This article is taken from the Wargamer's Newsletter issue 129, December 1972. It is reproduced here purely for informative purposes only. If I've mistyped something please let me know!
Jack Scruby gaming back in 1962.
Guest Writer Of The Month
JACK SCRUBY
(It is quite possible that
wargaming, as we now it today, would not exist but for Jack Scruby, whose
enthusiasm in producing range after range of wargaming figures and his immortal
magazine “War Games Digest” gave the hobby its initial impetus. Jack and I have
never met but we each hold a mutual respect for each other and I am proud to
print what follows).
Received
Issue 126 of Wargamer’s Newsletter today and was very interested of course in
your report about the doings if Scruby Miniatures in the “Must List” section.
Our new project in “S” gauge (9mm scale) may be of interest to you. Orders for
these new scale soldiers indicate they may become quite popular, and surprisingly
a ½ inch figure is easy to paint and I find I can detail them out quite well even
though a slip with the soldering iron is the end f a new original pattern
figure!
Back to your story in the "Must List" regarding the various "scales" of model soldiers one finds these days. You may be interested in my own story about this, since no doubt it might reflect the other manufacturers own ideas.
First of all, in 20mm scale I was
the first to start this scale in the U.S.A. At that time I was using original
pattern figures supplied to me by John Greenwood and Kathleen Ball of Great
Britain, with models they had made in this scale (¾" tall figures) for some
of their famous dioramas. The figures actually stand ¾ of an inch tall from toe
(top of stand) to head (not including hat). Back in the late 50's when
Greenwood and Ball sent me these figures - and remember they were the FIRST
commercial models offered anywhere for wargaming in this scale - (20mm) - I
would assume that 20mm meant a figure was ¾ of an inch from toe to top of head.
Since then, of course, many 20mm figures are now scaled at 25mm'.... But
supposedly, the GB originals could be classed as a TRUE 20mm scale model
soldier.
If you will carefully check the
early Airfix models, you will find them really under - 25mm scale - and some of
the later ones are really over - 25mm scale. However, when I first started with
25mm scale several years ago, I used the 25mm scale ruler (not an Airfix
figure) and my first original figure (carved from balsa wood at an exact 25mm
scale size) might be called an "in-between" under and over Airfix
model soldier!
Recently, I will truthfully
admit, my newer 25mm models are closer to 27mm ... and also my newer 30mm
models are closer to 33mm .... But, let me go into this in depth.
Back in 1957 when I first came
out with 30mm figures, I designed my originals to exactly match the SAE
(Eriksson designed) 30mm scale soldiers on the market at that time. A careful
check of these old SAE's (and the Eriksson models) show they were truly a 30mm
scale model. When Tom Cox designed his famed Sudan War models for me, they were
a TRUE 30mm scale, and in fact, some were under 30mm and some over 30mm, for
Tom told me then that no two men were exactly the same height, and therefore
some of his models were "short" and some "tall" men!
For quite a few years thereafter
all my 300 designs were a true 30mm size. Later, other manufacturers entered
the field .... competition set it, and their new "30mm" model, being
bigger and more detailed, cut into my sales, even though their prices were much
higher. As a consequence when I re-designed my 30mm soldier for the first time
about 1963 or so, I made my 30mm soldiers bigger, so that I could compete. Now,
in 1972, as I re-design my 30mm soldiers for about the fourth time since 1957, I
find my models are at least 34mm as an average .... counting them from the
bottom of the feet to the top of the head. (This measurement incidentally, is
the "original" one started years ago by Britains on their 54 mm
soldiers, and one I think, most "old time" manufacturers still use).
The same thing became true of my
20mm and 25mm designs .... competition by other manufacturers advertising their
"true" (?) 20mm-25mm-30mm scale models ... which were in fact much
larger than they advertised ... caused me, and no doubt others, to revise their
models so as to give the customer what they wanted.
The result of course is horrible. As you point
out no collector knows exactly what he is getting until his models arrive from
the manufacturer. Thus, a Mini-Fig 20mm scale is the same scale as a Scruby
25mm model .... a Hinchliffe 30mm is closer to 40mm, etc., etc., etc. And today
a Scruby 25mm figure is closer to 27mm scale (which in fact is almost the same
size as my old 1 inch figures used to be!). So, I cannot beg off as not being
an offender of the scale problem ... but I can boast that at one time I began
this whole mess when I came out with the Greenwood and Ball ¾ inch soldier.
This originally was advertised as its scale ... ¾ of an inch tall. But eventually I made it 20mm
instead so that model soldier people would know the actual size in the metric
system that seems to have predominated in military miniatures since Britains
54mm scale .
