1/144th Scale Miniatures

[GaryChildress]

Does anyone collect or game with these? I've seen some pretty detailed models that look a lot better than GHQ Microarmor. I'd like to check them out. I ordered a pack of 5 M2 Bradley IFVs from Amazon to test them out and see for myself what they look like. But what I've seen in catalogs looks pretty darn good.

We live in an age of digital games now, but a part of me misses the old wargaming miniatures that I played with when I was a kid. At 58, I feel like it's the perfect time to regress to my childhood before it's too late. I've got nothing else going on in life to look forward to other than to toy around with really cool models and make explosion and engine noises as I push them around on a hobby table.

I'm curious if or what others' experiences have been with 1/144th scale models. Maybe if I get good at painting them, I could sell sets of painted ones at gaming conventions or something.

[RangerJoe]

Does anyone collect or game with these? I've seen some pretty detailed models that look a lot better than GHQ Microarmor. I'd like to check them out. I ordered a pack of 5 M2 Bradley IFVs from Amazon to test them out and see for myself what they look like. But what I've seen in catalogs looks pretty darn good.

We live in an age of digital games now, but a part of me misses the old wargaming miniatures that I played with when I was a kid. At 58, I feel like it's the perfect time to regress to my childhood before it's too late. I've got nothing else going on in life to look forward to other than to toy around with really cool models and make explosion and engine noises as I push them around on a hobby table.

I'm curious if or what others' experiences have been with 1/144th scale models. Maybe if I get good at painting them, I could sell sets of painted ones at gaming conventions or something.

Those are also the right size for N scale trains if I remember correctly.

[GaryChildress]

Does anyone collect or game with these? I've seen some pretty detailed models that look a lot better than GHQ Microarmor. I'd like to check them out. I ordered a pack of 5 M2 Bradley IFVs from Amazon to test them out and see for myself what they look like. But what I've seen in catalogs looks pretty darn good.

We live in an age of digital games now, but a part of me misses the old wargaming miniatures that I played with when I was a kid. At 58, I feel like it's the perfect time to regress to my childhood before it's too late. I've got nothing else going on in life to look forward to other than to toy around with really cool models and make explosion and engine noises as I push them around on a hobby table.

I'm curious if or what others' experiences have been with 1/144th scale models. Maybe if I get good at painting them, I could sell sets of painted ones at gaming conventions or something.

Those are also the right size for N scale trains if I remember correctly.

I don't think I ever had anything N scale when I was a kid. Almost everything I bought was HO scale. The only thing that may have been close to 1/144th scale that I owned was a pack of soft plastic AFVs of the world and the gaming pieces for a cheesy board game I bought but never played. I ended up playing with the gaming pieces intermixed with the soft plastic models for a while.

Judging from some of the infantry packs available for 1/144th scale, it seems to me that it's small enough to have battalion-sized battles but big enough to appreciate the aesthetics of the models. GHQ was pretty good for its size, but the infantry was just too small to fool with IMO.

[Rebel Yell]

If you like mecha, Heavy Gear mini's are 1/144th.

There are a ton of them, quite varied and good quality.

[GaryChildress]

If you like mecha, Heavy Gear mini's are 1/144th.

There are a ton of them, quite varied and good quality.

I'm mostly into WW2 or modern miniatures. I was never much of a sci-fi fan in terms of physical toys. The closest I got was Star Wars action figures. Of course, Dawn of War is one of my favorite video games, but I was never into collecting miniatures from the genre.

[Rebel Yell]

I totally understand.

There are actually a lot of AFV's in addition to the mechs, but they have a very definite visual vibe that you might like, or might not.

[GaryChildress]

I ordered some 1/144th scale miniature Bradley AFVs from some company on Amazon called AGSDGAWD. I have to say the quality is unbelievable. The details are crisp and clean, and the size is perfect for me. It's small enough to create large army scenarios but big enough to show amazing detail. Expensive, though. The AFVs are just two pieces: the hull and the turret. They look as good at 1/144th scale as Tamiya models look at 1/35th.

Wow! I'll try to upload some pics. You gotta see these to believe them.

[GaryChildress]

PXL_20250823_235745816.jpg (6.64 MiB) Viewed 1147 times

[Rebel Yell]

Those look very nice, though the gun barrel on the closer one appears to need a bit of straightening.

