28mm Civilian Vehicles, Part IV: Majorette

Part four of a continuing effort to document scale-appropriate toy cars for 28mm gaming. In this post we take a look at models from Majorette, another European manufacturer making many cars with a nominal scale of ~1/55. Newer offerings tend to run closer to 1/64 except for compact and subcompact cars, however older Majorettes tended to be larger and many mid-size cars can be had as well.

(28mm figures from the Northstar "Fistful of Kung-fu" and Copplestone Castings "Future Wars" ranges provided for scale)

2007 Renault Twingo II
Scale: 1/55 (WB: 2365/42.5; W: 1655/30.1)
Line: Majorette
Imprint: "Twingo / Ech: 1/64 / Ref: 206B"

2010 Honda CR-Z (ZF1)
Scale: 1/54 (WB: 2435/44.6; W: 1740/32.7)
Line: Majorette
Imprint: "Honda CRZ / Ech: 1/55 / Ref: 220B"

2008 Renault Scénic III
Scale: 1/58 (WB: 2700/46.5; W: 1844/32.1)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "Renault Scenic / Ech: 1/64 / Ref: 221F"

2009 BMW Z4 (E89)
Scale: 1/56 (WB: 2496/44.4; W: 1790/32.3)
Line: Majorette
Imprint: "BMW X4 Roadster / Ech: 1/56 / Ref: 244F"

2007 Fiat 500
Scale: 1/55 (WB: 2300/41.8; W: 1627/29.5)
Line: Majorette
Imprint: "Fiat 500 / Ech: 1/55 / Ref: 286C"

1979 Toyota HiLux Third Generation (N30)
Scale: 1/55 (WB: 2585/45.1; W: 1610/30.9)
Line: Majorette
Imprint: "Toyota Pick-up / Ech. 1/56 / No 292"

28mm Civilian Vehicles, Part II: Siku

Part two of a continuing effort to document scale-appropriate toy cars for 28mm gaming. In this post we take a look at a few models from Siku, probably the manufacturer with the largest collection of ~1/56 scale diecast cars. Siku cars are usually imprinted with engine and performance statistics; these have been omitted from the profiles in the interest of brevity.

(28mm figures from the Northstar "Fistful of Kung-fu" and Copplestone Castings "Future Wars" ranges provided for scale)

2001 Mercedes-Benz C-Class (W203)
Scale: 1/54 (WB: 2715/48.6; W: 1728/33.1)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "Mercedes Benz C320 / 1375"

2005 Audi Q7 (Type 4L)
Scale: 1/55 (WB: 3002/51.7; W: 1984/37.8)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "Audi Q7 4.2 FSI Quattro / 1429"

2008 M3 Coupe (E92)
Scale: 1/56 (WB: 2761/47.5; W: 1821/33.7)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "BMW M3 Coupe / 1450"

2007 BMW X5 (E70)
Scale: 1/56 (WB: 2933/49.6; W: 1933/36.9)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "BMW X5 4.8i / 1432"

2011 Volkswagen Amarok
Scale: 1/59 (WB: 3095/50.2; W: 1944/35.1)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "VW Amarok TDi / No.1443"
Note: Normally I would consider 1/59 too small for 28mm passenger cars; however, because the actual truck is so large. I think it mixes believably as a mid-size pickup.

1972 Jeep CJ-5
Scale: 1/51 (WB: 2121/42.1; W: 1740/33.9)
Line: Siku Super Series
Imprint: "Jeep CJ-5 / 1053"
Note: Normally I consider 1/51 too large for 28mm passenger cars; however, given the relative smallness of the CJ, and the lack of a truer scaled version, I have decided to include it.

28mm Civilian Vehicles, Part I: Welly

A selection of Welly brand diecast cars, suitable in scale for 28mm gaming. This is the first in an ongoing project to document toys suitable for gaming.

(28mm figures from the Northstar "Fistful of Kung-fu" and Copplestone Castings "Future Wars" ranges provided for scale)

2003 Peugeot 206 (5dr)
Scale: 1/53 (WB: 2442/46.5; W: 1655/53.0)
Line: Welly NEX 1:60
Imprint: "Peugeot 206 / No.2231"

1970 Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle"
Scale: 1/52 (WB: 2400/46.5; W: 1539/29.5)
Line: Welly NEX 1:60
Imprint: "Volkswagen Beetle / No.52222"

1998 Volkswagen New Beetle
Scale: 1/55 (WB: 2515/45.2; W: 1721/31.8)
Line: Welly NEX 1:60
Imprint: "Volkswagen New Beetle / No.2061"

1979 Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen SWB (W460)
Scale: 1/56 (WB: 2400/41.4; W: 1700/31.8)
Line: Welly
Imprint: "MB 300 GE / No.9593"

1998 Volkswagen Golf Mk4 (1J)
Scale: 1/56 (WB: 2512/44.4; W: 1735/31.3)
Line: Welly
Imprint: "VW Golf IV / No.8140"

1974 Trabant 601 Deluxe Limousine
Scale: 1/48 (WB: 2020/41.5; W: 1505/31.6)
Line: Welly NEX 1:60
Imprint: "Trabant 601 / No.52325"
Note: I consider 1/48 scale far too large for 28mm miniatures, even for cars as small as the Trabant. I personally prefer the slightly leaner Maisto Trabant 601 (1/51 scale) for 28mm miniatures, but I've included this listing for those who prefer larger vehicles.

