BMW R75 with Sidecar - Bike crew update 170215

[ripley]

While the diorama base is very nice , I feel most Gamers would have a stash of extra bases suited to the rest of their forces , and Modellers would probably wish to make their own base   ( I would  ). Better to use the sprue space for extra crew  equipment or maybe extra arms and heads for conversions .

[airborne]

Love the base but I would also prefer to use my own or none for vehicles, a solo bike being held by wire, or on a transparent  base.   

[elias.tibbs]

Agree with Steve there, although a cool idea I'd rather see more bikes or stuff on the sprue or multiple sprues of bikes over bases.

[Rubicon Models]

Thanks for the comments and feedback!  These concept sculpts is one of the important steps during our project development phase.
 

[Rubicon Models]

3D sculpt of bikers in Kradmantel...




Enjoy!

[stevepalffy]

They look great !

[Pinky]

The figures look fantastic.  Can you replicate this in plastic?

One point I noticed now the figures are on board is that the wheels look a bit too small.  Looking at photos of the actual bike, the mudguard on the front wheel seems to be higher than the top of the sidecar, and the wheels are correspondingly bigger. 

[Rubicon Models]

The figures look fantastic.  Can you replicate this in plastic?

Probably yes.  When we do the initial sculpt, we will try to take undercuts into consideration,
and hopefully upon pose approval, we will start to take care of the undercut portions of the
sculpt.

One point I noticed now the figures are on board is that the wheels look a bit too small.  Looking at photos of the actual bike, the mudguard on the front wheel seems to be higher than the top of the sidecar, and the wheels are correspondingly bigger.

The bike is checked for scale-related issues before we send the drawing to the sculptor.
We are quite sure it is of the correct scale.  However, the figures are a bit over sized.  This is
because we need to go "in line" with other third party figures, which is even bigger in 1/56 scale.

For larger vehicles, it is not that obvious, but when you worked with smaller vehicles, the "scale"
issue become an issue.  We can ignore it and keep using our standard templates, or scale up
the "smaller" vehicles to make it look right.

We are still debating this issue with our staff at the studio.  Anyway, the scale related issues can
be adjusted easily before production.

[Pinky]

I think it's fine for the figures to be a bit oversized, as is common with 28mm.  But the wheels look undersized just compared to the rest of the bike.

[ripley]

The wheels do look a little small , but not as bad as the Perry Bros  bike shown a few weeks ago , that looked like something clowns would ride .  I do think that compromises have to be made in producing a kit that can be used as a game piece as well as a scale model , not to mention that the " scale " game figures are for the most part " heroic " in size which is not true to scale    . Its a fine line and I think that Rubicon has done a good job of trying to balance all these factors . 

[elias.tibbs]

The perry's had the same issue with their metal bikes, the wheels just looked too small and odd so they took them off sale and are now increasing the wheels by 20% or something near that

[airborne]

Darn it Rubicon I wasn`t going to go to many Axis, but these. Woww!!! If a shade on how they look now what a hit you will have when modelled. Brilliant. How about a troop of Harley D`s eh ?

[Rubicon Models]

An quick update with some Wehrmacht Kradschützen bike riders...


Enjoy!

[Pinky]

The bike starts to look a bit overcrowded with 3 overscale figures on it, but they are well designed figures.  Also, the motorbike and sidecar was inceasingly rare as the war went on (replaced by the Kubeleagen), so mid-war figures seem less appropriate.  Some DAK figures would arguably be more useful.

Still think the wheels look too small.

[Rubicon Models]

The bike starts to look a bit overcrowded with 3 overscale figures on it, but they are well designed figures.  Also, the motorbike and sidecar was inceasingly rare as the war went on (replaced by the Kubeleagen), so mid-war figures seem less appropriate.  Some DAK figures would arguably be more useful.

For Kradschützen squads, the standard organization for each squad was 3 infantry
per motorcycle.  We will also have DAK figures as well.

Still think the wheels look too small.

Yes, we are quite aware of the issue and had a heated debate at the studio.  It would be
impractical to just scale up the wheels and not the whole bike.  But then, we will not be
able to call it 1/56 scale, but only 28mm...

The figures are over-sized and that's understandable because of the nature of this produce. 
May be one day, we will do some "true" 1/56 scale figures to go with our products when
the time is right!