Ninth scale came out of the motorcycle kit tradition and still serves it, but the category is now driven by something else: multi-part resin figures of soldiers in current service dress, including an extensive run of Ukrainian infantry, special forces operators with anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicle crewmen. A few closely related 1:10 pieces, including Second World War vignette figures, share the same shelf without any visible mismatch.
A figure of around twenty centimetres belongs to the display disciplines: equipment is usually cast separately so it can be painted off the body, and faces are large enough to repay real portrait work. The guide below covers both halves of the listing.
Two traditions meet here. The older one is the rider, built to stand beside a ninth-scale motorcycle. The newer and now dominant one is the standalone military figure: modern camouflage patterns, plate carriers, weapon accessories and the posture of soldiers photographed within the last few years. Castings are multi-part resin supplied unassembled and unpainted, and separate equipment parts are the norm so that a pouch rig or a weapon can be painted off the body and fitted afterwards. That habit alone explains why figures of this size look cleaner than their smaller cousins.
Contemporary uniforms demand accuracy, because reference photographs are everywhere and so is the audience that has seen them. Check the camouflage pattern, the carrier and the weapon fit before you start mixing colours. Modern load-bearing equipment is also layered rather than sculpted flat, so plan the painting order from the tunic outwards. Vehicles in the neighbouring sizes come from 1:6 and 1:9 military vehicle kits.
A rider gives a machine both scale and movement, whether standing at the bars, kneeling at the engine or seated. The machines are listed in 1:9 motorcycle model kits, and the pairing of figure and bike is a generous basis for a compact diorama.
Wash the parts to remove release agent, bond with cyanoacrylate and fill any seam before priming. Further castings and separate items of equipment are listed under resin figures and equipment.
The complete range of figure sizes is set out in model figures.
