Yesterday afternoon, I finished the three 25mm MiniFigs representing Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, his second in command General Von Maur, and their mounted aide de camp -- the glorious hussar Captain Rudolf-Michael Von Schenker. Two coats of Future floor finish will ensure that my paintwork lasts, and it makes the figures nice and shiny, a look that I am really taking to.
Don’t know why I avoided the glossy look for so long, since I used to love the appearance of Peter Gilder’s glossy figures in photos adorning various old issues of Miniature Wagaming and Military Modeling. Suffice to say, my three figures look great and photos are coming right here. Stay tuned!
Then last night, I moved on to the dragoon regiment sitting on my painting/radio desk, made up of Revell 1/72 Austrian dragoons, drilling tiny holes into each trooper and horse with my pin vise, clipping staples to use as pins, and then pinning each trooper to his mount. A time consuming process, I can assure you! Hopefully, I can finish this arduous process in the next evening or two and cement the two together x 30 because I want to get started with the fun part – painting!
On that note, I’m going to try something a bit different this time – I’ll begin with a coat of Future floor finish over the bare plastic to stiffen the figures, followed by the usual coat of white glue. The black undercoat will follow last of all. My usual thick application of black Liquitex acrylic, which shrinks as it dries, forming a nice skin around the figure. This three tiered process should provide a nice solid base on which the paint can stick. Finally, I’ll be able to paint the little devils!
Once I finish Stollen’s dragoons, then it’s time to paint up a comparably sized force for the Electorate of Zichenau. These figures will be primarily white-coated infantry with different facing colors. The artillery, cavalry, and generals will have more interesting colors for their coats. If all goes well, I should have this stage done by early summer 2007 and a small initial action between the two armies will become a reality. We’ll see how that progresses. But for now, it’s back to the regiment of dragoons!
Comments
Yes, I lose a wee bit of definition, but, as with Spencer Smith figures and the old 15mm Peter Laing figures,I just paint the detail back in again. A black undercoat really helps in this regard. A thick undercoat also covers up any minor mistakes made with the modeling knife. . . as well as hiding tiny bits of missed flash/moldline. Sometimes getting all of that cleaned off of plastic figures is incredibly difficult and frustrating.