This whole thing will undoubtedly
round itself out in a few years as manufacturers re-design the models they are
producing today. The first step in this direction seems to me to be the fact
that after years of over-pricing their products, Stadden 30mm infantry are back
in competition with my own prices for 30mm models. At one time it cost over $1.00
each here in the U.S.A. for a Stadden 30mm infantryman, where my own sold for
around 25 cents. Frankly there was not that much difference in quality, and we
both used expensive tin-alloy metal. So, a good sign for the model soldier
buyer is the fact that Stadden has lowered his price downwards, and this may be
the first step towards a more sensible solution to the "competition"
problem that caused the "scale-race" in the beginning. If leading
manufacturers begin to realise that their competition is producing a model
soldier as good as their own, perhaps we will stop trying to out-scale each
other and settle down to the market that is available without trying to corner
it all with over-fancy advertising and over-fancy prices. In the long run, the
tin-soldier business is like model railroading ... you find mightly little
difference in prices and sizes between the major railroad manufacturers, and if
you buy an engine from one maker, it generally will run on the same tracks that
another manufacturer makes. So, perhaps, someday a Scruby 30mm scale model
soldier will be the same size as a Stadden or a Hinchliffe or a Mini-Fig ....
and the buyer can pick the one he wants for his wargame army without getting
giants or midgets to fight with?
This brings up one other item I
must talk about after reading your editorial in this same interesting issue of
Wargamer's Newsletter. This is regarding the pirating of MiniFigs in England by
"North of England" people as told in your editorial.
Now of course we have plenty of
pirating in the U.S.A., and unfortunately for your British manufacturers, most
of this pirating is of Minifigs or Hinton Hunt wargame models. I have seen
stacks of so-called U.S.A. manufactured figures which are outright copies -
with no changes - of soldiers of these manufacturers. I remember not too long
ago when one dealer in California offered "Stadden" 54mm models -
made by this pirate in California! I know of many pirated Scruby models that
were never made in Visalia, California! It is outrageous as you indicate in
your article that model soldier buyers - especially wargamers - would do such a
thing. Like you, I always admire a wargame player, figuring he ia something
special in this world ... but still in our hobby one finds the guy who likes to
steal someone elses ideas, and then produce and sell these ideas at a profit to
his buddies.
To try and bring these people to
court is expensive and in the long run is probably not worth it, for if you
lose a bunch of fellows in a wargame club to these "pirates" you may
eventually get some of them back to buying your products after they get sick of
the "forgeries" they are buying. For, in the long run, a casting must
be painted by the owner, and in itself, this is much more time consuming than
it is worth to save a few pennies on a pirated casting. And of course, in
comparing a pirated figure with a casting from a legitimate manufacturer, even
the untrained eye will pick out the pirated figure - to the detriment of the
guy who is proudly showing off his paint job!
For what it is worth, no doubt
pirates cause some monetary loss to the soldier manufacturer, but as you point
out, the only one that is getting hurt is the member of the hobby itself. For
no doubt, some manufacturers have gone out of business already, and with the
time and expense involved in this business today, not everyone with a few
dollars and a yen to cast soldiers, is going into the business. The over-head
will soon eat them up. I have had 17 years or more at it, and only in the last
few years have I been able to make it a full time business. Prior to that, I
had a supporting business to help make my living. I am sure it is like yourself
(or me!) ... I doubt if you will quit your regular business to make the
publishing of Wargamer's Newsletter your full time business. It just isn't that
lucrative.
And speaking of Wargamer's
Newsletter. In the final analysis wargame magazines have come and gone also ...
and still Wargamer's Newsletter keeps plugging along. There seems now to be a
wargame magazine being put out 30 or 40 times a month. At last count I think I
read somewhere there are over 40 magazines devoted to wargaming of one sort or
another. Frankly, due to the nature of the editor of Wargamer's Newsletter,
this remains still one of the best magazines in the hobby, and I for one,
having at one time had an exciting encounter with Mr. Don Featherstone, still
look forward each month to the editorial in Wargamer's Newsletter. For nowhere
else can one find something NEW each month ... whether good, bad or indifferent
... as can be found or page one of Wargamer's Newsletter listed under the name
of "Editorial". Keep up the good work and the excitement of your
magazine.
On September 1st I
moved to e new and larger manufacturing plant - with a set up for a 24 foot (x
6') wargame table - huge display room, new manufacturing facilities, etc. Some
day I’ll write another dispatch and tell you all about it!!
This took a long time typing it out, hope you appreciate me!
Qute a bunch of the old Scruby lines are available again;
Lot of info on Jack Scruby here;
https://hmgs.org/legionofhonor/jack-scruby/
As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk
