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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.20210818_21491820210818_21490520210818_214859

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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

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

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. 

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

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  • Aerotrain Foto 7, Passgrs to Coach: Passengers ready to ride

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

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.20210818_214918

Fabulous!

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

Mostly Arttista in this scene, with a Preiser here and there, and maybe an Omen or two.  I like Dennis' selection best. When you take into account the hand painting and the metal cast, the current price is not bad, but you get to a $100 quicker than not too long ago.  Before Arttista's last price increase, the individual figure price was cheaper on average than Preiser, mostly sold in a box of five or six.  Seems both are now closer in price.  Preiser's selection of O Gauge figures seems to have stalled, but I love their vibrant colors.  The Arttista selection can fit almost every scene...that's why most of my figures are Arttista!

Acc Dusk 9 dark

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https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...1#157265374270706011



This scene is pretty amazing, in my opinion. Some may find it gruesome perhaps, but I work in medicine and found its realism refreshing. It appears you use Franklin Mint "Classic Cars of the 50's", right? I use those as well. Hard to find 1:48 vehicles, and I found those tend to run just small enough from 1:43 to fit nicely in O scale.

Woe to anyone who is trying to do an Old Western layout, with action posed figures of gunfighters, badmen or lawmen.  In O scale, there is practically nothing.

Yes, Artista and others have a few Old West figures, but they are boring cowboys, standing with a rope or a drink in their hands, or shoeing a horse, or doing some other mundane cowboy thing.  And, yes, they have Old West Saloon girls, Old West doctors, lawyers, and blacksmiths.  All ho-hum.    Through all of my searches, I think I found one badman and one Sheriff in O Scale by Knuckledusters, poised to draw on each other, and that was it.

There is one set of 3-D printed figures by a company, of rustlers on horses, but their cowboy hats all came out of the 3-D printers looking like 1930s fedoras.  So, you have a bunch of rustlers who look like Humphrey Bogart on horseback.

Knuckledusters makes some great Old West action figures, in pewter,  looking identical to the great characters in the most famous western movies, but they are all in 28mm, for gaming only.

So, this leaves the old plastic really bad-looking Marx molded plastic "cowboys and indians" sets, which are just too poor to bother with.

I guess, I'll have to make my Old West layout into something else.  South Park anyone?

Mannyrock

Most of my figures are cheap because, if I had to pay $10 a person, I would have no money for trains.  However there are some scenes which need good detailed people.

I got these from miniprints.com.  2 for $15.60.  You do have to paint them.  Instead of painting faces, I just brushed them with weathering powder.  The powder found all of the nooks and crannies and really brought out the details well.  I also had some tiny Chessie decals so I used those for the vests and hats.

Have Fun!

Ron

MP OV Hang 3MP OV Obsv 1MP YV Both Men Wide ShotMP YV Steps 1

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  • MP OV Hang 3
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