1/32 American Civil War Marching

More pictures

One of my big criteria in buying a set of figures (right up there with ascetics and accuracy) is compatibility with the sets of other makers. Just the other day on another forum we were discussing the Auburn Western figures from back in the 1950s & 60s (yes, I'm that old - dirt calls me, "Sir.") and how beautifully sculpted they were. Indeed, some of the finest sculpted Cowboys and Indians - and some great US GIs- ever done. The problem was, they were so danged BIG! 65 - 70mm tall! They didn't work well with anything else in our collection - even 60mm figures, which were fading in popularity by the time I got into the hobby (but we didn't call it that back then...).

When a new set comes out I first look at style, do I like the look of them? There have been some sets I really wanted to have but I passed because I just didn't like their look. I prefer as realistic as practicable. I've made some exceptions, but I'm usually a stickler for proper proportions on my figures.

Then I look at accuracy - I'm not a big button counter normally - sometimes a bit of paint can "correct" a minor problem, but I don't want Alamo guys using Winchesters, or having my ACW guys wielding Thompsons, etc.

But the biggie for me is compatibility - will the new set fit in with what I already have. Some of you might remember a few years back when size creep got into some of the 1/72 scale sets being produced by some major makers. Some of the "1/72" scale figures being produced were practically 28mm. I passed on many beautiful sets because they were just too large to fit in with my other units.

For those of us into collecting 1/32 figures, we are aware that back in the 1990s Richard Conte caused a big stir when he introduced his line of figures with his two sets and series of "54mm" figures - "The Warlord" and "Zulu" - based on those movies, he followed up with WW2 "The Longest Day," and a Civil War series. The figures were beautiful and just about everyone fell in love with them; but there was one problem: compared to the 1/32 or 54mm figures we'd been collecting and playing with since childhood they were HUGE! They were between 54mm and 56mm, and thicker than the guys we had in our armies.

Several newer producers followed Conte's lead and began producing figures in the newer, larger scale - while others continued producing figures in the older, smaller scale. Now, when a new 1/32 scale set is announced the first question is - "Which size are they?"

Recently I had the privilege of getting my hands on several test shots for HaT's new ACW set. Believe me, they look better in person than the pictures can tell (mostly due to the white plastic used for the prototypes). I hope to rectify that partially by painting them. I just hope I can do them justice.\

Now, the question, "What size are they?"

I answered that question, and hope to answer it for you by taking comparison photos of the new HaT figures against some of the figures available today. I chose some of the more common and popular figures from my collection - these are the pretty much representative of the other companies out there and hopefully will give you an idea of where HaT fits in with what you might have in your collection both in scale and style of sculpts. I hope this helps.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:


First are HaT figures compared to the "traditional" 1/32 -54mm ACW figures:




Now, compared to the "new" 54mm - 1/32 scale:

I believe that's part of a possible future set of command poses.

A closer look at the figures:

Earlier digital scans: