Ship's crew - miniature wargaming figures?

[cardensb]

I hate having a ship model with no one on board so I am looking at wargaming miniature figures.  Does anyone have any experience with them?

I am looking at Old Glory brand 25mm figures trying to determine if they fit a 1:48 or 1:64 scale ship. I "war game" in 28mm scale and the brand (Warlord Games plastics), I use are too tall for either scale.

 

Perry's Miniatures 28mm in plastic also seem a little too tall and do not have many poses that would work beyond altering an infantry based box set. (I have an American Infantry regiment set).

 

Old Glory brand has sets with titles like "men climbing rigging", "pirate deck crew gunners", "AWI (American War of Independence) Naval Crew" (spelled Navel though) and "Swivel guns with crew". I don't have much experience with metal based figures.

Before I spend $20 to $40 plus shipping, I was hoping someone else had tried these already and could provide feedback.

 

[whitejamest]

I have no experience with those particular figures, and will be curious about what you learn if you do go that route. I know 28mm figures tend to be a bit on the beefy end for 1/64 scale ship models, though it depends on the manufacturer. The chunkier ones I think are more like 1/56 or so. Perhaps the 25mm figures will be a better fit. Definitely way too small for 1/48 though. 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  This seems to be a 'rabbit hole' you're peering down, at least from the content of one article that turned up on a casual search:  https://alkony.enerla.net/english/the-nexus/miniatures-nexus/miniature-hobby/miniature-size-miniature-scale

 

   Last year I build a 1:72 Khufu Solar Barge and had searched for that scale ... and there were not many offerings for ancient Egyptians, but I did find one box that was suitable.  A temporarily suspended build of the Great Harry happens to be aprox. 1:88, and 1:87 is nominally HO train gauge.  So I looked for 'medieval' sailors in that gauge - again the pickings were sparse (there were a few military figures that might work for medieval soldiers carried on board).

 

  So if you are sure of the ship model scale you are (or will be ) making (e.g. 1:48), then it may do to search for that scale and see what comes up.

[Lieste]

For 3d printing at a not too large size (and with some ability to scale to suit) you could look at the sailor/gunner/rower crew sets by Alf Scherer might be useful. His stuff can be found over at MyMiniFactory - and while I haven't used any of his figures myself (FDM printer and smallish figures are not a fantastic match - Resin printers should do much better though). I have printed a number of his other models.

Detail seems to be at around the level of older 1/72 scale plastic figures, but you can print/have printed as many as you need.

Rowers/crew for a bireme and viking ships as well as C17th and C18th/19th age of sail peeps should give a fair bit of utility if they are suitable and the sets are inexpensive for a 'suck it and see' if you have a suitable printer (or a friend with one and the willingness to indulge).

[knightyo]

To me, only about one out of every hundred models looks better with figures unless exceptionally well painted/placed.  Even then, it seems like figures on a model take away from it's elegance.  I'm probably in the minority however, and fully acknowledge that I have strange tastes. I also admit that I've just purchased figures from Chris at Vanguard Models; not sure if I'll ever place them on a model, however; they were just too cool not to purchase.

 

Alan

[Roger Pellett]

54 mm is a very common size for well proportioned military figures.  This equates to a scale of 3/8 in = 1ft-0in, or if you prefer 1:32.  Using this and a simple proportion you can determine the scale for the figures that you are considering.

 

 Roger

Edited August 14, 2023 by Roger Pellett