John Cutler
In the process of populating the Maunsell pull-push carriages, I discovered to my surprise that some of the Monty’s figures are just too large. These will be consigned to cameos where their size can be hidden or disguised.
The oversize Monty’s figures compared to ModelU ones. Look at the sizes of the hats!
Another discovery resulting from actually putting bums on seats is that many of the figures fit uncomfortably when doing so. Surprisingly this applies to quite a few of the ModelU passengers. Coats, jackets and skirts overhanging at the side do not allow the figures to sit level on carriage bench-type seats. This probably results from the initial scans being on individual chairs. A result is that some figures do not have as much contact area =gluing area with the seats, as one would like.
Similarly many passengers cannot rest their backs against the seats but this can be ignored in most cases as the appearance is OK.
More of an issue is the inability to position many figures side-by-side. Populating an open coach in rush-hour might be problematic; use HO figures? For compartment stock in rush hour the solution might be to use silhouettes rather than 3D figures. The Preiser set provides 3 sets of side-by-side passengers so this helps. They are definitely not dressed like commuters!
Above is the Maunsell brake compo driving coach filled with passengers. The tall scale3d passengers have been confined to a first class compartment on their own. Similarly the Preiser lanky long-haired youth is alone in the end compartment in a hopefully dingy corner. He may be removed if he is too prominent from the outside as I regard him as belonging to the 1970s. A standing passenger has been added to the corridor behind him to block the view from that side where his long hair is more noticeable and to help make the corner of that compartment darker. All the figures are secured with PVA. Getting the driver in position and allowing the coach body to be reassembled to the chassis proved problematic.
And here is the Maunsell pull-push open saloon. Look at the combined effect of seats being too narrow and passengers too broad in the beam. I guess one could remove the arm-rests at the coach sides to make the seats more usable but beware allowing passengers too close to the windows; the Hornby coach body may not fit over the seating/floor unit. The standing figures are glued at the back as well as at their feet.
I am still worried at the sheer cost of all this and the time taken to paint figures. So I am experimenting with silhouette figures again, for use in seats not adjacent to windows. This time I am cutting them out using a pair of curved nail scissors. This seems to be more successful than the Slice tool simply because it is easier for me to see the blades. Though Marilyn Monroe seems to be beyond my competence! I shall persevere.