The regiment in all its glory - now the real work begins!
Work on the Minifigs French Dragoons progresses. The bases have been carefully cleaned up as far as possible - luckily the filler used was very thinly spread - and I have taken the opportunity to get he figures on their new bases. These will give me something to handle them by whilst I am painting them.
As well as replacing the green I also intend freshening up the black and white areas. The metals appear to be OK for the most part so will need little work.
It is funny that even something as simple as placing these venerable warriors on new bases seems to have given them a renewed sense of purpose. I hope that my efforts will do them justice!
I've done a lot of refurbing of old figures over the last few years, as you know (well, a lot by my own standards). I shall not speak of Old Flock, which has caused me lasting neurosis. I find that paints are interesting - even paints from the same manufacturer perform differently - I guess it must be the pigments they use. Whites turn yellow, reds lose a bit and head towards mauve, etc etc - one of the weird things I've found is that it is common for old flesh-pink paint to fade to white and - more seriously - to show signs of corroding the metal faces. I've seen this on old Minifigs, Hintons - I wondered if there was some lead content in the dyes in old pink paint? Maybe these were the ones you weren't supposed to suck.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure - gloss black is there for keeps. You can't damage it, strip it, do anything with it. After the nuclear mushroom cloud clears, our glossy black paint will be as good as new. It's a comfort, in a way.
Hello old chap,
ReplyDeleteIt is really odd how it just appears to be the green - which on a French Napoleonic Dragoon is rather significant - but mercifully for the most part it is all easy to get to with a paintbrush. I am used to seeing whites lose their lustre over time (usually it is the varnish that does it) and there is a little of that but nothing that a quick whizz around with a brush would not put right.
As for the black well there are a few ‘dinks and scuffs’ to attend to but again, nothing major. As this lot will be getting another coat of gloss varnish when completed then I should imagine the gloss will survive several nuclear apocalypses.
It will probably outlast me in any event....
All the best and take care,
DC
Glad you could paint over the crusty green!
ReplyDeleteHi Ray,
ReplyDeleteI have not gotten that far yet but I reckon I will be able to. I am thinking that sealing the figures first might be a good idea, with luck that should last another forty odd years!
All the best,
DC
Good luck! I have 20 plastic zombies that I want to rebase from the square bases they came with to round ones. They are glued down with poly cement. Not looking forward to this one!
ReplyDeleteHi Simon,
ReplyDeleteOuch! That does not sound great - poly cement tends to weld surfaces together so you need to be very careful.
Good luck!
All the best,
DC
Must admit your toys look the biz!
ReplyDeleteHi Geordie,
ReplyDeleteThese will take a little work but should look splendid when they are ready.
All the best,
DC