Do you guys mix brand XY&Z stuff with GHQ?

[nashorn88]

Any one else mix other 1/285 -1/300 stuff with GHQ?
I do like brand X trucks and other soft skins items. But don't really like putting it together.
Nice that more are open bed and I can add items but really never have yet.
I like brand Y inf since scale seem more accurate.

Wonder if GHQ mind if we list the company name instead of brand XYZ?

[piersyf]

Sorry to put it like this Nashorn88, but seeing as people post brand names all the time I cannot for the life of me understand why this zombie question won't die.

GHQ don't allow posting links to rival sites, but naming the company is fine. CinC, Heroics and Ros, all been mentioned dozens, if not hundreds of times, and never deleted. Just don't post the link.

[Waddell]

The simple answer is yes! I mix them all the time. The reason is either I don't like a particular GHQ casting as opposed to another manufacturer or, and this is far more likely, GHQ doesn't make the particular casting at all.

[Extra Crispy]

Absolutely. In fact if you check my German army thread you'll see I even mix make and model in the same unit. Bought a bunch of collections second hand and to me they are gaming pieces. Good looking table, decently painted minis, no one cares. Do ti in 15mm too...all my Shermans are different sizes!

[panzergator]

The short answer is "Yes, I mix them."

I don't mix primary combat vehicles. In an M1A1 tank battalion, the tanks will be all GHQ or all CinC. I currently have one of each. When I build M1A2 battalions, they will be GHQ.

My CinC Bradley battalion is too different from GHQ M2s. The CinCs have been converted to the J-series divisional cavalry squadron. The GHQ M2/3s equip two mech battalions and will also equip all future mech and cavalry units.

You can't get the M113A2 in GHQ, so I must use CinC's for my J-series transition battalion, but I will use GHQ for its mortar platoon, since they are more accurate, save for the rear fuel tanks.

CinC's M113A1s are cheaper, so I use those for medical platoons and maintenance platoons. For H-series mech battalions, I prefer GHQs M113A1.

GHQs combat engineer vehicle is a lot better than CinCs, so I use GHQ's in the engineer platoons and their hulls for the blade tanks in M60A1 companies.

GHQ Vulcans are better than CinC's, but CinC has the Chapparal and GHQ doesn't.

The GHQ M60A1 looks like a miniaturized version of the actual tank, but the CinC's doesn't have the turret basket. I avoid the latter. CinC's M60A3 is more than good enough. You can make A1s by clipping off the grenade launchers on either side of the main gun. I will first build an M60A1 battalion from GHQ, but probably a second from CinC M60A3s.

The GHQ M60A2 (out of production) also looks like a real one (I served in one), but the CinC not so much. I will have to change the main gun barrels on the CinCs to make them look better and may just put 120mm guns on them.

Both companies' models are compatible, although perhaps like vehicles may not look good side by side.

I have 5 M75s and 10 M59s from, I think, H&R. They are 1/300 scale. They are pretty close and I think they are reasonably compatible with the 1/285.

For some models, you may want to balance cost versus appearance. It may be a matter of preference and availability.

[jb]

Yep,
Heroic & Ros, Adlers, and GHQ. No c in c

[Mk 1]

I frequently mix products from various manufacturers.

I mix from unit to unit, sometimes within the same unit, and sometimes even on the same stand. And not just one ... I have some stands with figures from 3 different manufacturers.

For me it is not so much a case of if, but when.

The "when" comes down to two factors:
1) Is the quality of the brand-X product high enough to be within the realm of "comparable" to the quality of GHQ?

2) Is there a comparable model from GHQ?
2a) If no, is the quality of the brand-X product at least "adequate"?

I have never found another manufacturer at this scale that can make a model that is as nice as a GHQ model. None. Maybe, 30-40 years ago, the other Minnesota manufacturer was in the same quality league. Certainly they produce very nice, crisp castings. Even at that time, though, there was something about the GHQ models that I just preferred ... maybe the proportions? But since the newer masters and re-mastered models started coming out from GHQ in the late 1980s/ early 1990s there is just no other manufacturer anywhere that competes on the quality of the model. I don't even consider that as a point of consideration anymore.

But ... GHQ doesn't make everything. And I'm greedy ... I want everything. Or at least, I often want some things that GHQ doesn't make.

Years ago it may have been a matter of price, too. Other guys are cheaper. But now, it isn't. I know a lot of guys my age who have FAR more expensive hobbies than I do. Compared with buying and maintaining a jet-ski boat, or taking a poker junket to Las Vegas every year, or even building a model railroad in my basement (I don't even HAVE a basement, so I'd have to build that first!) I can collect as many GHQ minis as I want and my wife is just never going to complain.

But there are still things that GHQ doesn't make. Fewer than there used to be, but still some.

There have been several occasions where I bought items from a brand-X vendor, only to have GHQ start making the product at a later date. Sometimes I have replaced the brand-X product, sometimes I have not. Some examples:
- I bought and painted up a company of modern French Leclerc MBTs from a brand-X company in the UK. Then GHQ put a Leclerc in their line. Quite frankly the GHQ models are SO much better that I bought and painted up a company to replace my brand-X models. Really, so much better. That was 20-some years ago, and they have still never seen a game. But I'm still glad I did it. Oh, and BTW, my force is a mixed force, as many of the supporting vehicles are brand-X. Now that GHQ is expanding their modern French line, some of those might get replaced as well.
- I bought and painted up a platoon of US M6 "Fargo" light tank destroyers from the other Minnesota company. I put GHQ figures in them as crews (again, mixing without hesitation). A few years later GHQ started offering the M6. In this case I don't feel compelled to replace them. The other guy's models are adequate, and with the paint job and the crew figures they look nice.
- Several years ago I got into my head the notion of building a Romanian force. I planned it all out -- many of the vehicles they used were available in the German, Italian, and French lines. I bought a company of Italian infantry (3 platoons + supporting weapons) from a UK brand-X, to serve as Romanian infantry. Not a perfect match, but the closest I could come up with. Then GHQ created their Romanian infantry. I never even painted up the brand-X figures. I waited until the GHQ figures became available and went straight with them ... never even painted (or used) the brand-X stuff.

One great advantage with GHQ is that you almost always know you'll be delighted with the models you get. Even if you don't know the GHQ reputation, there are very well done pics of every model in the catalog. With various brand-x vendors it's a bit more of a gamble ... I have made several purchases of product that I judged to be un-useable once I received them. Well, OK, sometimes I have "used" them as battlefield wrecks (with some level of kit-bashing). For me, at least, that's never happened with a GHQ product.

[BurtWolf]

I generally do not, I just enjoy GHQ's quality much more than that of the other companies. Those few pieces I do have, I will use for modified pieces, or transform them inTo battlefield wrecks.

I'm not so concerned about the price point, frankly I don't buy in big lots unless it's used GHQ material, and even though you can't see it from a far it just fix it my head that I'm not using what I want to use on my gaming table.

That being said, I've seen some really cool stuff on shapeways that I'm getting tempted to purchase ... like the World War II Opel buses.