HO figures of women railroad workers

[micktropolis]

Hello everyone! I've been inspired by my old VHS copy of Last of the Giants to model a UP Cheyenne-esq service facility, set in the 1930-ish to 1950-ish time period. I've got an IHC 650 coal bunker and Walthers modern roundhouse (and additions), 130" turntable, and other various pieces of equipment.

What I'm having trouble finding is some figures of female railroad workers. Most of the women figures I'm coming across are in dresses, or clothes too modern to modify, are carrying a purse, that sort - but nothing with that Rosie the Riveter look. I've thought of putting the head of a woman on a man mechanic/RR worker in coveralls body, but it just doesn't seem like it would work with respect to proportions.

I'd toyed with the idea of modifying various parts from different figures to get what I'm after but I wanted to check if anyone knew of a source for such figures. I've tried shapeways and etsy as well as general searches but no such luck as of yet.

Thanks for any help!

[mbinsewi]

Welcome!  Your going to have to do a search of the European manufactureres, like Noch, Prieser, Faller, and such, just to name a couple.

And then your going to have to modify how they are dressed, etc.  You'll probably find some in pants, and you can start from there.

We have a member in here, RR Mel, who does some casting to modify figures, maybe he'll chime in.

Mike.

[RR_Mel]

Glad to have you aboard!

 

Simple, Shapeways!  There are hundreds of HO scale working women figures available.  They are unpainted and a bit pricy but the detail can’t be beat.

 

 https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/figurines?q=figurines+female&sort=&facet%5BpdcId%5D%5B%5D=126&facet%5BpdcId%5D%5B%5D=348&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bmin%5D=1&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bmax%5D=2500&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bfrom%5D=1&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bto%5D=2500

 

 

I wanted females that I could change easily and bought about a dozen figures off Shapeways.  As Mike said I cast my own figures from resin using molds. 

 

I make molds of the original figures then cut off the arms and legs then gluing them back in different poses for many different looks.  When I have one I really like I make a mold if it then I can make any number of like figures.

 

There are quite a few 1:87 scale male figures out there but I do the same with them.  A casting kit from Hobby Lobby will make a couple of hundred figures.

 

For non working females I bought them nude and bald so that I can create entirely different looking women.  I also make the molds of the repositioned figures with out clothes and hair.  That way by using plastic putty I add clothes and hair then paint them, that way I never have two alike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[G Paine]

mbinsewi

Your going to have to do a search of the European manufactureres, like Noch, Prieser, Faller,

The good news is you can search Walthers on line for these figures, the bad news is there are thousands of them with no filters in place. Also, think of female figures wearing slacks and repainting into work clothes. It may be easier to order their catalog and look at the pictures.

This will give you a start, the list is filtered for HO scale, and in stock for 4 manufacturers - total hits 795

https://www.walthers.com/products/layout/figures/scale/ho-scale/manufacturer-name/faller-gmbh-merten-noch-gmbh-+-co-preiser-kg/in-stock/y/mode/list/show/120?match=AND

 

 

[dknelson]

micktropolis

I'd toyed with the idea of modifying various parts from different figures to get what I'm after

That's an interesting way of phrasing the challenge  ... which I won't touch with a ten foot pole. But trying to recreate the wonderful 1940s Kodachromes by Jack Delano and others showing women working on the railroads during the War sure is tough based on current commercial figures.  Typically in those photos you see heavy slacks or other thick work clothes and often -- nearly always -- a scarf around the head.  

Preiser has a woman doing housework which should be usable or adaptable but it is a very particular posture.

https://www.walthers.com/individual-figure-working-people-cleaning-the-house

The homeless woman has the right heavy coat for winter work perhaps.

https://www.walthers.com/homeless-woman-w-shopping-cart

Woman in a yellow vest - kind of modern but if the vest was made more drab perhaps

https://www.walthers.com/yellow-vests-2

This isn't much to choose from.

Dave Nelson

[mbinsewi]

I think I'll commision Mel to make mine.   

That'll give the hostlers something to look at.  

Mike.

[RR_Mel]

mbinsewi

I think I'll commision Mel to make mine.   

That'll give the hostlers something to look at.  

Mike.

 

Mike

 

I keep pretty busy so no time for making figures for you at this time.  I have to be in the right mode to paint my figures and I won’t be there until I get my second eye fixed in April.

 

I keep a pretty good stash of almost ready to go figures, 79 in this picture.

 

 

I’ve been working on my little people with about ¾ of one eye for about three years.  I got my right one done a week ago and I’m scheduled for April for my left eye.  My little people should be a lot easier to paint by May.

 

 

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[mbinsewi]

I was just kind of joking around Mel, judging by some of the occupants of your passenger car, I thought some of them would make great female railroad employees. 

So as Rosanne Rosanadana used to say,  "Never Mind" 

Mike.

[RR_Mel]

Micktropolis, your post finally got to me, I’m going to make me a Rosie the Riveter for my layout and she will be located with the guys at my roundhouse.

