Modern Civilian Vehicles For 28mm Minis?

When using vehicles in a 28mm game, there are several approaches one can take.  Now the first thing you need to consider is whether you want to use 3D models and minis, or simply use 2D representations of vehicles.  There are plenty of websites and products (like worldworks.com) that provide printable tiles to represent a wide array of vehicles for your game.

But if you are going to do that, you probably wouldn't be on my blog, so let's get to the good stuff: miniature cars!  But even once you've settled on 3D model vehicles (like a real man,) there are a number of considerations.

Firstly, if you are playing in a game that uses a grid or precise measurements, specific vehicles are meant to take up a particular amount of space (2 squares wide by four squares long for most cars in D20 Modern, for example.)  So you could simply use a miniature vehicle or other stand-in that covers the same footprint.

The other approach is to match your vehicles to the size of the minis themselves, for aesthetic purposes.  A 28mm mini on a 1" base is larger than the five foot by five foot space it is supposed to be occupying.  So the vehicle that uses the presumed scale of the figures will look too small for them.

Of course, the best plan is to fulfill both criteria and find some models that look appropriately sized when standing next to your minis, and have footprints appropriate for the measuring system of your game.

Now this brings up the subject of scale.  I need to mention two important facts about scale measurements for those not too familiar with using them.  Fact number one is that for models, the scale is given in a ratio beginning with a '1,' which stands for one inch.  Thus a 1:60 scale mini is made to a scale where every inch on the mini represents five feet (60 inches) of the real life version.

The second fact about ratios for models is that they are total crap.  If you are buying an actual, plastic model kit from an established company, you can expect realistic measurements that match reality.  But if you are buying a line of toys, you are pretty much eyeballing it for yourself.  So ignore what scale is actually listed and instead hold one up to a mini (you always carry one when you go shopping, right?) and see how it looks.   Then check the footprint and see if it fits closely enough.

All that is fine and dandy you say, but where to find these vehicles?  Well lots of other sites (usually tabletop wargaming sites,) will give you lists of where to find military vehicles for modern games, and mention civilian vehicles as an aside, often summing it up with 'find some dollar store toys that look right' without much helpful info.  But I don't need military minis, I need civilian vehicles, so I will do what I can to help you track those down.

Of course, the whole 'find some dollar store toys that look right' advice is still pretty spot on.  There are tons of good cars (often with those 'pull back and let go' motors inside) in drugstores and dollar stores and Walmart and so forth.  But you can never be sure of finding anything useful.  The best you can do is check out the toy aisle whenever you are in or near such a place and occasionally you get lucky.

Here is a truck of appropriate size that a friend of mine saw at a drugstore one day and picked up for me.  

If you have utterly abandoned the idea of using appropriate sized vehicles, you can always use Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, which are nowhere near large enough in appearance or footprint, and make your scene look tawdry and cheap.

You're better than that; don't do it.

The first brand name that normally pops up in online discussions on this subject is Corgi, who apparently make tons of cars in the right scale.  But that is because most of those guys are Brits, and I live in America, and I've never found any Corgi cars in my area at least, so I can't speak to that.

There are a couple of lines from American companies in the appropriate size however.  Jada is a manufacturer that makes many brands, two of which I have personally found to be well suited to gaming needs.  Both are listed as 1:64 scale, which is technically the same scale as Hot Wheels, but they are nowhere near the same size, so there you go.

The first is their LOPRO line, which features high end sports cars and tricked-out street machines.  They are not super cheap, running about $5.00 or so for a single car, but are very well detailed and painted.  But their selection is always limited, so I have never purchased one of their cars.  When running games set in downtown detroit or the post apocalyptic wastes of Fallout, one rarely sees a need for a 2009 Corvette Stingray concept car.

But their other line of note is called Hero Patrol, and is a line of extremely detailed and realistic police vehicles with authentic police markings from across the country.  They are like $3-4 and I find them at Walmart.  The scale is good, and they have opening doors and other features.  Now they are all modern cars for now, but I am hoping they do some retro ones in the future for Fallout use.

This is the best choice if you need cops in a modern game, especially if they have the city/state your game is set in.  But that's only cops, as they are all clearly marked and have push bumpers and such.  You could strip them of all that and repaint them, but there is a limited selection of police cruisers (unless you want to populate your town with nothing but Chargers and Crown Vics.)

That being said, I did pick up a CIA SUV that was black with CIA labels all over it.

Here's a stock photo from the interwebs to show how it looked originally.

I simply used some nail polish remover and some Q-Tips to remove the decals, and now I have a nice, plain black SUV for use in my games.

Except for those damn little flag symbols, they just wouldn't budge.

The nail polish remover will remove graphics and decals, but not the shiny enamel coating directly sprayed to the metal.

M2 is another company that makes tons of collectible cars, with great amounts of detail.  Most are in the 1:64 (Matchbox or Hot Wheels scale) but some are on the hefty side, and can pass as a larger scale. This is one where you are simply going to need to eyeball it to match the minis.  They mostly make classic cars (good news for Fallout gamers, but more on that later...) with some interesting 'specialty lines.'  Worth noting is that they do a number of tractor trailers that are nearly the right scale, which can otherwise be hard to find.  M2 prices run about the same as the Jada brands, with the trucks being much higher.

But the best source for readily available, appropriately sized cars?  Cars.  As in the diecast toys from the Disney/Pixar films of the same name.  These are 1:55 scale, more or less perfect for 28mm minis

Here are a couple of (modified) Cars diecast line cars next to some minis for scale (ignore the giant ants.)

