I love the Old School look of shiny toy soldiers finished in glossy varnish. Something about them reminds me that playing toy soldiers can be fun, not just an endless pursuit in painting like a full-time professional. But I haven't painted any glossy toys since I was a teenager and Humbrol French blue only came in gloss to coat my plastic Esci and Airfix models with.
It also doesn't help that modern figures have so much detail I almost feel compelled to paint with at least 3 layers of colour. And I also don't have a lot of experience painting in this style. Can I make it work?
It was with some trepidation then, that I took a break from painting Geoff's latest batch of figures and made the decision to go 'old school' on one of my projects. The chosen victims were the French and Indian Wars figures. Nice bright reds, whites, blues and greens to sit in a single block coat beneath their shiny exterior. The results are as follows:
The 43rd Regiment are my chosen British infantry unit for the French and Indian War, and here they are with all of their lace intact on their uniform. They started with a white undercoat - not a technique I have ever used very much at all. I considered googly eyes, but decided against it, in favour of giving the flesh areas a wash, and a highlight on cheeks and nose. The only other places that got more than a single layer were the hat with some German Grey, and the haversack with a beige brown drybrush. The red was given an army painter red ink wash.
These figures were relatively quick to paint, and I'm happy with the final result. My biggest concern was that I would feel somehow unfulfilled by not doing multiple layers of shading and a matt finish - almost like I was wasting the figures' potential, but now that they are done, I'm rather pleased. I'm also thinking that my 28mm English Civil War project might be done in the same way.
The only thing that I'm not 100 percent sure about is the bases. Should I have done these just plain green? The problem is that I've already prepped the bases for the whole French and Indian Wars project, so it would require an awful amount of rebasing. I've noticed that Stuart Asquith has used realistic basing on his American War of Independence figures and they work well. Maybe I need to glue on a few more stones? What do you think gentle reader?
Nate
It also doesn't help that modern figures have so much detail I almost feel compelled to paint with at least 3 layers of colour. And I also don't have a lot of experience painting in this style. Can I make it work?
It was with some trepidation then, that I took a break from painting Geoff's latest batch of figures and made the decision to go 'old school' on one of my projects. The chosen victims were the French and Indian Wars figures. Nice bright reds, whites, blues and greens to sit in a single block coat beneath their shiny exterior. The results are as follows:
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| 'I say old chap, I can't see anything.' 'That's because no-one painted your eyes old man.' |
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| And from the back |
These figures were relatively quick to paint, and I'm happy with the final result. My biggest concern was that I would feel somehow unfulfilled by not doing multiple layers of shading and a matt finish - almost like I was wasting the figures' potential, but now that they are done, I'm rather pleased. I'm also thinking that my 28mm English Civil War project might be done in the same way.
The only thing that I'm not 100 percent sure about is the bases. Should I have done these just plain green? The problem is that I've already prepped the bases for the whole French and Indian Wars project, so it would require an awful amount of rebasing. I've noticed that Stuart Asquith has used realistic basing on his American War of Independence figures and they work well. Maybe I need to glue on a few more stones? What do you think gentle reader?
Nate