American Diorama 23996 & 23963, G-Scale figures

The very last purchase from my recent US visit worth mentioning is yet another experiment from my side when it comes to garden railroading. I've decided to obtain some typical American G-scaled figures to see how well they'll perform outdoors. And at the same it gave me an opportunity to fill in some empty spots on my layout.

The models are part of the American Diorama collection. The sets I bought feature a hitchhiker scene and a single waitress.

Catalog numbers of these are 23996 and 23963. The warning on the box states there's a choking hazard involved, even though the parts are large. Oh, and by the way - the figures are made in China, and not in the US :)

The waitress on the roller skates looks really good. She's nicely painted and there are some interesting details on the food plate. Her pose is a typical one you would expect from a worker at an American diner. The face could be less blocky, but I like it very much overall.


The other set consists of a sexy hitchhiker and... a half-man. Yes, it may look disturbing at first and definitely brings back memories of watching Forrest Gump BUT it's actually a model you're supposed to put into a car. So the hitchhiker scene is not missing any legs, it's missing a car. Here's what it looks like.


We can see some very fine painting and nice details again. A lot of attention has been put into the girl's shorts. How did they know I would be looking exactly there?

I bought the poor guy a nice car so that he has any chance at all to pick up the lady. It's a Corvette from Welly. Unfortunately he does not fit inside so great, and a cabriolet would make the installation much easier. But still - it does look pretty good in the end...

The big question? Weather resistance. Unfortunately I won't know that until the next spring, since it's very cold outside already and the garden season 2017 is basically over for me :(