Thursday, 7 March 2013

WW2 Coastal Forces - 1/1200 vs 1/600

I'm looking at my 1/1200 Hallmark minis (which I bought on a whim) and find myself in a quandary.

Do I add to my 1/1200 coastal collection and thus "lock in" to a scale? Or do I switch to 1/600 before it its too late.

The argument for 1/1200 - quite crisp, and as well detailed as 1/600 - but man, it's tiny. What's the point of detail if you can't see it without a magnifying glass?

1/600 are easier to handle, at more than double the price ($5.25 vs $2). Surprisingly, coastal freighters are quite close in cost - $9 in 1/600 vs $7 in 1/1200 for a 500-700 tonner.

This PT boat from PT-Dockyard costs around $5.25. It doesn't have more detail, but you can at least see the detail there is....
 
"Will you pay... the price of detail?"
However here's an argument against both - they are both overpriced!
 
For the same $2 for a microscopic 1/1200 S-boat you can get a much larger aeronef ship (also metal) with an accompanying flight stand (not pictured)... The "nef" has far more metal than a $7 freighter. 
 
My original rationale is price - however getting a decent 1/1200 collection then switching later would be even more costly.....
 



5 comments:

  1. What to say? I´ve got several Hallmark boats and they are great. Hallmark do planes too. You can mix the 1/1200 boats with 1/600 planes, for Bag The Hun and the like. And the size is ok for terrain scale.
    But if you (like me) have a lot of 1/300 planes, I would prefer 1/600 boats to mix. In fact, I bought several 1/700 destroyers kits. I made and armed trawler myself, you can see it on my blog. Now I am building a larger one.
    Decisions ... (not easy).

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    1. I have a lot of modern 1/600 planes which I really like, but I find my 1/600 WW1 and WW2 stuff to small to enjoy... just stripped them all of paint and will probably sell them... Currently only have a few 1/300 WW2 planes which I do quite like. 1/300 WW1 is still too small, I reckon.

      Because of this I fear I will want to switch down the track, after investing too many $$$....

      I also have some 1/700 destroyer kits I bought for other purposes... and the merchant ships at PT Dockyard are comparatively cheap compared to the Hallmark stuff (which is worth its weight in gold, literally)...

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  2. I went through this dillema too, and eventually locked myself in at the 1/1200 scale mostly because I wanted a full range of options and a lot of models. I just couldn't do that in 1/600. From a modelling aspect I wanted bigger but just couldn't justify the coin. Now I have a raft of figs for multiple theatres, DD, Sloops, merchies - the lot.

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    Replies
    1. 1/1200 makes sense financially... but if I don't enjoy the minis, what's the point? I originally liked my 1/600 WW2 planes well enough, though the size niggled... now I can't stand playing with them and regret the purchase....

      However the range of 1/1200 is compelling. It's just that the MTBs (the stars of the show) are somewhat un-compelling (especially for their cost).... I could almost use counters with MTB silhouettes drawn on them instead....

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    2. Yes, I understand entirely and know the agony of analysis paralysis in wanting both things!

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