The oldest regiment in the Stollenian army, though neither its most fashionable, nor premier regiment, here are the 2nd (von Laurenz) Musketeers. These figures were prepared, painted, and sealed, more or less, in the way I describe below during the late summer of 2006.Those of you who have followed the Grand Duchy of Stollen project since its inception in August 2006 will recall that I began the project with plastic 1/72 Revell Prussian and Austrian SYW figures. While lacking some of the hyper-correct detail with which some gamers become obsessed, these figures are slender and nicely proportioned for the most part, measuring roughly 25-26mm from base to eye, factors which influenced my thinking in finding, buying, and using them at the time. And what a long, strange trip that was, requiring much time spent trawling hobby shop sites on the web and correspondence with the owners, sometimes in more than one language. Given the relative scarcity of these figure sets, which are, I believe, no longer produced (I could be wrong about this though), most of my Revell figures sets came from Germany, Denmark, and Russia!
Of course, plastics require some extra attention to make sure the paint doesn't flake off through use once you are all finished. And this is one of the big complaints leveled at them by many wargamers. But careful washing in a warm, soapy bath beforehand removes the greasy release agent from the molded figures. Watered down, white PVA glue, or artists' acrylic gesso provide a suitable basecoat for your paint. For the main event, use flexible acrylic hobby paints or oils. Solvent-based enamels like Humbrol will almost certainly flake off the figures' more bendy bits. And finally, once all actual painting is complete, apply two or three coats of some kind of clear acrylic "varnish", to seal your figures and prevent the flaking paint. There are many possible things you can use for this on the market, but long-time visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will know that I favor Future/Klear floor finish. It's cheap, goes on easily, dries rapidly, and leaves your figures smelling wonderfully fresh. . . in a most manly way, of course!
Of course, plastics require some extra attention to make sure the paint doesn't flake off through use once you are all finished. And this is one of the big complaints leveled at them by many wargamers. But careful washing in a warm, soapy bath beforehand removes the greasy release agent from the molded figures. Watered down, white PVA glue, or artists' acrylic gesso provide a suitable basecoat for your paint. For the main event, use flexible acrylic hobby paints or oils. Solvent-based enamels like Humbrol will almost certainly flake off the figures' more bendy bits. And finally, once all actual painting is complete, apply two or three coats of some kind of clear acrylic "varnish", to seal your figures and prevent the flaking paint. There are many possible things you can use for this on the market, but long-time visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will know that I favor Future/Klear floor finish. It's cheap, goes on easily, dries rapidly, and leaves your figures smelling wonderfully fresh. . . in a most manly way, of course!
Comments
This (and all of your other units) looks great . . . but the one suggestion that I would have for you regarding them would be to repaint the bases so that they are the same color as your table top . . . and I would simply paint over what is already there, no stripping or anything.
I suggest this because it looks so good when the figure bases blend into the table top so it looks like the figures are standing on the "grass" instead of being on bases.
-- Jeff
Alan
Greg