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Post by Mike Lewis on Nov 1, 2016 7:08:06 GMT
I have always liked my toy soldiers to look their best so paint them with neat uniforms. I recently bought a small collection of Napoleonics where they were all painted with dirt below the knees.
I had to repainted them as they just looked scruffy to me.
What do other people do?
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Post by davel on Nov 1, 2016 8:34:04 GMT
Hi Mike,
I must admit that I'm with you on this one. I also paint my figures as neatly as possible, and with figures like Expeditionary Force, I do lots of shading just as I would if I was painting a bust or a model. To me the parade ground look is good. If anyone says anything about it I always remind them (and myself) that they're toy soldiers so I can do what I like.
There is, however, one difference, and it seems to negate what I've just said. I'm planning to wargame with my 54mm Napoleonic and Ancients (not forgetting get the Sudan range as well) so I Base them as I would my 28mm wargames figures, using sand/grit, earth wash, dry brushing and static grass and flock, etc. When I do this basing, some of the dry brushing gets onto the trousers, but as it ties the figures into the scenic bases, I leave it on the trousers, etc.
So I suppose I please the "purists" with the top part of my figures, and the "realistic" approach people at the same time! Hope all that makes sense?
Beat Wishes Dave
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Post by briancarrick on Nov 6, 2016 14:07:17 GMT
I'm with davel on this, I like my figures to look like old Britains or Heyde toy soldiers but I've started mounting plastics on 2p coins to give them more stability because I got fed up with them falling over all the time, I give the bases a layer of "no more cracks" filler to hide the join between figure and coin. I gloss varnish the figures when painted to protect them from all the handling they get but I'm wondering about flocking the base, I'm not sure how well that would work.
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Post by davel on Nov 6, 2016 18:14:56 GMT
Hi Brian,
I too wondered whether to stick to plain green card bases, or grass mat on card or whether to Base "properly".
In the end, I took my courage pill and based using sand/grit and did put static grass and flowers, etc on, and now I'm glad that I did. I ONLY DO THIS WITH MY Victrix and Ex-Force figures though. My 42mm Shiny Toy Soldiers are based on MDF covered in grass mat.
I think it depends on your personal tastes and also the style of the figures? I'd suggest you just did one figure using flock, etc. and if you don't like it, you haven't got m7ch to "repair".
Good luck. Dave
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Post by spiritofethandune on Nov 7, 2016 8:17:56 GMT
HI all,
I have seen Mike's plastic 54mm Old Guard that he's put on individual 40mm square bases painted green and glossed. I like his toy soldier look which is different (obviously) to my 54mm Prussians that are shaded and matt varnished with flocked bases. I really like the simple toy solder style bases and all and I wish I hadn't had my Prussians and ECW painted 'realistically' with fancy basing. For some reason I think that style of painting belongs to 28mm and smaller figures. It's just my opinion but when I took part in the Funny Little Wars Waterloo game in London last year my Prussians were not glossy and had heavily flocked bases and they just didn't look right!
Cheers
Anthony
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Post by ianiow on Nov 8, 2016 10:55:12 GMT
I find that 54mm figures require less exaggeration of painting style than their tiny counterparts in 15mm and 28mm, so have, despite my initial feelings and after a few attempts, moved to parade ground, glossy, traditional toy soldier look, with a little extra work on the faces. The idea of moving to 40mm and 54mm was, after all, to make it easier to play with toy soldiers when presented with the challenges of advancing age.
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Post by kugelfang on Nov 8, 2016 12:26:03 GMT
I've tried simple basing but any time I get close to finishing a figure my modeling instincts kick in and I have to texture terrain the base.
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Post by davel on Nov 15, 2016 14:07:22 GMT
Do you black outline your figures as well, just like we used to in the 70's with wargames figures?
I do, so as to get the definition of belts, etc clear on the figures. Especially on my Victrix figures, as the undercuts in the plastic on belts and lace in particular are do deep.
I tend to use black paint to outline the Victrix figures,and old toy soldier style figures, but find a dark brown (I find the Foundry Musket Stock Brown shade the best for this) seems to suit my plastic Expeditionary Force figures better.
Dave
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