FIGURES

I like Artista, but no one has everything that I ever need. I'm now toying with the idea of making my own for special situations. After all, somebody had to carve Artista's in the first place...

don't forget the scenic accents set there are several themes and 6 figures for around $20

I shop M. B. Klein (Modeltrainstuff.com) - they have a figures sub-section in the O-gauge section of their website that carries many companies' figures.  

Arttista is very good. 

Metal figures is another source.

Very useful!!  Thanks!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251389764738

Lee posted a good answer on overall "selection". MTS has a great selection of figures and scenic details at good prices. Shop carefully, you get what you pay for. MTH figures have the best detail and quality but cost the most. KLine and BEEP People are also so good and so on. Then there's some stuff that's just crap. I have two packages of "Little People". Don't know where they were made, maybe North Korea. They look like rotting corpses. Maybe good for a train of the Living Dead.

Here's a neat comparison photo from another post.

So which of those figures is actually the right size?

Ya got me buddy. The MTH engine cab figures I have are bigger that the passenger figures and bigger still than the K Line figures which are bigger than the patrons in Irene's Diner. Although I would prefer not to I'm already up to four figure sizes.

The "right" size depends upon one's preference, IMHO.  (What is the "right" size of a real person??)  

Well... while "right" is very subjective, the figure on the right in that picture looks like Andre the Giant. Average American males are probably somewhere around five-10, so "right" would be just a hair under an inch and a half. To me, Artista figures seem "right" when they populate O'scale buildings. Another measure would be if the figures can fit through a scale 74" doorway. If they can't I'd say they're too big.

That's pretty accurate for current times - go back 100 years and they were 4-6" shorter on average. 

I primarily use Artista figures particularly when there are several in a scene close together.  But, I have used some Langley figures that are probably 1/43 in isolated scenes.  Avoiding direct visual conflicting sizes and then also being pretty close to 

architectural reference points like door and vehicles should be adequate to more observers.

Hard to tell a few inches in height.  Weight is definitely time oriented.  Early 20th century we were much smaller.

The chef by the Pasta House is out of proportion. Pretty good chance a lot of the vehicles are 1/43 somewhat oversized also. 

It's obvious that his size is due to him sampling too much of his fare. The early 20th Century didn't have Pizza, triple-stacked burgers, Fried Cheese and other things. "We call that progress" (a quote from Stan Freberg's "The United States of America-Part 1). You also had just one kind of coffee, called "coffee".

That's a wonderful street scene!!

Look in the Scenery Sourcelist. There are many suppliers. I left out the Chinese stuff, which are copies of Preiser,  etc.

There are European countries where the average height is 6 feet or over including Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. European figures might be oversize.