28mm Cold War British Size Comparison

[trev]

Hi all,

I had some of the new Empress BAOR arrive today.  Great service from Empress and the figures are beautifully sculpted and well cast, with good natural looking proportions. 

They are big lads for 28mm though!



L to R: Empress, Mongrel, Eureka, Empress

The empress figs stand about 35mm high to the tops of the helmets or about 32mm at eye level, which will probably go nicely with 1/48 scale kits or Empress' own 1/50 scale vehicles but my poor old Mongrels and the Eureka Aden brits will feel quite intimidated.  The SLR is 2-3mm longer on the Empress fig too. So probably best to wait for the Empress Soviets for opponents or perhaps use Under Fire Miniatures Russians but I don't have any of those to compare.

The Eureka and Mongrel figs are a good match in height and both about 28mm at the eye but the Eureka figures are noticeably slighter with smaller (probably better to scale) heads.  All great figures but maybe not to everyone's taste for mixing and matching.

[carlos marighela]

They are big lads but they do match the Under Fire Cold War ranges (same sculptor).

The Crooked Dice squaddies are a slightly closer match and mounted on a slotta next to the Empress on a washer look acceptable.

[SJWi]

Wow, they are massive. I wouldn’t be mixing them, and wouldn’t advertise them as 28mm. I have Empress’ Maori Wars and Indian Mutiny figures and have no problem mixing them with other manufacturers ranges.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I found the Modern British figures to be of a comparable size with Crooked Dice.

Crooked Dice Tweedy and May (unfortunately no longer available) with an Empress Modern British figure.

The Empress integral base is surrounded by plastic card to simulate paving (Slaters 7mm paving is used on the Crooked Dice bases).

I will see about some comparison photographs on the BAOR figures and other figures.

The Modern figure ranges are taller than the Empress Vietnam figures, and I would not mix them.

[carlos marighela]

The Vietnam figures are a good match for Eureka height wise. I can dig out an Empress and Crooked Dice squaddie comparison if need be.

[trev]

Thanks for the responses all. 

Carlos, it would be interesting to know what figures do really match with these size-wise.   They are great figures and I think would match well with 1/48 vehicles. 

UVS, some comparison shots would be great if you have the minis.  Thanks.

There is this one pic from Ash's wonderful Bush Wars thread showing a Eureka and Under Fire mini side by side. https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=65877.90

It's difficult to tell though due the running pose.



EDit: Not sure why the image appears fuzzy.  Probably something I did.  If you open it up it's fine.

There is also this other one of a UF Rhodesian and Eureka RAR on the same page.  Lovely painting too!

[Ash]

Hi trev thanks for the kind words re the bush wars stuff, just dug out some minis to compare:



The Eureka are definitely a tad shorter (hadn't really noticed before), the two on the right are on GW type bases the rest on 3mm MDF

Here's an older one



Clearly the Britannia is the giant of the bunch & the Mongrel not quite so much ( figure also had the base built up).
Being a tad vrtically challenged aside, that particular range (Congo mercenary) of Mongrel are really nice figures.

[trev]

Thanks Ash.  That's a big help.  I do like the Mongrel Mercs.  It's a pity the rest were never done.  I watched siege of Jadotville the other day, so I'm in the mood for some 28mm Congo Crisis. 

 

[Durando]

Don't forget Gripping Beasts Falklands British

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Here are some comparisons between Empress Moderns, Crooked Dice and Gringo's 40s.

Crooked Dice X-Commando with Empress British head with extra cameo, Crooked Dice Army man with SLR, Empress Miniatures BAOR Infantry.


rooked Dice X-Commando with Empress British head with extra cameo, Crooked Dice Minion, Under Fire Cold War Russian.


Crooked Dice X-Commando with Empress British head with extra cameo, Crooked Dice Minion, Empress BAOR infantryman.


Gringo's 40 NVA and Empress BAOR infantryman.

One of my Authorised Firearm Officer has made himself scarce, but here he is taking cover behind a Transit Van.

Crooked Dice X-Commando with Custodian helmet head with a (1/50th scale) Crooked Dice transit van.

And for Carlos, no size comparison is complete without William Killian.

Empress British electronics specialist (converted medic), Crooked Dice William Killian and an insurgent for scale.


And finally an Empress Universal Soldier with Russian gasmask head and a Crooked Dice Militia man.

[AKULA]

Thanks for posting those comparison photos - what I take from that is that the Empress BAOR fit in well with other ranges...the outlier appears to be Eureka, which is a shame as they are also beautiful minis.

Also pleased to see the CD transit in a photo, as I’ve just bought one this evening 

[carlos marighela]

More a case that Eureka, Mongrel and MoFo are all smaller.  So about a 50/50 split. But even there, there’s a bit of variation. Some of the Aden Brits in Glengarry are slightly taller. That said, the Eureka ranges be it 1960s Brits or Soviets for Afghanistan aren’t really thematically compatible anyway. The MoFo and Mongrel Cold War types are dramatically smaller than Empress and Under Fire. Britannia just don’t fit in with anything

On the other hand Empress’s the Paul Hicks sculpted Vietnam range are pretty good matches, size wise for the Eureka ranges.

[AKULA]

True, but I was also thinking of the fact that the Empress BAOR also sit well with the Crooked Dice minis, which is a big plus if you want non-military types in your games 

[carlos marighela]

I must admit I’m wondering how your old range, now part of Crooked Dice, square up with the Empress Brits. With a bit of work they might make reasonable Dutch or Luxembourgers.

[Ash]

... Paul Hicks sculpted Vietnam range are pretty good matches, size wise for the Eureka ranges.

Found a picture of a couple of Eureka blokes with heads from the Empress Indochina range.