 

 

I’m going to bump one of the guys on the bench and replace him with Rosie.

 

If she turns out OK I’m going to make a second Rosie and she will take her place on the turntable tower.

 

 

She will be working in the power slip ring.

   

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[Steven Otte]

My thought is that a woman wearing coveralls and a safety vest isn't going to display an overtly feminine figure, so the starting point for a figure of a female rail worker might be a figure of a male rail worker. Use a hobby knife to shave some bulk off the shoulders, arms, and legs, and narrow in the waist slightly to give the illusion of broader hips and chest. Just don't exaggerate too much -- the bulk of work clothes would conceal most of the female shape. Hair would be kept short and/or concealed under a hard hat, so not much modification would be needed there.

[gmpullman]

Steven Otte

My thought is that a woman wearing coveralls and a safety vest isn't going to display an overtly feminine figure,

To back up Mr. Otte's observation, here are some excellent Office of War Information photos available at the Library Of Congress.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=women%20railroad%20delano

Jack Delano covered many railroad subjects of the time and his photos are invaluable. I have made some modifications to Preiser figures and, as Steven says, it wouldnt take too much effort to provide your roundhouse with some female workers.

I think the red babushka would help 

CNW_Wipers by Edmund, on Flickr

^{OWI-Jack Delano, Public domain}

Good Luck, Ed

[RR_Mel]

I’m going to use some of my castings to make a couple of Rosies.  The heads of my castings of Shapeways figures have very good detail so I’m going to “chop off their heads” and use male worker bodies with female heads.

 

 

I’m a week and a half into my Cataract surgery so it’ll be a slightly slower process.

 

I still don’t do well with my camera, the figures look a lot better here on my workbench.

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[mbinsewi]

gmpullman

I think the red babushka would help 

So that's what a babushka is?  the red head scarf?

Who knew?!

Other than those things, the babushkas, and of course the face, which isn't really noticable on most figures, maybe with Mel's detail figures they are, they like like men.

Mike.

[micktropolis]

You all have been incredibly helpful! 

Mel, I'm glad to hear that you are adding some Rosies to your RH setup. Let me know how you get along! 

Ed, thanks for the Library of Congress link - there's a lot of good material there. My wife and I have been studying the WASPs and the Mercury 13 female astronaut program - so learning about another love (the railroads) and women working for the railroads will surely get her more interested in them - I hope at least!

I'll be looking at figures available and maybe do some experimenting with headswaps and carving plastic a bit. I'm going to have a look at that shapeways seller and see if they can accomidate my request as well. 

Thanks again ya'll!

M

[micktropolis]

RR_Mel

Glad to have you aboard!

 

Simple, Shapeways!  There are hundreds of HO scale working women figures available.  They are unpainted and a bit pricy but the detail can’t be beat.

 

 https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/figurines?q=figurines+female&sort=&facet%5BpdcId%5D%5B%5D=126&facet%5BpdcId%5D%5B%5D=348&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bmin%5D=1&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bmax%5D=2500&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bfrom%5D=1&facet%5Bprice%5D%5Bto%5D=2500

 

I wanted to revisit this topic a moment and let anyone who is still interested know, I messaged Benhaim who runs Printle Shop on Shapeways, sent him a few photos of the women working the railroads and they have produced 6 or 7 poses in 1:87 scale of female railroad workers, including one in a pose with a lever like on that turntable photo! If anyone is interested, search for Printle Shop on Shapeways and 'femme 1717' through '1723'. 

They are a little expensive but considering they are to customer specifications and custom, I don't mind ordering 4 or 5 myself.

M

[mbinsewi]

I found the 1717.  Too bad his site doesn't have a way of searching.  Not going through 500 pages.

What I seen looked good, actually eveything I found, trying to find 1717-1723 looked good.

They are pricey, but the detail is great!

Mike.

[wjstix]

mbinsewi

 

gmpullman

I think the red babushka would help 

 

 

So that's what a babushka is?  the red head scarf?

Who knew?!

Babushka is Russian for grandmother, and is also used to refer to the headscarves they commonly wore. It doesn't have to be red. Unless your area had a lot of Russian immigrants, no one would have known in the 1940's what a babushka was. It would just be a headscarf.

Actually up until about 1970 women commonly wore scarves to work or to church, or just out shopping, rather than hats. Although I can see where 1940's "Rosie the Riveter" figures would have limited sale appeal, it's a little surprising more female figures wearing scarves aren't available.

[micktropolis]

mbinsewi

I found the 1717.  Too bad his site doesn't have a way of searching.  Not going through 500 pages.

What I seen looked good, actually eveything I found, trying to find 1717-1723 looked good.

They are pricey, but the detail is great!

Mike.

 

 

Yeah searching through a shop can be daunting, I attribute that to shapeways more than anything but just a general search of 'femme 1717', 'femme 1721', etc should have them show up. I'm looking forward to getting them in the service facilities!

