I like this photo to demonstrate the varying sizes and shapes of U.S. soldiers in World War II.

I noticed when I looked through my set of 1/35 figures that there is a significant disparity in the sizes from different manufacturers. Verlinden and Custom Dioramics figures are noticeably larger than Tamiya's, and Hornet heads are the smaller size as well.

Yes, real life people are different sizes and all that, but this seems too much. So who does the more accurate figures in terms of size?

...here is the size comparative. First all 4 figures face forward, followed by a shoulder-to-shoulder of the HJ lad to each of the other 3.

The figures are (L-R): Platoon’s PT-030 Panzergrenadier ‘Hitlerjugend’ 1944; Platoon's PT-026 SS Tank Crew, 1944; Alpine's 35057 Max Wünsche LAH Kharkov ; and DML's "Observer" from 6368 2cm Flak Crew.

Now you may be wondering why these figures. Firstly I tried to choose figures that all bore a relatively upright position, and then also figures that I had in a fairly complete state The Platoon figure was chosen as he is also a Tony Williams sculpt and naturally from the same stable. The Alpine figure, because IMO Alpine figures are probably the best resin figures on the market. Finally the DML figure... once again a personal opinion... despite the shocking quality of this particular kit, I still consider DML the market leader and more people visiting this site probably have DML figures that any other plastic brand.

Ok, enough waffle... here are the pics... the measurements follow them...









Now for the dimensions. I took 4 measurements: 1) foot to shoulder height; 2) foot to eye level (i.e. bridge of nose); 3) foot to highest point of head (incl. head gear); 4) shoulder breadth.

Platoon HJ:
1) 41mm 1.43m 4.71ft
2) 47.5mm 1.66m 5.45ft
3) 51mm 1.79m 5.86ft
4) 13mm 0.46m 1.49ft

Platoon Tanker:
1) 42mm 1.47m 4.82ft
2) 48.5mm 1.70m 5.57ft
3) 54mm 1.90m 6.20ft
4) 14mm 0.50m 1.61ft

Alpine Wünsche :
1) 43mm 1.51m 4.94ft
2) 49mm 1.72m 5.63ft
3) 53mm 1.86m 6.09ft
4) 16mm 0.56m 1.84ft

DML Observer:
1) 43mm 1.51m 4.94ft
2) 49mm 1.72m 5.63ft
3) 52mm 1.82m 5.97ft
4) 12mm 0.42m 1.38ft

So as you can see all the figures are pretty close in size, with perhaps the exception of the DML figure, which is slightly more slender than the rest, with the height exagerated by the angle of the head.

Which figure size is the most accurate? Well I suppose that depends on how you measure it. I leave that up to you to decide.

I'd like to add a point that may have been overlooked.

Its all well and good comparing manufacturer to manufacturer, but often the size of figure will vary within a single companies range. This is down to different sculptors, particularly for some bigger companies who employ several to meet their demands.

I know Verlinden have already been mentioned but Dragon too have some significant size differences in their various figure sets.

I rarely build figures unmodified now and so with all the arm + head swapping etc. it can be fustrating when figures are radically different, however, I find that generally most major 1/35 figures are within acceptable tollerance.

Certainly slightly different sized figures in a dio are less of an issue compared to a single 'frankenstein' figure with variously sized limbs!

HTH

James

Thanks for the interesting post, Rudi. But I noticed you have no Verlinden or Azimut figures in the lot. Presumably you don't use their products. Though my Azimut Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz figures are properly sized (unlike the overly thick Verlinden figures), other figures of theirs I have are indeed too big.

One rule I use-err on the size of small, especially for older figures. Having enough to eat was a problem for most people many years ago (with the exception of Hermann Goering .)