Roc Hobby 1/6 jeep

[Pine-Tree72]

Yes, thats the problem I had, and I cant remember what character figure I used, but as I say it was from the larger Dr Who sets and is 5 1/2 inches, at that tho' he sits a little high too for me ..??

[Son of a gun-ner]

Seems like manufacturers of these jeeps are a tad over generous with their scale claims.

[Pine-Tree72]

Yes ... a little more than a 'tad' tho ... I know I shouldnt have done but I did measure the 1/10 one and yes ... the sizes are out .. given todays technology you would have thought they would have had the tooling or whatever to get the correct sizes relative to the scale they built in .. ??

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Every month I join with a friend who has a photographic memory (drives me nuts) to take notes for a farm model review I write; between us we have file cabinets full of information on all kinds of farm equipment old and new. We measure the models with care to compare dimensions. Certainly the newer farm toys, especially those in 1/32, are far more accurate than older ones in any scale. (The smaller scale, 1/64, is variable, but still often quite accurate.) However, often an accurate scale replica just doesn't "look right" or work well, especially if it's intended not just for display, but also for play. And moving parts scaled down can be way too fragile. So we urge our readers not to take our tables of measurements too seriously, overlooking the "look" of the model or toy.

[Pine-Tree72]

I hope no one minds if I return to this for an small update .. In the absence of being able to find a scrap chassis to work on and not wanting to risk messing the original up I have given up on the idea of converting the suspension to a leaf spring assembly, Instead what I have opted to do is to modify the inner bodywork on the jeep to make it look more realistic, not to say hide the existing and somewhat modern suspension assembly, pics before and after of the rear attached, the front inner chassis is shaped and a little more complicated and I am having trouble getting the plasticard to fit it, but will get there I hope.

Consequently I now have a complete leaf spring conversion kit I no longer need so am open to offers on it if anyone is interested pic attached ... Mods, if I should be putting this on a sale forum please let me know.

Regarding the size of the 1/6 scale figures, ie Action Man etc, despite major surgery my driver still sits a little too tall, I did manage to find some 10 inch figures and thought my problems were over, a short lived dream however of course as in being 10 inch they weren't the same scale as the 1/6 (12 inch) figures and so too small for the clothing etc, although they did sit right in the jeep, why I wonder did the makers of action man apparently base him on someone over 6 foot tall ... oh well .. !!

[Pine-Tree72]

Hi guys .. been a while but would like to come back to this question of size and figures sitting way too high ... after performing what amounts to unnecessary surgery on a few action man figures ( I wont go into gory detail) to try and reduce the height at which they sit, it struck me recently that I had been approaching it all wrong. Given as we have agreed that this model is not exactly that accurate as a copy of the real thing, size wise that is .. I realised it is the seats on the model that are set way too high, the space beneath them having been designed to take the battery it seems
On the real thing the top of the seat is about level with the top of the side panel where you access the jeep, on the model they are twice as high .. so now Im looking to modify this in some way in order to lower the seats to more or less the correct height so the figures don't seem to be too high but at the same time retain the ability to fit the battery .. not sure if it can be done without affecting the model in a major way but am looking into it .. will post some pics in a bit to illustrate and also show some minor mods Ive done to try and make it more realistic.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

That's interesting, Pine-Tree! I don't know much about this Jeep, but maybe if you can lower the seats, you could switch to a smaller battery of the same voltage. I will be watching and wishing your success.
Then, too, have you ever tried to sit in one of these Jeeps? I am only 5' 9 1/2," shrunken a bit over the years, and when I try to fit in the driver's seat, my knees are next to my ears and the steering wheel jams against my ankles. O.K. maybe not that bad--but close!

[Pine-Tree72]

Hello again Her Dr Professor ... Yes I am lucky enough to get to sit in them on a fairly regular basis and so am aware of the, not only cramped position to a degree, but at 5ft 9 myself and at 74 now, the difficulty of getting in and out of them shall we say 'gracefully' ??

Back to the topic .. I have as I said added a couple more mods to my model, ie; the inclusion of what I assume are safety straps to the sides and vacuum 'motor' for the windscreen wipers, first two pics ( I hope )

The next pic shows the actual seat position on the real thing (one of those I get to ride in actually ) .. and the last pictures shows the position at 'A' of the side of the jeep body and at 'B' where the seat top should be as per a real one, position 'C' being where that actually incorrectly is on the model ... if you then transpose 'B' and 'C' to the top of the figures it shows/confirms that the action man figures are in fact correct for these models and would be more or less at the right height instead of sitting high as they do if the model seat was in a lower position.

[Will01Capri]

Next week i will ask permission to sit in a WW2 Jeep and get a photo of me sitting which might help. I can give you my height, but im a bit more porky than some GI from the 40s.
If you need some dimensions from real vehicle let me know, i can suppliment with photos

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"Porky": Maybe that's why the steering is in my lap.