[RR_Mel]

Unfortunately the Shapeways search isn’t worth much.  It’s a slow and tedious process but I’ve done it a couple of times.  I just use “1:87 Femme” and look at every figure, all 481 pages. At 50 figures per page it takes a lot of time. 

 

The thing that makes it worse is when you select a figure and go back it drops your cue and then there are repeats.  I write down the numbers and open them up later so I don't loose my place in the cue.

 

They have had several increases in price, the lower the number the lower the cost.  I only look at the figures under 1000, rarely over $7.

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[chutton01]

wjstix

Actually up until about 1970 women commonly wore scarves to work or to church, or just out shopping, rather than hats.

I knew about babushkas since I am of Polish decent, and yes mom did wear a head scarve to church until the mid-1970s or so, well after Vatican II kinda "deprecated" the practice. She called her scarves babushkas, perhaps somewhat self-deprecatingly, as babushkas are also Polish/Russian slang for "Old Grandmothers".
Back to that head scarf topic, Preiser is German, and I guess design work is done in Germany (perhaps production work is done in Poland or other nearby countries). So, what has Germany had an influx of over the past years? Muslim immigrants, of which a sizable number of the women wear headscarves as hidjabs (apparently there is some allowable range of head coverage).  Will that work it's way into their newer releases going forward?

Our complaints in this thread about lack of specific female figures seems so 21st Century when you compare to the unpublished E.L. Moore article from the 1960s on building a Village School (I read it on 30 Squares). In it he bemoans the lack of female figures to use as  "schoolmarm", discarding the Mrs Suptomi figure before finally settling on the Weston figure "Lady In The Lake".  You can search for the figure, but its basically a nude standing female with arms strategically placed.  He stated he added clothing using some blue tissue and string, but not before writing 3 paragraphs of a bizarre conversation with the figure about her pay...  No Shapeways back then, but Mr Moore was not above hand carving the students out of balsa (only needed the head and torso).

[RR_Mel]

I may sound immoral or even sexist but female nude bald Shapeways figures are the easiest to work with.  I use Testors Plastic Putty to make up different hairdos and clothing.  It’s much easier to add than remove when working with the tiny figures.

 

The Shapeways figures are very brittle so I start by making a mold of every figure.  I never use the original figure and keep them separate as masters.  I chop up my castings to reconfigure them in different poises; I also make molds of the reconfigured figures and keep the original as masters.  

 

Currently I have about female 60 molds and 25 male molds.  When I get into a casting mode (not real often) I normally turnout 50 or more castings.  I super glue the castings to a sewing pin for easy painting and store them on a strip of balsa.

 

It’s the same way when I paint them, I have to be in the right mode to paint a dozen or more ¾” figures.

 

If you are looking for figures Shapeways have the best detail for 1:87 scale by far.  Printle Shop prices increases with time, the lower the number the lower the cost.  There are many great figures to choose from 100 to 1000, the price increase starts about 725.

 

Steven Otte is correct, female workers of the 40s and 50s didn’t look like females.  My Rosie the Riveter didn’t look like a female with a head wrap so my female workers have hair.  They also started out in life as Shapeways females bald and without clothing.

 

 

I tried several different tops and none look enough like Rosie, even kinda stupid looking.

 

 

Good Luck figure hunting!

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[mbinsewi]

Nice Mel, but I'm not sure they made "taylored" coveralls, that fit like that.  

Mike

[micktropolis]

Hey Mel, looks like you found an excellent method that works! I personally don't trust my own ability to clothe figures at 1:87 with putty, but starting with nude figures is totally understandable, and similar to how any artist might draw or paint the human form. 

[kasskaboose]

There was a fantastic MR article about making the same figures look different.  Adding women to a layout as workers is a fantastic way of showing diversity.  On that front, you also can paint figures to depict other minorities too.

[RR_Mel]

Crafters Acrylic paints have a lot of skin colors and shades, I have 8 different skin tones that I use as I paint my figures.  My wife is into Crafting so between us we have about 250 different colors and that really helps.

 

micktropolis

Hey Mel, looks like you found an excellent method that works! I personally don't trust my own ability to clothe figures at 1:87 with putty, but starting with nude figures is totally understandable, and similar to how any artist might draw or paint the human form. 

 

As far as modeling with plastic putty it’s pretty easy blob it up and carve it with a #11 blade.  I bought a sack of sanding sticks for about $2 that had 10 different grits for finish work.  When I get a good one I make a mold.

 

With a little experience you can do a pretty good hair job with a tooth pick, ponytails are super easy, most of the time they don’t even need retouching.

 

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[wjstix]

One reason "Rosie the Riveter" wore a scarf was to keep her hair in control. At the start of the war a popular hair style was based on one made famous by movie star Veronica Lake.

Unfortunately (at least according to legend) many women entering defense-related manufacturing work ended up getting their hair caught up in the machinery, prompting many to get a haircut. IIRC even Veronica Lake cut her hair to encourage others to do the same to avoid the problem.

So...working women figures should either have short hair, or hair under a scarf (or tied up in some way).

http://classicmoviechat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/post-774-1250719765.jpg