Figures

Nice scene - Arttista figures are great, and they're made in the USA, you can't beat that combo. Most of them stand on their own, no glue needed.

Peidmont - Very attractive scene!  Your figures are well placed thus brining a realistic energy to the scene!  I like the sidewalk cafe    Well done!!  Thanks for sharing.

Great point, Paul! I actually ordered my last batch from Arttista directly. You have to call and talk to a real person to order. When do you get to do that anymore?! I love it! Had my figures in about 1 week, with hand-written thank you note enclosed. Made in USA by family business is definitely something I can get behind.

@Piedmont Central RR posted:

Great point, Paul! I actually ordered my last batch from Arttista directly. You have to call and talk to a real person to order. When do you get to do that anymore?! I love it! Had my figures in about 1 week, with hand-written thank you note enclosed. Made in USA by family business is definitely something I can get behind.

Yes, yes, yes!!!!  I ordered from Arttista directly as well.  It's wonderful and the figures are top-notch!

   And made in the USA!!!! 

Highly recommended.

George

If you can just get by the sky high prices...

Beautifully detailed scene! Personally, I use a mix of Arttista, Woodland Scenics, Plasticville, and some that come in 1/48 scale truck kits.

I do a lot of animation with welders and burn barrels, Artista has excellent figures that fit the scene, others I use are Woodland Scenics as well as K-line when find them. RMT has some but mostly for passenger cars.

Great looking scene!  I really miss Arttista at York.  I used to buy a scene's worth of figures at each York.  He'd usually give a bit of a discount when you purchased that many as well.    I sold most of them when I took down my last layout but saved a few of the better ones (picnic scene, ice cream vendor, lemonade stand, etc).

-Greg

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

If you can just get by the sky high prices...

We are in a hobby where dropping $100 on a freight car or $1,000 on a locomotive is fairly common, yet spending under $10 a figure for metal painted people is considered sky high. 

Figures are essential to my layout, so I don't mind the higher prices, as long as I can afford it.

@Bill N posted:

We are in a hobby where dropping $100 on a freight car or $1,000 on a locomotive is fairly common, yet spending under $10 a figure for metal painted people is considered sky high.

Well, first off, I don't drop $100 on a freight car, and the figures are a lot smaller than a freight car.

In addition to model railroading I also paint miniature figures John.  Mostly 28mm which comes out to around 1:55 or close to O scale.  For the typical unpainted figures I am paying about $1/figure for unassembled and unpainted plastic and about $2.50-3.00 for unpainted metal.  Compare that against about $2.50/figure for MTH limited range of plastic, $4.50 for Woodlands Scenics plastic or $7 to $7.50 for typical Artista figures painted.  Plus an attentive bargain shopper can beat those prices.  When I factor in primer, paint, brushes and my time that differential seems like a bargain to me. 

A man's got to know his limitations.  I doubt I could do a credible paint job on figures in any reasonable time, so they'd be pretty expensive for me.

Thankfully, the variety of posed O-scale figures from several providers is sufficient for scenes on our layouts.

I previously created a mountain scene for a modular layout and found wild animals for it -- deer, a family of black bears, and a group of cougars.  I looked for a group of rock climbers for placement on a craggy cliff, but didn't find any. I think that means the "hobby" of rock climbing hasn't yet captured the attention of model figure-makers for production.

I recently installed RMT seated passengers in the 10 coaches of my MTH Aerotrain. The size was just right for that RailKing rolling stock. I initially tried to fit Lionel seated passenger figures in the coaches, but they were slightly too tall -- IMHO, better suited for 1:48 passenger cars.

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394

I use a lot of the Golden Gate Little People, they fit pretty good in many cars.  I occasionally have to trim them, but they're decent looking and priced right.  The RMT people are bigger, take a look at the GG ones.

Most of my figures are Arttista. I have a ton of them on my layout. Dennis is a great guy and his prices are very reasonable and all the more so when measured by the quality of his pewter figures. Like others, I do wish he would return to the York Meets, but that is unlikely. Woodland Scenics, Bachmann, Model Tech Studios and Preiser have some terrific figures as well. I have a number of them on my layout as well. The Model Tech Studios figures are a little bigger than the others, so I tend to use them for parts of the layout that are more distant from the general viewing area.

Pat

These are a couple of inserts that went into an apartment complex I kit-bashed.

Dave

@Piedmont Central RR posted:

Since most of my scenery is complete, I have been adding figures. Just wanted to post this for others who may be thinking of adding more detail. I have been very happy with Woodland Scenics and Arttista. MTH and Bachmann are great, too, but there is just no substitute for Arttista's wide selection, and WS's wide availability and value. Here are just a couple pics with Arttista and WS together in same scene.

Fabulous!

@Mike H Mottler posted:

I previously created a mountain scene for a modular layout and found wild animals for it -- deer, a family of black bears, and a group of cougars.  I looked for a group of rock climbers for placement on a craggy cliff, but didn't find any. I think that means the "hobby" of rock climbing hasn't yet captured the attention of model figure-makers for production.

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394

You should've checked Scenic Express, I got my five rock climbers there.  Pretty sure they still have them.

Gene Anstine