They are readily available in toy stores or on ebay, are relatively inexpensive, and have a wide variety of models to choose from.  All in all, you really can't find a more reliable source for the price.

There are a few cons to consider however.  Firstly, they are heavy, die-cast metal bodies, so don't count on being able to cut them up with your trusty craft knife or hobby saw.  If you want to modify one, you can only really do so by adding to it, rather than cutting away.

Secondly, There are some pretty wide scale differences between some vehicles, meaning that some will end up being a bit smaller than the 1:55 scale of the rest of the line.  As with any issue of scale, the best thing to do is always look at each vehicle and compare a mini next to it if you can.

The pickup on the left is pretty much spot on in scale with the 28mm mini (heroclix,) while the four door sedan on the right ends up looking a little anemic (look at the size of the doors, for example.)

For some cars, the scale problem is due in large part to smaller wheels.  "Acer" the Pacer for example, has a body that is only slightly undersized, but has these tiny little wheels (like Hot Wheels size,) that makes it look far too small.  I plan to get some better sized ones and swap them out (since I am using them for gaming terrain, I don't need them to roll,) and make it a much better fit.

With larger wheels, this guy will fit in better with the other cars on the line.

One of the great advantages of these cars is that they come prepainted.  I work in acrylics, and don't own any enamels any more, which is what you would want to use for cars like this.  So if I can find a car in the color I want it to be, I will simply leave it that way as best as possible.  But if a car has graphics on the outside (like racing numbers or flames,) these can often be removed with some nail polish remover (acetone) which takes it right off for most cars, leaving only the shiny paint job underneath.

Here are two copies of 'Darryl Cartrip.'  On one, I have used nail polish remover to strip away all the racing numbers and other markings, leaving only the flame job.

This is an awesome 2-pack of Tex Dinoco and Mrs. The King.   I wanted to remove the brown cow spots from the top of Tex.

Oops!  I didn't stop to think that both the white and the brown were painted on after the gold flake undertone.  So now I have an all gold Cadillac Coupe.  But since it was for a bunch of vampire pimps, that kind of works out fine anyway.

If you do find yourself needing to repaint a car, you can either use your regular spray paint and live with a matt finish (fine if you are using them as junked vehicles,) or pick up some Testor's auto model spray paint at your local hobby center or Walmart.

Perhaps the biggest, but not insurmountable, challenge is the facial features.  Being anthropomorphized vehicles, they all have eyes and mouths to get rid of before they will look appropriate for the tabletop.

On many, the eyes are merely painted on the flat windshields, meaning you can simply paint over them and leave a smooth surface.  But some, usually the ones where the windows and windshields are part of the metal shell, actually have the eyelids sculpted on.  The metal construction makes it pretty much impossible to sand easily (I guess you could use a sanding wheel on a Dremel, but why go through that much hassle?) so your best bet is to use putty to fill in the recessed part and make a solid surface and sand that down smooth.

Here is a work in progress shot on the aforementioned vampire pimpmobile.  I have added putty to make a more or less even surface, and now I need to file it down (carefully, so as not to damage the paint job.)

But the real challenge is the mouth.  Characters have their mouths on the bumpers or grills of the vehicle, and are almost always part of the metal body, making sanding them down near impossible.  Some are fortunate enough to have small mouths (look for angry characters!) which make them easy to fill in or cover over.  The aforementioned Pacer had a narrow little line for a mouth, and I simply made a front license plate over it to conceal it, as you can see in the pictures above.

Others can simply have their mouths filled in with putty and then sanded down, but may still look lopsided because the bumpers are often shaped around the mouth, leaving an uneven shape.  You can sand the metal somewhat, but you still may end up having to simply construct a new, larger bumper out of putty to cover it up.

Here's Bob Cutlass (get it?) who has no front bumper and a winsome smile.  Can't have that, now can we?

I apologize if this picture is unsettling, I am not taking him hostage or anything.  I used putty to construct a complete bumper over the mouth.  Now I simply need to putty over the windshield and paint both.

The finished product: a sleek (generic) sports coupe.

Mater here is an extreme case.  To start, he had no hood, only his exposed engine.  But worse, he had those horrible (and offensively stereotypical as a Southerner,) teeth that simply could not be filed down.  I used putty to build the hood and made a (not great) grill to cover the teeth.

The finished Mater, repainted, and with a better dome light added.  Note that his  windshield was flat, so I simply had to paint over it.  This was my first attempt at painting glass, all future ones were simply painted grey or black.

Here is another Mater, called "Brand New Mater" because it is blue and has a hood.  But those damn teeth were still there, so I made a gril out of plastic mesh and a bumper out of a piece of Plastruct bent into shape with a candle.  I also converted him into a pickup by removing the tow gear and making stake sides out of craft sticks and coffee stirrers.

A standard Cars car runs about $4.18 at Toys R Us, and $3.88 at Walmart.  They are also available in two packs, or other collections, and you can always find them on ebay.  Collectible status can be a problem, and sometimes the car you want (I sooooo badly needed the Sheriff for a '50s adventure!) is rare, and may be too expensive for your budget.  But they rerelease them all the time (which is why I find the Sheriff all over the place now.)

I have seen them on clearance, and I often find them at the discount stores like Big Lots, so stock up when you see them!  If I have one complaint, it is that the bulk of the line are race cars, and there are not enough vans or pickups.  But all in all, I cannot recommend these vehicles enough.