15mm WW2 Manufacturers

A place to list all manner of 15mm WW2 goodies...

PSC
As I said in another post ideal to start in 15mm.
The packs allow platoons and whole supports, as from army list. Very good price.

Fordge in Battle.
Infantry Compatible with PSCs. The vehicles are with an inserted base

Battelfront (Flames of War)
"Huge" catalog. The infantrymen are slightly more "lean" than PSC and FiB but very well made. The painted metal ones make it very well.

In my opinion they can be used together. The small differences in the field are not noticed.


For now it is what I know, said. briefly.
(I know
Horrible English
sorry)

PSC
Come ho detto in un altro post ideali per iniziare in 15mm.
Le confezioni permetono plotoni e supporti interi, come da army list. Prezzo molto buono.

Fordge in Battle.
Fanteria Compatibile con i PSC. I veicoli sono con base inserita

Battelfront (Flames of War)
Catalogo "enorme". I fanti sono leggeremente più "magri" rispetto a PSC e FiB ma molto ben fatti. Quelli in metallo dipinti rendono molto bene.

A mio avviso sono utilizzabili insieme. Le piccole differenze sul campo non si notano.

Per ora è quanto conosco, detto in maniera sommaria.

Andrea

Skytrex is also a good shout for 15mm ww2 especially for the lesser made models.

Sent from Topic'it App

I was interested in the miniatures of the skytrex but I read a review not really positive.
I think you are of the opposite opinion.
Can you tell me more?
Are they compatible with PSC and FiB or are they closer to the Peter Pig?

Thank you
Andrea

Ero interessato alle miniature della skytrex ma lessi una recensione non proprio positiva.
Penso che tu sia di parere opposto.
Puoi dirmi di più?
Sono compatibili con PSC e FiB o sono più vicino alle Peter Pig?

Grazie
Andrea

Battlefront  / Flames of War

++ Huge Catalogue, covering almost all partipating nations in WWII
++ Latest plastics (especially the Panther/Jagdpanther) boxed sets are amazing
+ Covers WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Cold War (Arab-Israeli war, 'Team Yankee' 1985 )
+ Covers all theaters, Early War (1939-1941), Mid War (1941-1943), and Late War (1944-1945), as well as the Pacific to a certain degree
+ Has company boxed sets, platoon boxed sets, and artillery battery/firing section blisters
+ Older resin/metal tank boxes include Rare Earth Magnets. New plastic boxes do not, but are sculpted in a way to accomodate magnets.

- Older castings (older Waffen SS) are getting tired and losing out on detail
- Older resin/metal tanks have poor fits when matching tracks to hull
- Certain WWI castings are not great. Waffen SS 120mm mortar is of questionable sculpt.
- Expensive -> best to NOT order from directly, but another retailer
- Customer support is slow (see above)
- Notorious amount of flash and cleaning required.

+/- Vehicles dont have much stowage. Additional stowage must be added manually with aftermarket bits
+/- Most of the infantry are metal, the newest company boxes are plastic.
+/- Resin, metal, and plastic kits. Building required, superglue essential.



The Plastic Soldier Company

++  German crew and storage box is amazing
++ Tank boxes have possible multiple variants (ie Panzer IV F, G, and H)
+ Great price/value
+ Excellent transport boxes (Sdkfz 250, 251, M5 halftracks)
+ 'Next-Gen' sculpts (Fallschirmjagers, Grenadiers in Normandy, UK-Commonwealth) are 'heroic 15mm' and fit in well with Battlefront (though I recommend not mixing in same unit)
+ PSC also sells Zvezda (see further down)
+ Good customer support
+ Offers customization options for the 251 box to upgrade them to be mortar carriers, flamm, or stummel.

- Vehicles are not sculpted to accomodate magnets. Must be done manually
- Early gen infantry are true scale 15mm - which makes them smaller and overly skinny compared to Battlefront's.
- MG's are thin, skinny plastic. Very fragile.

