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looking into doing a small squad of Infantry to use with the force on force rule set. I'm not sure what scale BMP to purchase to match with the zvezda 1/72 modern Russian infantry I'm painting as ukranian national guard. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Erm... 1/72?

 SilverMK2 wrote:
Erm... 1/72?

Was just making sure they looked legit. I know some war games use scales different than their infantry

Funniest question ever with the best answer!!!!!
S models do 2 kits in a box, there are masses of die cast available, ACE models do a huge range but there kits are a bit nasty..done 2..never again.
liberation miniatures (UK) do 20mm at 1/72 scale...metal/resin

Infantry scales are usually measured in millimeters. Vehicle scales that aren't directly affiliated with a game are usually measured as a ratio.

If you're unsure whether a particular manufacturer's figures are the scale that the manufacturer claims them to be, then your best bet is probably to do a search online for comments that others have made about the figures' scale.

 jdamaso111 wrote:

Was just making sure they looked legit. I know some war games use scales different than their infantry

If you're unsure whether a particular manufacturer's figures are the scale that the manufacturer claims them to be, then your best bet is probably to do a search online for comments that others have made about the figures' scale.

Here's one to get you started: don't worry about the Zvezda infantry - they're proper 1/72 scale, about 24-25mm to the top of the head.

Of course they still produce their infantry in a different scale to their vehicles (1/100) which is irritating, but at least they're up-front about it.

For checking out other plastic infantry kits that claim to be 1/72*, including handy size charts, this is the site you want.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx

* supposed to be a strict scale ratio, but folk seem to view it as open to as much personal interpretation, misconception, range-matching etc. as the much more vague '28mm'.

That's because the same creep from wargame "scale" is debasing what scale actually means.

A 1/72 figure would be approximately 1 inch high or 25mm reflecting a 6 foot tall person. A 5'5 person would be 10% smaller (9/10 inch or 23mm) while a 6'6 person would be 10% larger (1.1 inch or 28mm). Wargames, rather than being an actual scale, just kinda fudge for what looks good. The whole 25mm to eye v. head is absurd for a standard and reflects sculptors who do not understand (or care) how scale works (generally the same can be said of proportion). And of course it is easier to sculpt detail on larger figures.

Where vehicles may be different scale is when your figure scale and ground scale are off and vehicles and buildings get shrunk for a smaller footprint. 40k is a good example of this. The figures are roughly 1/60 scale (with close to 1/35 heads and hands) but at that scale, the paltry 12 inch range of pistols and 24 inches for battle rifles amounts to shooting ranges of 60-120 feet (20-40 yards). Even a long range 48 inch weapon can't even range a football field! So the vehicles are shrunk a bit, but still over-scaled for the distances.

Really, it is all just hallmarks of sloppy design. If there is a valid reason to offscale figures, that's fine, but don't pretend that they are a given scale. Likewise, many games do a good job of abstracting ranges or limiting ranges for function and balance instead of rigidly sticking to arbitrary numbers that have no real correlation to anything.

I ended up buying an ace BMP-2 to go with the infantry. Thanks for all the information guys I know the question was self answering but I just wanted to make sure.

290mm scale is the lead figure equivalent to 1/72 and you can use 1/72 scale kits, they match very well, if that is what you are after.

Very convenient for vehicles and planes because there is such a large choice.

Dont rubbish Zvenda for doing 1/72 with 15mm vehicles.
The 15mm vehicles and boxes of 4 figs are for their board game Art Of Tactic.
TRhese boxes od figs are not great but they do a decent range of support weaponss

 Kilkrazy wrote:
290mm scale is the lead figure equivalent to 1/72 and you can use 1/72 scale kits, they match very well, if that is what you are after.

Are you sure? I've got a busts in the 290mm scale and they're still about the twice the size of Tiger B in 1/72 each.

20mm. 290mm was a slip of the finger.

Lead figures in 20mm are fatter than the same soldiers in 1/72 but for years it was the go to scale for WW2 and Vietnam skirmish, thanks to the easy availability of vehicle and aircraft kits.

S-Model has several excellent cold war tank and vehicle kits. They are all true 1/72 scale. BMP-1, BRDM-2 and M551 are also available as finished models.

usually you can just search google and ebay for these things tthey easy to find

1/72 is a good scale for diecast military vehicles. There have been several ranges of vehicles sold as magazine partworks (possibly a single range resold many times) and they're not bad at all. There are also ranges of helicopters and all sorts of planes, even fire engines and heavy plant! Because they come off magazines (and some of them come off the magazines VERY EASILY during distribution...), they are often very reasonably priced.

Dragon, Corgi and Forces of Valo(u)r have good ranges of military diecasts, and EasyModel sell painted plastic vehicles. Easymodel are more brittle and can be delicate - gun barrels, helicopter rotor blades and the like can snap all too readily.

For resin gaming models, S and S Models in the UK make really lovely vehicles - they have an extensive range but you'll need to email them for the catalogue, no online shopping, or even photos of the everything online.

Grubby Tanks sell the old Britannia line of 20mm moderns - again, lovely models and an extensive range, easier to check out online. Also in the UK.