is no big deal – who is to say that Picts very good QC? Romans are a different story.

Just my opinion. There has been lots of chatter on TMP lately about scale, which is not a bad thing!

You know, we talk about Humvees being huge (and they are, for a car).

But a Humvee is only 73" wide, 15 feet long, and 6 feet tall.

15mm nominal scale is 1/100th, With that there is a lot of room for fudging.

A lot of the moderns guys use HO scale vehicles. At 1/87th who really can tell.

The real answer is how do they look to you on the table.

Im with you *Info.
1/100 to 1/87, is only '13 pts', so too speak difference. You'd have some "really" sharp eyes to actually notice any real difference.

The 'fraction – to mm' discussion has been around for ages. I tend to go with the 1/100 – 15mm general rule.
I have to say, IIRC, 1/72 was generally considered 20mm?

Personally, I never really thought that Zombie Apoc games in 15mm could look so cool.

WM,
I used 1/76, 1/72 & matchbox/corgi etc with good results with 15mm but I do think that most 15mm vehicles are for the smaller 15mm infantry but look small next to the 18mm ones.
Having said that a vehicle can be AI controlled so size is excusable.

Thanks for the info I will check into those as well, Thanks again.

As pointed out "15mm" is really something like 1/115 but recently has just grown up to be 1/100 (really 18mm) and now closer to "old" 20mm which has also grown to 1/72.

TomT

'20mm' was always somewhere between 1/76 and 1/72.

H0 scale or 1:87 works pretty well in my opinion.

Nice looking vehicles you have there, not only do they look like they will work well for your Sci-Fi gaming but you could use them for gaming "Gasland" or other P.A. games as well!

That's the plan. I wanted a certain Fallout vibe for them and play some races too. Though I still need to purchase Gaslands…

To me scale is very important, nothing worse than 10 circus freaks that are supposed to be 1/144 next to their Boxer. It stretches suspension of belief well beyond breaking point to pretend they would ever get in the vehicle. Same with my 1/144 vehicle the crew are about scale, put circus freaks next to them and it daft, and a waste of table space. Also making infantry bases as thin as possible helps, minimises the dwarfing the vehicle syndrome. Nothing worse than a " beautifully textured base 2 ft off the ground.

I commonly use 1:76th / OO vehicles with my 15mm sci-fi let alone HO. I was never able to source enough ROCO for anything like a reasonable price!

Aesthetically I think they work well – 15mm sci-fi seems to be quite bad for the aforementioned issue of scale creep. That said I'm not sure I'd be quite so cavalier with my WWII collection…

Another thing about sci-fi is that vehicles tend to be bigger! The picture below contains a 1:76th M113 dressed as a proxy Rhino – size wise a 1:76th M113 is similar to a 1:100 Rhino – next to a 1:100 Warthog.

Ultimately though I think its a matter of personal choice.

Those do look really nice all together.

Great Stuff!

What's that stompy robot in blue and red, please?

The robot is from the some what controversial Technolog, from their ZOD. A couple of contributors here have used them as a base for conversions and kit bashes. Pretty much the only thing they have going for them is price! Personally I'm planning to replace them with GW's new Adeptus Titanicus Knights.

Thanks for the info!

All my cars for 15mm are HO scale. I do use Matchbox trucks as well…