+/- Limited in selection, but vehicles rival and sometimes surpass Battlefront quality
+/- Plastic kit, building required.


Forged in Battle

+ Decent catalogue for major vehicle variants, and have since began North African campaign themed figures
+ German Hetzer is better than Battlefront's.
+ Infantry/crew sculpts are heroic 15mm, and so fit in witih Battlefront.
+ Infantry and gun sculpts are excellent

+/- Almost no building required
+/- Simiplified models due to no building required. Detail may therefore be a little questionable for certain models.

- - Comes already based. Matter of opinion, but will make them stand out when mixed with unbased Battlefront or PSC figures
- - Certain vehicles are off scale and are too small to be mixed with Battlefront/PSC (Sdkfz 251 halftracks in particular).

+ Includes prototype vehicles (Panther F, Maus etc)
+ Vehicles are individually sculpted in the blister, and has a much more diverse look than Battlefront


Zvezda

+ Sold on PSC website
+ Turbo cheap ( ++++ Good for Opel Blitz which you wont be using often other than bussing troops around and cannot justify 6 bucks a truck.)

- Questionable detail



Leon's verdict

I'm principally a Battlefront customer, but I order my stuff mostly from Wayland Games, and try to avoid ordering from Battlefront directly. But due to their prices I order all my transport vehicles from Plastic Soldier Company. Forged in Battle was an interesting alternative that I tried out for the Hetzer (since Wayland doenst stock BF hetzers) after reading a review that FiB Hetzers had more realistic proportions than BF. I also bought a pack of 251 Stuka zu Fuss from FiB, but I'm not a huge fan due to lack of interior detail. I personally try to stick to BF and PSC. Zvezda has excellent turbo cheap Opel Blitz that are good for those vehicles that show up for a few minutes in-game and disappear quickly. Due to increased competition, Battlefront seems to be increasing their plastics quality - their latest plastic boxes are really quite excellent.

Peter Pig also do a range of WWII guys in 15 mm. For size their figures are very compatible with the Battlefront figures. I haven't purchased too many of them so can not voice an opinion on reliability of quality, but the ones I have are of good.

Paul

"Are they compatible with PSC and FiB or are they closer to the Peter Pig?"

Generally Skytrex figures are a bit smaller but they do seem to have experienced some scale creep over the years. Style very similar to FiB but not surprising as they share a sculptor. PP mix quite well but they're another range which has experienced scale creep and newer ranges are noticeably bulkier. I've not found a range that I'm totally happy to mix with the latest PSC figures but some BF are okay. I'll do some comparison pics again and post here later.

I find most 15mm figs tend to mix reasonably well with each other . I have Battlefront ,Skytrex/Old Glory and FIB.

Now I've been advised how to best post pics here are the side by sides as promised



1 Wargames Factory
2 PSC old style
3 PSC new style
4 Command Decision Skytrex/Old Glory
5 Battlefront pre FoW green box era
6 Peter Pig old style
7 Peter Pig new style
8 Forged in Battle
9 Battlefront

Bonus pic of kneeling figures as I've no standing ones from Essex



1 Peter Pig
2 PSC
3 Battlefront
4 Essex

Maybe it's just me, but I find plastic infantry to look like they'd be easier to paint and better to paint details. Never painted metal/pewter. Am I wrong in this assumption?

Generally all 15mm ones mix very well, but there are a few exceptions. This might even happen with miniatures from one manufacture, for example some of the the Sperrverband minis (unfortunaly no longer avaible from Battlefront do not go well with the other Germans from Battlefront. Below is my opinion towards some 15mm manufactures:

Most of my miniatures are from Battlefront. They have a huge range. Quality is generally good, also the metal cast tracks where always a source of problems (bad fitting or needing much cleaning). The plastic kits are great, also the newer ones have less parts and details. Generally the metal infantrie blisters offer many poses, also this differs. For example older MW US or 8th Army Infantrie has less poses. My favourites are Winter Finns, Late War Soviets, US Paras and US and German Winter Infantrie.

