The purpose of this post is to show the buildings next to some figures and invite some discussion on the subject of using HO scale for 15mm.
First up, the church. This, along with the following house, look wooden and handmade, which surprised me as I expected them all to be plastic. I quite like how it looks. a sticker underneath identifies it as by "Vau-Pe" and having been "Made in Western Germany". I don't know if this is being used synonymously with "West Germany" and just suffering slightly in translation but, if so, it seems to be quite old! Note the spire/bell tower is not in the picture as I was mainly trying to show the scale with the figures.
The second building is a house in the same style of construction as the church. This is by RS and has an ink stamp underneath clearly stating it was "Made in West Germany".
Next up is a 'building under construction' made out of plastic. I have seen this advertised elsewhere. I like this as a variation on all the fully built buildings I'd normally have on the table.
Last from the 'good batch', a smaller plastic house.
Again, it seems to scale well with my figures and will be useful for games in rural areas. Of course, most of these buildings are 'European' rather than 'American', but such things will not stop me from using them for my zombie games.
Now the difficulties begin. This was actually the first building I opened and it made me fear the worst for the whole lot before I saw them:
Aside from looking like it came out of a Kinder egg, it is clear that no one 15mm in height would be able to fit through that front door!
The last one looks like a kind of Alpine barn I have seen in Europe, but is also woefully small:
I am very interested in hearing if other 15mm gamers use HO scale buildings and what their experiences have been. I have a feeling that the smaller two are actually of a different scale and were described incorrectly by the seller but, having read about the amount of variation and not having any real knowledge of the scale, I don't feel sure about it.
Ideally, I'd like to gain a clearer idea in my mind about what an HO scale building 'should' look like. If they are generally like the first four, than I will be keeping an eye out for more eBay bargains.
OMG at the size of the last two such a difference. I have heard the same that alot of railway stuff can vary wildly. The stuff that does fit is great especially the 'under construction' one. Great bargain
ReplyDeleteI know! When the first one I unwrapped was a smaller one, I thought I'd made a massive mistake! I'll be looking out for more HO scale buildings now. When I can find them cheap...
DeleteGood sources of HO/OO houses etc..Airfix and modelrailway buildings
ReplyDeleteThe made in West Germany (and variations with the words west germany ) makes them post 1974.
VAU-PE (Voigt and Poppitz) was an old German firm (closed in 1985) which made HO-TT and N gauge railway stuff..towards the end mainly from plastic and all the buildings you have look like thier products...which makes them rare.
Put this into google picture search;
vau-pe hauser or Vau-pe Modellbau
There aren´t a lot of them about.
Cheers
paul
That's some really useful information, Paul! Thanks very much.
DeleteNo problem Chris.. As I said..hold onto them. Wargamers etc may be fanatical collectors but compared with those that collect model train stuff we are pretty tame. I made the mistake of binning a lot of "old train set buildings"..literally just stood on them to reduce space in the bin only to find out later (from the person who had given them me as a present) they were about 40 years old and the firm was long out of business. I kicked myself.
DeleteCheers
paul
Ouch. That's the most painful story I have heard in some time! I might have to check out the model railway shows and see what the scene is like for the older buildings.
DeleteI know those last two kits. They are not Ho but are actually N scale.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that HO doesn't vary *that* widely then! Thanks!
DeleteUnfortunately the MRR stuff can vary between manufacturers almost as much as 15mm figures varies between manufacturers :-)
ReplyDeleteSome firms, like Auhagen and Heljan produce stuff that are labelled as HO/TT, which means that the footprint of the building matches the TT scale while the height of doors and windows are more suited for H0 scale (occasionally they include two sets of doors and windows, one for each scale). Other firms, like Kibri and Faller are more "true" H0 scale. But seeing as MRR people need to compress the reality at least as much as wargamers most MRR buildings are too short and narrow compared to reality, which means they fit pretty good with 15mm miniatures.
That's great. Thanks for the information.
Delete