John Cutler
Thanks Nigel
Yes, there are lots of cheap HO scale figures from China. Quality-wise they are (mostly?) poor and portray modern (stick-like) humans. Maybe OK for the inner seats of a compartment but not the window seats or in open saloons where they are all too visible. I am not sure they are really a good option for compartment stock now that carriage lighting is becoming the RTR norm. I think the human eye is naturally attracted to human figures so they unconsciously get unwanted and critical attention. Why worry, you may say? The figures can just be swapped out if unsatisfactory. I think that might be easier said than done. Until now, a lot of RTR coaches rely on plastic lugs to detach the body from the chassis to gain access to the seating. It seems to be the luck of the draw to get these to disengage easily and will they break off after a second later attempt? I prefer to add quality figures and not worry about them afterwards. The advent of carriage lighting on newer coaches seems to have changed the outlook of RTR designers so the new Rapido B set has detachable roofs (but I see at least one person has complained on RMWeb about the now visible gap betwixt body and roof!).
Incidentally the scale3d.co.uk OO figures seem to be too big. The ladies scale out at 6 feet tall, far too much for the 1960s let alone 1950s and even fairly uncommon today. As for their 6-foot tall Hercule Poirot with the wrong moustache………..Maybe they should offer an HO alternative.
Oh well, back to putting a shilling a day in the piggy bank!