17.30 for 5 Brads isn't too bad since 5 GHQ 1/285th ones are 13.99.

[GaryChildress]

Those look very nice, though the gun barrel on the closer one appears to need a bit of straightening.

17.30 for 5 Brads isn't too bad since 5 GHQ 1/285th ones are 13.99.

I just think it's the coolest scale there is. I know 15mm is popular, but 1/144th is smaller and seems to retain a lot of quality detail. And smaller models equate to larger armies using the same table size.

I think I may just leave it at the Bradleys, though. I don't have the money to sink into a serious wargame miniatures hobby. it would probably be better spent on things like groceries. Still, it's nice to occasionally stop and admire the little things. I also keep a set of decimal dice on my bookshelf just for old times' sake. Being a kid was fun. But I didn't get outside the house much to socialize with others.

[Schlonz]

Yeah, 1/144 is a really nice scale for painting, collecting and gaming.

Marder 1A2, Jaguar 2 (resin) and a Ratel 20 (PLA) from Butlers Printed Models (UK).






Fokker Dr.Is of Jasta Boelcke on patrol (Shapeways prints, ca. 2015)

[GaryChildress]

Yeah, 1/144 is a really nice scale for painting, collecting and gaming.

Marder 1A2, Jaguar 2 (resin) and a Ratel 20 (PLA) from Butlers Printed Models (UK).






Fokker Dr.Is of Jasta Boelcke on patrol (Shapeways prints, ca. 2015)

The PLA looks good, but you can see a little deformation on the wheels. I like resin a lot better. I've been looking at BPM and was wondering how well their resin models are made. The ones I got from the company on Amazon are amazing. I think BPM usually shows PLA models in their catalogue instead of resin, though, so that turned me off a little to Butler's. But their resin ones look pretty good, judging from your German AFVs.

[Schlonz]

Their PLA models are good, the resin models are true gems (your Bradleys from Amazon look excellent as well).
I expect my recent order from BPM to be delivered next week, and I'll post some pics of the unpainted resin models.

[altipueri]

I was introduced to wargaming almost 60 years ago playing with "Bish" Iwaszko who had a business making dioramas for defence companies - here's an old article on his WW2 stuff.

https://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/s ... %20Iwaszko

We had a logarithmic scale so that you had about 10cm = 100 metres changing gradually to 1000 metres - so that there could be artillery on a table tennis sized board.

Oh, and a 20 sided dice - long before they became fashionable giving hit probabilities.

[GaryChildress]

Their PLA models are good, the resin models are true gems (your Bradleys from Amazon look excellent as well).
I expect my recent order from BPM to be delivered next week, and I'll post some pics of the unpainted resin models.

Thank you! I look forward to the pictures.

[GaryChildress]

I grew up in Northern VA and remember going to Tyson's Corner mall to the Hobby shop there, where I first discovered the magazine Wargamer's Digest. The very first issue I bought introduced the "Series 78 US Infantry Battalion" OOB. That was my first exposure to serious wargaming, and I loved it.

There was also a Hobby shop in my town, and I went to that as much as I could. I discovered 1/700 scale waterline ship models there and collected a few of them. I don't see hobby shops around anymore. I went into a Hobby Lobby here in Florida one day just to check it out and found the plastic models section. It was about 70% model sports cars, and the rest were military model kits. Not a single thing to do with wargaming miniatures.

[GaryChildress]

I think I have a new plan. Instead of stopping at the Bradleys, I may give Bulter Printed Models a try. They are sold individually or in pairs, so it's a little cheaper to buy a diverse group of vehicles than to buy packs of 5 of the same vehicle. I may get a mix of WW2 vehicles just for the heck of it to admire their detail and size. Like I say, I'm getting to an age where there's not much else to look forward to in life anymore other than to collect some cool miniatures to admire. Maybe I'll try painting them too.

[Schlonz]

Good plan, but be warned - collecting becomes addictive real quick.

[GaryChildress]

Nice! What scale are the vehicles and infantry on the wooden shelf below the planes?

[Schlonz]

It's 1/6 scale ("action figures")....requires a lot of space...great for outdoor dioramas though