Scale and aircraft

Started by mrkev, 16 June 2022, 11:57:52 PM

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mrkev

Hi all,

This one might seem a bit odd but I feel it might work!

With most of us playing 1 base per platoon, and a lot of people using terrain that's a scale smaller than their minis to better show this, does anyone use aircraft that are a scale smaller too?  So 6mm aircraft with 10mm ground units, for example.

My thinking behind this is some of the soviet helicopters are bloody massive and are going to have a very big footprint compared to everything else. I also wonder if you'd get a bit of 'forced perspective' this way too when aircraft are on flight stands.

Might be a stupid idea and I'm just spitballing, I'd be curious to see what people think.

Superscribe

For helicopters I use same scale as the figures as they may need to be played on the ground as well as in the air so 1/144 for 10mm games.

But for fixed wing aircraft I always play 1 scale smaller,so 1/200 with 10mm figures. I do same for larger scale games too, 1/144 aircraft with 15mm figures, 1/72 aircraft with 28mm figures etc.

Ithoriel

mrkev, if you are happy with it and your opponents are happy with it I don't see there's a problem.

However, if you play solo and your opponent isn't happy with it you have bigger problems than the size of helicopters :D :D :D
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paulr

;D  ;D  ;D

I agree with Ithoriel ;)

It is not uncommon to use one scale down for aircraft for all the reasons you mentioned.

This thread https://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,21480.0.html is an eaxmple of using 3mm aircraft with 6mm troops

Full disclosure, I'm a user of Wendy houses, 6mm buildings with 10mm figures :)
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FierceKitty

The only combat aircraft I mix with surface forces (excluding a few observer balloons for the WNA) is a Zeppelin for the Hochseeflotte; it's in 1:3000, as are the ships. But the needs and scales there are somewhat different.
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kustenjaeger

I habitually use 1/300 aircraft with 10mm figures (and 1/144 aircraft with 15mm figures). It's cheaper, easier to store and they don't appear all that often.

While I haven't yet got any helicopters that is a question I have yet to resolve.

Edward

Raider4

I have used 1/600 aircraft with 6mm ground forces, and seen plenty of others do the same. Think it's a very common scale 'adjustment'.

I have also used the same 1/600 aircraft with 1/3000 naval forces, so it works the other way as well ;)

sultanbev

I use 1/144 aircraft for my 10mm and others' 15mm, am currently selling off the 6mm aircraft, as I can no longer get the Raiden Miniatures aircraft stands to put them on.

1/144 aircraft do have the advantage of coming in kit form, but often more expensive than their 1/72 cousins, getting less plane per pound for a smaller model which is kinda weird. The upside is now some companies are now doing 1/144 3d printed planes, some of which are considerably cheaper than the kits.

If you see 1/144 models of Westland Whirlwind helicopters, Martin B10 bombers, Morane-Saulnier MS406 fighters, He-111F step-nose bombers, and Lysanders, let me know :)

fsn

I use the Raiden with 10mm. They're of little use really. A 200mph aircraft flying over the 6' length of a table would cover the distance in about 3 seconds. Then again, I use 1:1 figure scale.

But I really like the Raiden models and need little excuse to buy them.  :D   
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fsn

Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Rhys

I'm a convert to using smaller scale aircraft (even helicopters) as Paulr has linked to above.
The bigegst point for the prosecution is that the range of aricraft avaliable in 6mm (and 3mm) is so much larger than  in 10 or 15mm.
The helicopter scale for landing on the table is largely irrelevent as in the ground scale a UH-1 is 220m long, an Mi-8 250m long and an Mi26 500m long.
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Leon

We stock the 6mm Raiden aircraft as it's a lot easier than paying out a ton on aircraft sculptors for what could be a limited sales range.
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Steve J

I'm moving towards 6mm for my 10mm games, as it's a lot easier to store these than the 1/144th ones.

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Steve - ever seen a 1/300th B52 ?
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Steve J

I dread to think how big it would be! But then given the altitude they probably bomb from, I wouldn't bother with it over the table.