PSC showed BF what can be doned with plastic. Their German tank kits are great ,also the newer Opel Blitz trucks, but i do not like their older T34 and Sherman kits, as they have less details and are not compatible in size with the BF models. Gun barrels and MG's are more true to scale, but also more fragile. Their older Infantry is too skinny, the newer ones are closer to the style of BF. Not many poses, but are very cheap. To summerize, if you like plastic, PSC is a great choice.

Peter Pig has a very nice range, mainly infantrie. Expensive, but there are many great packs with unique themes. One of my favourits are the tea drinking Brits. Other practical packs include medics, radio teams or sniper. Sculpting is very good, with very good uniform details (even nails on German boots), weapon details less so (for example mortars are one piece casts). The faces of older sculpts are more or less only screaming und bug eyed, but newer ones are better. The new Soviets are a blast. Peter Pig also has vehicles, but gun barrels are intentionally very thick, so might not mix well with other ranges.

Skytrex also a very nice range. Vehicles are mostly metal, which means there might be some tiny mould lines which are difficult to remove but overall quality is very good. The same models are also sold by Old Glory in packs of three, and it is here that the quality suffers, with big mold lines. My favourite Skytrex vehicles are US trucks, German AA halftracks, the British Sherman ARV and all kind of Radio vehicles. The generally compare well with BF vehicles with the exception of the SdKfz 251, which are much smaller. The infantry packs differ in quality, US miniatures are bad, British ones are ok, but the Germans have some very nice packs. There are many poses, often in a pack of ten miniatures all are unique. Skytrex also offers packs with stretcher bearers. Another item i always picks up, are some of their several stowage packs.

I do not like Forge in Battle very much, because i do not like tanks with bases. The tanks are mainly resin with some metal parts. Details are ok. I am not sure about the Infantry, they are metal, cheaper than BF or Peter Pig, but the sculpting and the number of poses is lacking. But i have seen some painted FiB US Paras which surprisingly looked very good. Tank packs cost slightly less than resin tanks from BF, but if you need many tanks PSC might be the better choice.

Zvezda plastic vehicles are dirt cheap, but generally lacks details. None the less their trucks are great value for their price. Newer kits have better details than older kits, going so far that their Elefant kit is better in details than the old BF resin Elefant. Unfortunally none of their tank kits has the option for open hatches.

QRF Models was not mentioned here. They have a good range with many unusal nations and some unusal vehicles for example a 4.5t Mercedes Maultier halftrack. Unfortunally quality and details are generally quite bad.

Heer 46 is a German manufactur wich specializes on German paper tanks, like the E100 or the Löwe. They also has some Allied heavy tanks, like the Soviet T100, the US T28 or the British Tortoise. Highlights are the Bergetiger turret and canvas cover sets for German and Allied halftracks. Tanks are resin, with only a few metal parts like the gun barrel. Other smaller parts are also metal. Quality is very good, with no bubbles and nearly no mould lines.

Greetings
Wolflord

M M Models are back in production. They have various useful command support and transport vehicles.

http://mmmodels.webs.com/ww2-model-range

Hi, don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but does anyone have any experience with the Daimler armoured car from Skytrex? I feel that it’s too big, especially when placed alongside a Skytrex Dingo and a Battlefront M5 Stuart

Don't have their version but should measure as below at 1/100
L 40mm
W 27mm
H 22mm

Thanks very much! The model turns out to be good to those measurements

there is now days an new option 3D print the models
One of the best sculpting company at this moment is 3dBreed.es.
with models for D-Day, Overlord, winter model for the Bulge and
the infantry models may look a bit puffy, but the good thing of printing your own models is that you are in charge of the scale, so a little tinkering will make them to your taste.

Example of resized x and y axis of the model with a few percent