1/32 scale bliss

holensock · Post by **holensock** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:20 am

Good stuff, Itcbj.
I guess I could probably live with no articulation of 1:32, if only they'd put out sets of soldiers just on patrol, or sitting around, or tank riders, etc, but they don't. Well, except for the 'high end' companies. Which I guess doesn't matter for some of the figure sets that FOV puts out has at least one soldier just standing or walking, but I'd have to spend $40 just to get 4 of those kinds of soldiers.
As a kid, we only had the static green little guys. When GI JOE came out it was GREAT to be able to POSE these guys. Now after 40+ years, I can't justify going back to the 'static' little guys just because FOV or 21C has them 'painted'...
I wonder what would happen if you placed a 'static' soldier and an articulated 1:18 soldier in front of a kid...which one would he choose to play with...

ltcbj · Post by **ltcbj** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:36 am

I would guess that you can find tank riders, et al on the after market, left overs from 21stC because I clearly remember a guy who used their early PzIII as a seat cushion. They must still have that mold too. I also recall lots of ~1/32 green army men types who were molded in seated position.

I suspect that the "static" soldier would be 1/2 the size of the 1/18 and those large guys have a cache just on size alone. I just think that what they have in size they lose in imagination. When you have those big, articulated guys you need a hell of a lot of room to add on tanks, trucks, aircraft, etc, All items that are much more reasonable in smaller scales. I used to use 22 cal bullet shells as soldiers with my cast iron Comet ~1/87 tanks. I just think kids get so into "articulating" that their broader imaginations get stunted. The articulants arew also much more breakable....

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:33 am

that's a very interesting post about imagination and our hobby. I've noticed that some of my favourite pieces in my collection are not the ones that are the best quality/detail/accuracy. They're ones i've cobbled together as best i could, just to make a reasonable representative of the subject i was interested in. But with enthusiasm for the subject and imagination, i can enjoy them as much, or more than some of my highest quality pieces.

In fact, my favourite piece is a 1/18 u-boat i made from enlarging an illustration from a book. It's a side view, measures about 12 1/2 feet long and i have it hanging on a wall with a sea green backround and little depth charge customs i made raining down on it. I love it. But for being a quality/realistic/detailed model it clearly leaves much to be desired. But i still love it. In fact, i liked it so much i followed it up with a 1/18 british destoyer that i now have hanging on another wall. It's over 16 feet long and is firing and dropping depth charges off the stern and hedgehogs from the bow. It's fairly pixelated looking from the enlargment process, is 2 dimensional of course, and so-so in quality but from 10 feet away it looks awesome!

I think imagination can make up for a lot of the short comings in this or any hobby and has been neglected, or forgotten, by too many people...

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:45 am

for being a quality/realistic/detailed model it clearly leaves much to be desired. But i still love it.

Just goes to show.... In the end it really boils down to what appeals most to you as an individual, and it really does not matter all that much what others think.

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:11 pm

it's funny, when i was much younger i used to build models and was a terrible perfectionist.....so much so that i gave it up because it was zero fun.

Now, i've got a lot of, what back then i would have called crap, but i'm lovin' it. The large scale is what makes the difference, i think. It makes it easy to be very forgiving.

See, size does matter. (to this individual anyway).

tko211 · Post by **tko211** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:25 pm

I would really like to see your pics please aferg! The U-boat sounds cool. Have anything you can share with us?

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:03 pm

one day i will get a camera...and then i will post pics.

holensock · Post by **holensock** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:40 pm

aferguson wrote:one day i will get a camera...and then i will post pics.

...with you probably spending $100 for the new King Tiger and then another $100 for the 88...that camera may be a loooonnngg way off for you, aferguson

MG40K · Post by **MG40K** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:53 pm

ltcbj wrote:I recall that original Star Wars figures had as few as four points of articulation.

If you include r2, that one had 2 points of articulation.

ltcbj · Post by **ltcbj** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:18 am

R2 was an outlier. Still. Did not bring down the average very much.