# How to build scale figures



## marioporto (Jul 22, 2020)

Hi. I’m looking to add some people and animals to my layout and they are hard to find in the right scale and if you can, they are very expensive. I’d like to try my hand at making them myself so I’m wondering if anyone can recommend a good book or video. Thnx!


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

What scale of figure are you planning on making?
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## marioporto (Jul 22, 2020)

1:24


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

as proportions are the most difficult thing in modelling figures, you could try the following:
buy cheap plastic soldiers, cut them up, cut away things like gear and helmets, glue together parts in desired poses (inserting short pieces of fine wire for stability), stuff out with two part epoxy (like green stuff) and finally paint.


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## marioporto (Jul 22, 2020)

Great idea, I’ll give it a try! Thnx so much


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Marioporto,
I guess it all depends what you mean by "very expensive".
The ebay ones from China work out to be about 50 cents unpainted, or $1 painted each.
Perhaps start with the unpainted ones and if you are careful with heat, you can 're-bend' them to different positions.
Might be easier than the dollar store soldiers, but then as I said, not sure what expensive is for you.
As long as you have fun,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Years ago I bought several Aristocraft 1:29 people, made molds using the Micro Mark product and cast a bunch of them, without legs. Painted them all different, I used them as passengers in the cars so not much them was really seen.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

See the links in the first post of this thread...









The myLargescale.com Figure Class! By Chris Walas


The myLargescale.com Figure Class! By Chris Walas Chris Walas shows you how to make your own amazingly crafted figures in any scale you happen to be modeling in. Chapter 1: http://www.npcrr.com/Articles/FiguresClass/Figure_Class_Ch1.pdf Chapter 2...




www.mylargescale.com


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## marioporto (Jul 22, 2020)

Dwight Ennis said:


> See the links in the first post of this thread...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


PERFECT, just what I was looking for. THANKS!!


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## marioporto (Jul 22, 2020)

David Leech said:


> Marioporto,
> I guess it all depends what you mean by "very expensive".
> The ebay ones from China work out to be about 50 cents unpainted, or $1 painted each.
> Perhaps start with the unpainted ones and if you are careful with heat, you can 're-bend' them to different positions.
> ...


I saw those David and yes, they are quite reasonably priced but don't have the poses that I would want and also don't have any animals. The "expensive" ones I am referring to are the Woodland Scenics ones that go for $8-$12 each and more. I may try to bend them with heat, sounds like fun! Thanks!


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## backyardRR (Aug 14, 2012)

I have extensively used the Ebay ones from China. Yes, the poses are limited but I painted them in a variety of colors.


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## Exador (Jan 24, 2020)

Does anyone have some .stl files of people? One thing I need is a seated engineer. 1:22 or close?


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

A friend of Dan Pantages offered to scan him and print him so that he could ride in his trains.
Maybe see if you can find someone local who has a hand scanner to scan you so that you can be the engineer.
Modelu in the UK do a wonderful service where you can dress up in railway attire and be scanned and printed.
I'm surprised that there is not something similar in the US, but maybe there is and we just don't know it!
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

I just had a quick scan through Thingiverse and found a couple of sitting men that might do????
For example








Slot Car - Sitting Spectator by gillesfan_sf


A 1/32 scale seated spectator for use with slot car circuits. He seems to be shouting about something he's seen




www.thingiverse.com




Maybe you can find something better there, and of course just print it to your scale.
Cheers,
David


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## DetailsDetails (Jul 28, 2021)

Just as the above mentioned unpainted folks in approximately 1:24, I bought unpainted animals on ebay in the same scale.
Birds, mammals etc


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## backyardRR (Aug 14, 2012)

On a similar subject, does anyone know about the availability of G "scale" period vehicles (1920s, 30s)?


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

backyardRR said:


> On a similar subject, does anyone know about the availability of G "scale" period vehicles (1920s, 30s)?


and which 'scale' is that?
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

For 3D printing, here are a bunch of random figures and stuff I've created over the years in OBJ format (you can convert them with blender into stl files if you prefer those)
martinsant.net/3dpeopleOBJ.zip

They can be scaled to pretty much any real size, I've used them with my 1:20 and 1:29 scale stuff.

I highly recommend blender, it's a free 3D modeling program, quite powerful- it's at blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free and Open 3D Creation Software

The same above figures, rigged with skeletons for posing in blender are available here:
martinsant.net/blend.zip

Most of the people figures were made with makehuman, another freebie available here: Downloads | www.makehumancommunity.org


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## Exador (Jan 24, 2020)

Thank you, Martan!


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

There are also some good stl figures on thingiverse. Sometimes they are hard to find, the search feature isn't the best, but here is a pretty good collection. I've printed several of these in 1/29 and they come out pretty good on my Ender 3. I would like to get a resin printer for more detail but I get pretty good results on the 'Super Quality' settings in my slicer (Cura).
Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects


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## FredH (May 18, 2018)

backyardRR said:


> On a similar subject, does anyone know about the availability of G "scale" period vehicles (1920s, 30s)?


Lots available here: IP Quality Check


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## FredH (May 18, 2018)

marioporto said:


> Hi. I’m looking to add some people and animals to my layout and they are hard to find in the right scale and if you can, they are very expensive. I’d like to try my hand at making them myself so I’m wondering if anyone can recommend a good book or video. Thnx!


Not a book however one of the best sources for almost any type of person for your models try this link. The owner is one heck of a good guy. E-mail him for help if needed. Fun & Games


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## choochoowilly (Oct 31, 2016)

marioporto said:


> Hi. I’m looking to add some people and animals to my layout and they are hard to find in the right scale and if you can, they are very expensive. I’d like to try my hand at making them myself so I’m wondering if anyone can recommend a good book or video. Thnx!


Can't help you with making them although I have seen some good ones, but if you are looking for general, non period style you might look into eBay's AMERICAN DIORAMA 1:24 SCALE which can be altered fairly easy to suit you heeds, found the quality to be very good and figures are very inexpensive also paint job on them is great, her is a picture on a mechanic that had a red tool box in his hand that I changed yo a







piece of fire wood, good luck


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## Zeb (May 18, 2021)

These are some models that I sculpted in Zbrush. You can use Blender to accomplish the same thing with a little more effort. Either way requires a lot of practice and a pen tablet is recommended.

For mechanical models, you can import them to Blender and modify/add objects. The key is to ensure they would be "water tight" if filled with water. If you're careful and have two "watertight" models, you can join them using a boolean operation.

Scaling can be done rather accurately in the slicer (the program that generates the code for printing either resin or extrusion prints). As long as you have a model and a printer, you can scale to the size the printer allows. The elk below maxed out my Elegoo Mars 2.





























Model railroad bridge in the background.


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Exador said:


> Does anyone have some .stl files of people? One thing I need is a seated engineer. 1:22 or close?


If you are looking to print your own, then I would suggest downloading DAZ3D. They come with two generic figures, 1 male and 1 female and an assortment of deformers for various body types. Those figures can be exported to wave object files. All the 3D splicers I've worked with accept the wave front object 3D files as easily as they do .stl files. You'll need to do a little doctoring up in meshmixer to make those exported files work though. The nice thing is you can pose them however you want, print them out and add clothes. The Free software even comes with a few stock poses to get you started.


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