Five And A Half More...

I finished painting more minis this weekend. I was rather taken by the finished colors on the urban guerrilla pictured at right. I had used two Ceramcoat shades of green on her clothing and they finished rather nicely I thought, so I decided to use those colors as the basis for my trooper schemes. You can see the results here, the male troopers are ex-Grenadier castings by EM-4/Mirlington, the female is from Copplestone Castings.

The troopers were done a bit slap-dash, but they came out well enough. The guerrilla (a Copplestone Castings' Partisan) was painted to a much higher standard, with yellow marking stripe on the grenade and a storied baseball team cap.

At the far left is the other plainclothes cop from Northstar's "Fistful of Kung Fu" line. Probably should have gone for a higher contrast between vest and shirt, but I wanted to try that purple. Sue me.

Trooper Scheme:

Uniform: Ceramcoat "Timberline Green"
Armor: Ceramcoat "Dark Forest Green" with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" scratches; with VMC 010 "Bloody Red" optic lens on the helmet.
Boots/Holster/Electronics: Ceramcoat "Charcoal" with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" drybruch on the edges of electronic devices.
Firearms: Ceramcoat "Charcoal" barrel/GL/magazine with VMC 053 "Chainmail Silver" drybrush, and VMC 062 "Earth" receiver
Beret: VMC 011 "Gory Red"
Pouches: Army Painter "Army Green"

Urban Bases: Ceramcoat "Hippo Grey", drybrushed in Ceramcoat "Bridgeport Grey" and flocked with Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass" static grass.

Painting Miniatures of Color

I am a really big fan of diversity - both in life and my gaming table - one of the reasons I prefer Vietnam era wargaming to the segregated army of WW2, for example. However painting miniatures that read on the table as non-white is not as easy as it might seem.

This is a skin tone tests for non-white characters. In all I'm rather pleased with the results... the only disappointment is the dirtiness of the white suit... but the photo accentuates it and it looks better in real life.

All the skintones were Vallejo Model Colors. For the three Asian figures on the left (Yakuza gangster "oyabun leader" painted as a low level chimpira in flamboyant red suit, and a "heroic cop" both from Northstar's Fistful of Kung Fu line; female "citizan militia" painted as a Hong Kong SDU officer) were painted with VMC 036 "Bronze Fleshtone". It is a bit stereotypically yellow, but it reads as "Asian" more than any more nuanced tones I've tried. It shall be my go to Asian skintone.

Next we have a "news team minder" painted as a city detective (from Copplestone Castings's Future Wars line) painted with Valleho Model Color Extra Opaque 140 "Heavy Skintone" which I think will read well for both Hispanic/Latino/Chicano and North African/S.W. Asian characters.

Finally "corporate babe 2" (also Copplestone Castings; Future Wars line) painted as an armed female corp with Vallejo Model Color 044 "Dark Fleshtone"which I fine to be a very attractive, rich black skintone in miniature - the photograph really doesn't do the actual miniature justice... she looks gorgeous in person... with just a hint of dirtiness to the white suit. I will definitely be using this color more often.

So those are my basic skintones for non-white miniatures... I would like to find more shades for each that could offer more variety while still remaining identifiable at scale... I have four or five shades of Caucasian/white fleshtone by comparison. However the fact is that real skintones aren't as defined - my wife and I are nearly the same shade for example... and at scale the slightly cartoonish choices of skintone become more important to distinguish the miniatures intended ethnicity. In my previous batch of minis I had experimented with "Heavy Fleshtone" for a lighter-skinned black woman, and "Elf Skintone" (VMC 004) for Asian characters... the results were a Latina-looking woman and two white-looking women respectively. Indeed the Asian characters skintones (two at center) are hard to distinguish from the the three "white" skintones used on the redhead corporate babe with the sword (VMC 089 "Cadmium Flesh"), the partisan in magenta watchcap (Ceramcoat"Medium Flesh"), and the biker on the end (VMC 100 "Rosy Flesh"),

I actually did some hobby stuff.

First vacation day in the new house... no kids, no wife... went to the Japan Motorcar Museum and shot about 400 photos of cars before my battery gave out, picked up a couple 1/48 scale Fiats in the gift shop... lunch, home improvement store for washers, and other odds and ends... then I actually did something directly game related:

Three cars (2 previously mentioned diecast Fiat 500F's, and one plastic BMW 7 series) taken apart, bodies abraded and primed; 27 washers glued into 27 Reaper plastic round bases; 5 EM4/ex-Grenadier Future Warriors minis, 2 Copplestone Castings Future Wars minis, 4 Northstar Yakuza Gangsters minis, and one Empress Afghan Insurgent mini, cleaned, based and primed.

I actually did some hobby stuff today. first time in years.

Now for some Sons of Anarchy before they get home...

Hong Kong Police Cars

First draft of police car decals, version: modern HK, for my "Fistful of Kung Fu" forces.

Layout is based on the 1/50 scale BMW 7 series models I have - and is a pretty traditional jam sandwich design. Hong Kong does have British-style Battenburg cruisers but they are limited to traffic division vehicles, standard patrol cars are still like this.

Optimized for clear decal film printed and applied to a white car. Rear bumper decal is over printed to allow it to be wrapped, and the rear plate text will be adhered over a yellow painted plate.