Small scale section?

[alloydog]

It seems like there is an interest in scales smaller than 30 mm, such as 15 mm and 6 mm.

Since some of the challenges are different, for example basing, and also I think the artistic requirements are different: At 30 mm, the detail you guys put into the figures and models is fantastic, but at smaller scales it can get lost and also "blur" the figures - For example, I found for some figures, doing things like Posterising or increasing the contrast, while making the figure look horrible at 30 mm, made it look better at 15 mm, as key features stand out. A bit like that Super Mario wasn't meant to have moustache, it was just that the low-resolution representation of a face made it look like he had one and so it stuck. Different challenges for different scales.

So, how about a separate section for the lil' folk?

[Vermin King]

Lots of views, but no comments. I think squirmydad has a lot on his plate with the onemonk.com migration right now to give this much thought. More feedback would be helpful

[creyates]

I am working on some smaller scale (15mm) stuff atm. However progress has been slow. I'm also curious to hear more from those who are interested in the smaller stuff.

[cowboyleland]

I have shrunk stuff for different reasons. Most recently I shrunk my RPG party to 15mm so I could use my old lead orcs for ogres. I didn't want to make a dozen paper ogres.

[wyvern]

My standard technique is to reduce everything larger to approximately 22mm scale these days, simply by printing onto A5-sized pages, instead of A4 (the reduction is approximately to 67% the original). This has advantages for ink and paper usage, storage, and cutting/making-up, as I have dexterity problems that make larger items more difficult for me to manage.

I've done this with a lot of miniatures and models for about six or seven years now, and I've not had any significant problems with image-quality loss. There can be difficulties with some minis that seem to have been created using darker shades, though that's partly printer-dependent, I suspect. Just had to invest in a new printer, and am still in the experimental stages with that so far, so can't usefully comment on that aspect as yet. Providing the original artwork is clear and not too finely-detailed, I doubt there'd be many problems shifting down further to 15mm, though 6mm could be a different matter. I've never tried that, however, though I did some 15mm experiments some time ago, and occasionally still do print out specific items for use with 15mm cast metal minis. Again, I've not found any disadvantages in doing so, albeit I may simply have been lucky in the items I've worked with.

Minis with a lot of fine detail I find often don't look all that great even at their original 28mm-32mm scale size, though again, that may be a printer thing, as it can sometimes be accommodated by tweaking the print settings (if not always).

Edit: [This is all assuming the use of matt photo papers and the best-quality printouts for said paper types, incidentally.]

[squirmydad]

Many years ago I was playing 6mm and 15mm scale sci-fi games so I converted 28mm paperminis down by up-scaling the resolution then down-scaling the size. Worked pretty well, some of the details are difficult to discern on 6mm infantry;
6mm ST Infantry

[creyates]

Those look great! Makes me think of little sprites from old games...I love sprites.

[alloydog]

Aug 2, 2019 9:54:33 GMT -9 squirmydad said:

Many years ago I was playing 6mm and 15mm scale sci-fi games so I converted 28mm paperminis down by up-scaling the resolution then down-scaling the size. Worked pretty well, some of the details are difficult to discern on 6mm infantry;
6mm ST Infantry

Whoa! Those are great. Totally shames my first (and only) attempt at 6 mm figures. Though, as a feeble excuse, I started with a template figure from Junior General, which was 1/72nd scale and only 96 dpi. I then scaled down to 1/300 scale and reduced the colours:




(yes, yes, I know Pompey's legions didn't have blue shields, but it was to separate them from Ceasar's dudes)

[squirmydad]

I made these 6mm JSDF vehicles from scratch, warning; you'll need tweezers for the glue flaps. link

Somewhere I have a file of 6mm Skelebots that were successfully down-scaled. It really helps to have high quality images at the start of the re-scale process and I always wondered why Paper General liked the 96 dpi setting.

[squirmydad]

Back to your original question; A section called "Small Scale" can easily be created, and then sub-boards for 6mm, 15mm, 20mm, other.
Does that work?

[alloydog]

Aug 3, 2019 6:08:52 GMT -9 squirmydad said:

Back to your original question; A section called "Small Scale" can easily be created, and then sub-boards for 6mm, 15mm, 20mm, other.
Does that work?

Sounds good to me!

[alloydog]

Aug 3, 2019 6:07:16 GMT -9 squirmydad said:

I always wondered why Paper General liked the 96 dpi setting.

It's the default resolution for MS Paint. MS Paint used to be 72 dpi, but sometime between Windows 98 and Windows 7 it changed to 96 dpi to match PC monitors.

[squirmydad]

Done!
cardboard-warriors.proboards.com/board/218/small-scale-papercraft