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Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 3:21 pm
by 43rdRecceReg
Having had a whinge lately about Tamiya providing a piece of (quality?) string lately, in several Full-Option kits (Panther, Pz IV etc.,) to simulated metal tow cables/hawsers, I thought I'd have a whinge at some crew offerings from rival manufacturers. Given that a £900 kit from Tamiya can provide string as a substitute for a metal cable, perhaps it's no surprise that a £400-500 top end Torro, Taigen and £ 300 Heng long can provide these misfits:-
This chunky Heng Long character owes more to Chairman Mao statues, than to WW2 german crewmen:
Hauptmann Mao
Hauptmann Mao
Hauptmann Von Mao.jpeg (78.84 KiB) Viewed 4015 times
It's not simply the lack of detail in these figures that irks, but it's also the case that they're not in the scale they claim to be. After all, you don't want an 8ft tall crewman on top of your prize Tamiya Or Taigen, do you? ;)
Just take a look at Heng Long's Huge Hans. There's just no way someone with his proportions could even get through the cupola into the turret or casemate. :lolno: :eh:
Heng Long's Huge Hans can't get his butt though the hatch
Heng Long's Huge Hans can't get his butt though the hatch
Thwarted, Hans has an animated discussion here with a Lamb's a*rse.
Huge Hans in an intense discussion with a Sheep's buttocks
Huge Hans in an intense discussion with a Sheep's buttocks
Here he is making the Tamiya Pz IV hatch look weeny...
Huge Hans-tries to get into a Tamiya Cupola unsuccessfully
Huge Hans-tries to get into a Tamiya Cupola unsuccessfully
Ok, Hans is meant to be holding a pet dog..the Abteilung's mascot, I expect. But it could be the Invisible woman.. :think:
Painless and his 'Crazy Joe' have slipped into legend. However, with a £200-300 tank from Taigen, you could get to meet his German cousin, 'Verrückte Josef'. :haha:
Heng Long- Taigen 'Verrückte Josef' with Hauptmann Mao and lookalike
Heng Long- Taigen 'Verrückte Josef' with Hauptmann Mao and lookalike
The point is, however, for a considerable outlay of cash, you should be able to expect better figures than these. :think: If you have seen Tom's Cromwell commander, you'll know what I mean.
The question is, then,who makes the best 1/16 scale tank crew figures? By best, I mean in kit form, or pre-painted and complete?

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 4:28 pm
by PainlessWolf
Good morning,
Wait til' you see what I can do with a 1/6 scale figure.! Hah! Hah! I say. ( I completely agree. I have a lot more fun painting Tamiya figures and usually wind up with a passable looking Commander or crewman. If I am being forced to tart up a HL or Taigen figure, I concentrate on the uniform and adding headset wires, etc. Not much I can do with those faces...)
regards,
Painless

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:40 pm
by 43rdRecceReg
PainlessWolf wrote:Good morning,
Wait til' you see what I can do with a 1/6 scale figure.! Hah! Hah! I say. ( I completely agree. I have a lot more fun painting Tamiya figures and usually wind up with a passable looking Commander or crewman. If I am being forced to tart up a HL or Taigen figure, I concentrate on the uniform and adding headset wires, etc. Not much I can do with those faces...)
regards,
Painless
I've not begun to tart these freebies up yet, Painless. They're not exactly a great basis for model painting in the first place. Models with credible facial features, and anatomical dimensions don't seem to appear in 1/16th scale.
I have a Tamiya freebie, and began to paint his uniform with what they described as 'flat black'. I took 'flat' to mean 'matt'; but it's anything but matt. In fact his tunic is so shiny it could have been worn by Liberace. :lolno:
For the present, then, that commander is back in his box. At least his facial features look human. Tom's Cromwell commander looks good, but I believe he was fairly expansive and bespoke.. :think:

The image of 'Crazy Joe' in 1:6 scale really doesn't bear thinking about.. 8O :D

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:37 am
by gp100
The first time I laid my eyes on the tank commander with no legs that came with my tiger 1, I had only one thought...

Good lord.. The Germans are getting so desperate, they're sending double amputees into the war now!

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:43 am
by tomhugill
Hey Roy,

My Cromwell commander was from forgebear and is a dgs (dgskirk on here) creation, he also does a driver figure. Price is about £20 for the commander and slightly less for the crewman. My others were from twmodelltechnik sadly no longer in business.

For general (read german) figuees alpine miniatures are the best, koleso884 (seller on eBay) has some fantastic figures at reasonable prices, heikes modellbaugasse has some lovely German and russian crew (I used the shouty one on my panther), sol models do American, IDF and German crew, their sculpts are excellent.

If you can find them the verlinden crews were ok although would represent a taller person being 120mm.

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:48 am
by tomhugill
Son of a gun-ner wrote:Tom, aren't Sol 120mm too?
Some are some are 1/16, they do a Sherman crew in both scales

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:28 pm
by 43rdRecceReg
tomhugill wrote:Hey Roy,

My Cromwell commander was from forgebear and is a dgs (dgskirk on here) creation, he also does a driver figure. Price is about £20 for the commander and slightly less for the crewman. My others were from twmodelltechnik sadly no longer in business.

For general (read german) figuees alpine miniatures are the best, koleso884 (seller on eBay) has some fantastic figures at reasonable prices, heikes modellbaugasse has some lovely German and russian crew (I used the shouty one on my panther), sol models do American, IDF and German crew, their sculpts are excellent.

If you can find them the verlinden crews were ok although would represent a taller person being 120mm.
Thanks, Tom for the detailed info, and I do recall a discussion now on Dean's figures. I'll certainly check Koleso884 on Ebay, as well as the other links. :thumbup:

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:51 pm
by 43rdRecceReg
I'll post a few images from the links that Tom suggested, as well as others that may emerge, so we can have a rough idea of what's around.
These are from Licmas in Germany and available on Ebay here as well.( https://heng-long-panzer.de/en/advanced ... words=long )
Panzer Kommander from Licmas tanks
Panzer Kommander from Licmas tanks
Licmas Panzer Kommander.jpg (19.21 KiB) Viewed 3900 times
Russian Commander from Licmas
Russian Commander from Licmas
Licmas Russian commander.jpg (14.96 KiB) Viewed 3900 times
Tankrider pic A
Tankrider pic A
Tankrider A.jpg (33.58 KiB) Viewed 3900 times
German Tankrider pic B
German Tankrider pic B
Tankrider b.jpg (31.63 KiB) Viewed 3900 times
All of these are a class apart from Crazy Joe and Freaky Fritz, and seem reasonable priced in around the £20+ mark, I think. The Tankriders are from Koleso884 in the Russian Federation.

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:28 pm
by silversurfer1947
There is quite a range of figures to be found on Aliexpress though you need to trawl through. https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... sin+figure

Re: Best scale tank crew figures and torsos?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:37 pm
by Rad_Schuhart
silversurfer1947 wrote:There is quite a range of figures to be found on Aliexpress though you need to trawl through. https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... sin+figure
I was going to write this link too.

the only thing I dont buy at aliexpress is the food, lol.