Adding figures to layouts is a lot of fun. It adds atmosphere, plus you can create your own little world.
Here’s my approach. First decide where you want the figure and make a little mark (above).
Next drill a hole.
Now clear up your mess. (I sound like my father!)
Then I put the figure in place.
For some time now I’ve been drilling a small hole in the legs of my figures and gluing a piece of wire in the cavity. The wire gives me something to hold while I’m painting the figure and, because I’ve drilled some holes in a scrap piece of wood, I can support the figure while it dries. The wire is very useful for fixing the figure on the layout. The man for Thomas and Sons (above) is 7mm (1:43) scale but it works well for 00 (1:76) scale people too (below). You can even use this approach for sheep!
Here’s Arkwright, the works foreman, in place. I haven’t glued him in place yet, I may do that later…
Steve's Narrow Gauge Adventure 
They’re great, Steve. Where do you get your figures?
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Hi Andy
I get most of my figures from S&D Models and Monty’s Models although the 4mm scale ones are Dapol.
Steve
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Hi Steve. Love the stone sets on the photos of fixing figures. Can I ask what materials you used?
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Hi Peter The cobbles were made by rolling out DAS clay and creating the setts by pressing down with some small tools. If you go to the layout section there’s a series of posts in May, June and July 2019 showing the process in some detail. Painting is described here. It’s messy but fun!
Hope that helps
Steve
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Hi Steve. Thank you so much for your reply and links.
I have a Thames dockside to build in N scale so will attempt (?) to follow your instructions. Think I may need stronger glasses though ha ha.
Regards
Peter
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Hi Peter
Happy to help. A dockside in N, yes, that is going to challenge your eyesight 🙂 You might want to try a test piece before you try the real layout, just to see how you get on.
Cheers
Steve
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