Ron,

Try this:

  https://www.andianmodels.com/

Mike

Ron,

I just got some figures from this British company. These are 3-D printed from scans of real people. They will even scan you and print a resin figure of yourself in whatever scale you want. So, if ever visiting England.....

Exquisite detail and realism. Check out their "Town and Country series, 1998-present day."

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/

These are unpainted.

Bob

Ron

Arttista has great figures.  Also check out scenic accents who sells their figures in theme oriented 5-6 per pack.  Don't overlook Preiser. AND at last York (2019) i purchased some CHOOLIGANS from Scenic Express really nice and listed in the latest catalog.

Hope this helps

Steve

Those Modelu figures are absolutely unbelievable.  I have never seen anything like them.

Very strange to me that all of their dozens of figures are English folks in English uniforms or dress.   I would think that the market for figures of this extreme detail would be much larger in the U.S. than in England.  Since they make their figures by just taking a 3D scan of actual people in costumes, and then "printing" the figures on a 3D printer,  I am really really surprised that they don't do a series of American figures in American outfits.

Mannyrock

Miniprints.ca

Several modern crew figures.

I was in the Strasburg Train Shop yesterday looking for Engineer and Fireman for my Aerotrain.   These would be mid 50s, so I just used an Arttista classic Steam Engineer.   I may paint out his bandana.  I found these more modern figures on Arttista's web site:

The first 3 are

Arttista's seated figures are all steam era:

Pete (Norton) posted about these MTH seated figures that come with the seat.  You know better than me about how to order them.

I'm curious.   What is the "uniform" for early diesel and for modern diesel engineers/brakeman/etc?  Just generic working man's outdoor clothes?  Comments anyone?

Bob

I, for one, ain't putting any ugly women in my layout.  :-)

@Boilermaker1 posted:

Miniprints.ca

Several modern crew figures.

I think I found some winners.

Thank you.

@Ron045

Here are some O scale bird figures from Miniprints.ca. If the quality of the railroad crew people is as good as these, you'll be pleased. Let us know.

Bob

@Bob "O" posted:

Ron,

I just got some figures from this British company. These are 3-D printed from scans of real people. They will even scan you and print a resin figure of yourself in whatever scale you want. So, if ever visiting England.....

Exquisite detail and realism. Check out their "Town and Country series, 1998-present day."

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/

These are unpainted.

Bob

Holy Cannoli Bob!  Stunning!

Wow!

Far cry from the faceless blobs sold in packages of 100 that I've seen.

I was going to suggest miniprints.ca, but someone beat me to it. The only figures I know that hang off the train. Great for yards.

Since I have an Elegoo Mars 3D printer and have done several hundred prints to feed my model railroad habit, I'm going to attempt to do some of the animal prints. I'm looking for 3D print files of figures that I can use. I can't support $15 a pop every time I want to populate and area and I don't want to use Preisser 1:43 figures since they're a bit oversized. I just finished printing some park benches for my Heritage Pocket Park project. It was printed in 3 parts: sides and slats. In the middle my printer broke down and I had to do a repair. I've subscribed to Miniprints.ca. They have some interesting models.

Preiser was mentioned above...they have a very detailed "conductor" and dining car staff attendants.  Preiser figures have sharp detail, although the choices in 1/43, 1/45, and 1/50th are limited with much fewer than their HO selection.  Compared to other figures available for "O" these days, their prices don't seem too high anymore in the 6 to $7 range...typically sold in a pack of 4, 5, or 6 depending on the theme...

I just received an email from Miniprints that my rail workers have shipped.  They already warned me in the email it could be weeks before I receive my package due to COVID and postal delays.

Good thing my Engine and Caboose project are not finished yet.

Thanks for all the ideas!   I typically use the 100 for $10 that Craftech mentioned, but I'm doing this special project and really want some nice looking figures to go with it.

Ron

My Canadian workforce showed up today.  They are not ready for duty yet and they must get fitted for the proper uniforms.

The shipping was fairly quick all considered.  They came in a bag, bubble wrapped and a plastic case.

Thanks for the feedback.  Guess I better get painting.

Ron

Look forward to seeing these painted; Miniprints product are supposed be good stuff!

Well, just today I received an e-mail from "Oscaleyardsale" offering to sell 1:48 scale figures, but I'm not sure they will meet your needs.  Thought I would provide the info anyway:

High Quality O Scale Figures Available from jimhopes@csscenter.com

Chuck

Well the new uniforms arrived for two of the four workers.  Somehow overnight the brim on one hat either fell off or disintegrated, so I made one out of styrene.

Thank You Boilermaker1, Will and Bob "O" for your thoughts on Miniprints.

Also, even though he didn't know it, thank you to SIRT for his tips from Jan 2019 on how to paint figures.  I followed these steps exactly.

1.Spray all of them flat black.

2.Paint acrylics on flesh areas first.

3.Paint everything else.

4.Dry brush clothes over raised areas to highlight

5..Dust overall with brown powder

6.Spray Dull Cote

I had some extra HO Chessie decals I used for the hats and vests.  I'm working on a custom Chessie caboose and these figures will be special for that car.  The caboose in the picture in different.  I hope to have the special caboose finished this weekend.

2 down and 2 to go.

Have Fun!

Ron

Very well done painting, Ron! Custom figure finishing could be your next calling. Consider sending a few photos of the completed project to Bernard at Miniprints. He'll be impressed.

Bob

@Ron045 posted:

Also, even though he didn't know it, thank you to SIRT for his tips from Jan 2019 on how to paint figures.  I followed these steps exactly.

1.Spray all of them flat black.

2.Paint acrylics on flesh areas first.

3.Paint everything else.

4.Dry brush clothes over raised areas to highlight

5..Dust overall with brown powder

6.Spray Dull Cote

Ron

They look great Ron.

Q:  Why black primer instead of say light gray?

John

@Craftech posted:

They look great Ron.

Q:  Why black primer instead of say light gray?

John

I suppose you could used gray or any dark color.  If that base color is missed or not covered completely, it can appear to look like a shadow.

Thanks

Ron

Fantastic Ron,

What is dry brushing please?

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Fantastic Ron,

What is dry brushing please?

Mannyrock

You take a paintbrush, dip in in paint and then wipe off most of the paint on the brush onto a paper towel.  Then with the "dry brush" paint over the figure.  What little paint does remain on the brush catches the high points, grooves and ripples. 

In the pic below I painted the jeans blue and then dry brushed with white to achieve the worn denim effect.

The powder has a similar effect.  Look at the details on the vest as a result of the powder finding all of the cracks and crevasses. 

Outstanding work, Ron. Those figures look fantastic after your paint job.

I was finally able to get "uniforms" for my other two figures.  I did not want 4 clones, so I made subtle differences.

One obvious is the orange vest vs. the yellow vest.

But the other was the blue jeans.  For the first guys I used a dark blue and dry brushed white.  On the "Orange" guys I used a light baby blue and dry brushed with the dark blue.  I think I like those jeans better.

This was fun to do.  Not sure I'd want to paint 100 of these.  But a few here or there would be nice.

Ron

Ron,

The workers look wonderful! This is an element of detail I will make sure to have on my layout. Great thread.

Dave

Excellent work.  They all look great.