Late Friday night, well technically early Saturday, I finished my first Blitz Bowl team.
I also did a little experiment last week.
Despite my resurfaced love for unpainted "army men" figures, and with an eye towards a future plan (far far future), I decided to paint two of my son's Timmee or similar brand figures but using the plastic color for the uniform.
I've heard mention of this technique but never tried it myself.
Here are the finished products:
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| Easily some of the saddest bayonets I've ever seen. |
To prime the figures, I used Mod Podge.
Then, I painted the flesh, webbing, guns, and boots. Once the paint was dry, I followed with some Army Painter Strong Tone to cover the entire figure.
This darkens the painted bits considerably. Using a technique garnered from the Blitz Bowl figures, I repainted the flesh and webbing again, while leaving the recesses the darkened color.
I sealed it all again with Mod Podge.
That looked OK enough, but I felt there wasn't enough contrast between the shadows and the lighter bits, so I dry-brushed the figures with Nubbly Linen (as close to a "buff" shade that I have).
I think that is a better effect on the tan soldier. The green soldier looks like his uniform has been beaten on rocks - I probably should have used even less Nubbly Linen than I did.
Nevertheless, for minimal effort (maybe 5-10 minutes total prime/paint/seal/dry brush time for both figures, not including the drying) they look more than passable for some Little Cold Wars, Sout American or African Imagi-nations, or similar.
The tan soldier came out great John! Way better than you would ever expect a Timmee figure to look! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brad! It's definitely viable for the tan figures. .I think for the green Timmee figures I'm going to have to do some experimenting. Either way, it has me thinking that I could knock out usable forces of 8th Army and Afrika Korps in a weekend, assuming they are molded in suitably colored plastic
DeleteAll those figures look good, and the dipped figures shading worked well.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised at how the shade tone transformed the Timmee figures from "army men" into something I think most gamers who grumble about unpainted armies would accept on the table.
DeleteI really like your Army Men! I remember buying similar figures for my son when he was a kid. Now he's 21 and I don't know where they all are anymore.
ReplyDeleteI also use Matte Mod Podge for sealing, as it gives a strong surface for handling. It gives a slight shine to it, so I usually overspray my figures with matt varnish from Armypainter as well. Thanks for the tips using it as a primer as well, as many plastic figures doesn't take acrylic paints very well.
My tans also turned out better with wash and overspray than my greens. I tried to drybrush greens with light gray, buff and light green. A lighter shade of green is often better I think. I'm looking forward to read about the games where you use them.
My son is 11 but never plays with his giant bin of toy soldiers anymore - he prefers video games, although occasionally I can rope him into playing with my toys if he sees them set out. Blitz Bowl is the first thing I've suggested that he is excited about trying, even without seeing the figures set out - due in no small part to his playing the Total War: Warhammer video games.
DeleteI have yet to decide if I like Mod Podge as a primer more than I like Gesso (which I usually use). Certainly in this case it wins since the plastic color remains unchanged. However, I think it might win overall, because not only does it work as a primer, it helps smooth out mold lines if you do a few layers of glue on the mold lines(Alex at "Commission and Regiment" blog turned me onto that idea).
I will have to try a lighter shade of green the next time for the dry brush.
Quick and easy while still attractive and atmospheric is a good aim and result.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly enough, the old (ie obsolete issued to cadets out of old stores,) olive 'bush' uniforms used to fade to a very similar colour to the green guy. But yes a lighter shade of green would probably work best without being a lot of work.
Thanks, Ross! Definitely going to give it a go. Probably going to take a few tries to find the "right" green, I suspect.
DeleteI can't resist adding that the easist way to find a good colour to highlight is to just mix a little bit of a light green or tan with the green you used.
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