"How Many at Once? (Plastics)" Topic

Imagine that you've bought a boxed set of 48 28mm figures, with parts for six figures per sprue.

Do you assemble and paint all 48 in one go? Or do you break the work down into smaller groups?

Bill:

I did that with 60 figures per box a couple of times already – assembled as many as I could in one go – if I ran out of time (lights out), I'd continue the next time I had a chance. Once they were all glued together – arms, heads, etc., I based them all & then primed them all. I painted in smaller groups, though – about 10-15 a shot. Dean

They will get put together in one shot. They may or may not get painted at the same time.

10-20 (or one unit's worth) at a pop. Then I paint them.

Or at least that's the plan. We'll see if I can stick to it. :)

I'll assemble them all at once, or maybe over two days but it will The Current Project. Then they'll get painted when I get around to it, likely in batches of 10-15 over the course of the next decade.

Bill is of course talking about 48 Roman Legionaries he snagged for $9.99 USD during our 09/09/09 sale! ;-)

Do the assembly all at once (or keep at it until done) and then paint. That's my advice.

And make sure you use a plastic glue like Ambroid ProWeld with a brush applicator – it goes VERY fast once you get into it.

Thanks!

Tony

Tony Reidy
Wargames Factory
wargamesfactory.com

If they're a unit, definitely paint them at the same time.

I usually do it by units: assemble all the figures for a specific unit first, then work on them. Depending on the unit size, I often do all at once, assembly line style. If the figures are fairly uniform (in that they wear a uniform!) it goes really fast, usually a unit a week for painting. FREX, the Marian roman army only took a couple of months to knock out…

Damon.

Assemble all at the same time unless I need fewer for a game or event quickly. Prime and then get at least 2 colors on per day.

Erik

I find it more efficient to paint an army all at once than in small batches. If anything, I might break it down to specific unit types if they are significantly different than other unit types.

Regardless, I'd assemble them all at once as I plan on using them to try out the game before painting.

Build them all at once, then put them away to mature for a year or so. Then paint one and the faces on the rest, then put them away again.

Then buy a new ruleset.

Then take them out of the storage box, paint them all in a rush and put them on the table.

Done this many times, it is a proven and effective technique.

I have put together 5 boxes worth of those same romans in the course of about 4 days. That is the core for the 1st army. Now I will prep them for painting (basing, spraying, etc). Then once their that far I will go back and do the other 5 boxes worth for the core of the 2nd army. Then once they are both at the same point I will then go out and buy a whole new project and find a nice spot on the shelves for these to stare at until I force myself to start painting them…

There is quite a useful guide to the WF Romans here
…If I say so myself :-)
Mick

link

I'd typically assemble them all at once, or as many as I can in one setting until they are all assembled. Then depending upon what type of game I'm playing or using them in I paint 10 to 12 at a time. In rank and file unit type games this usually works out to 2 full ranks at a time. If they are mounted figs 5 or 6 get painted at a time, which works out to an entire unit in one go.

For sci-fi games this is usually a full unit or more.

Roman Legionares? I'd assemble them all. Then I'd prime them all. Then I'd paint them all.

I work on 1 stand at a go (3-4 figs).

I find that assembling one squad (~8 to 10 figures) at a time works best for me. Otherwise, the poses will get a little repetitive and I'll get a little careless with mold lines and other prep work. For things like spraying primer and clear coats, I'll try to work with larger numbers at once but base painting is again back to squad or fire team size units.

One unit at a time…

I've done over 200 romans in one go, so why not 48 28mms?

But perhaps I'd only take 20 or so at a time.

I like to do a whole unit at once. Quantity depends on my ruleset, but usually for me this is WHFB or an equivalent scale game, so I work in units of 12 to 28 models typically, in 5-wide ranks.

I assemble the unit in its movement tray so I can see if there are any rankup problems as I go. I work back to front, so front row and command models are last.

I do tend to work in subsets of one rank at a time.

All at once!

And make sure you use a plastic glue like Ambroid ProWeld with a brush applicator…

And in fact, that's what I use.

It all depends what mood I was in. Generally, I would assemble them all and then put off painting because 48 would seem overwhelming. Then I would finally divide it into units and paint the units (probably 24 + 24).

Picked up a coupla' boxes on the sale day. I usually paint by unit (cohort in the case o' romans). That's, of course, when I've found them again

2 at a time! I am finding the Perry/Victrix a tad fiddly in construction and cleaning up!

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Interesting discussion. I will venture into the Plastics arena when Perry releases the WotR figures late this year. (I am also considering some of Warlord's "Irish Brigade" figures.) My thinking had been to work on a unit basis (e.g. 9/10 figures for Impetus – WotR)

I might reconsider. Thanks everyone for the stimulation!

I do 4 to 8 at a time.

I paint them all first.

Assemble a complete Napoleonic battalion, 24-30 figures, then paint three figures at a time.But mostly just think about doing it while doing something else entirely(eg. reading a book, newspaper, Nappy message board).

I paint a couple of dozen at a time, on average. Usually one unit – which can be as small as 16, or as large as 36, but it averages about 24.

So, if it were me, I'd probably do a box of 48 in two batches. I have painted a batch of 48 figures together, once, and it was mind-numbingly boring because each stage took too long.

I seldom do more than 24 figs at a time. Seems like a good number. By the time you get done painting a color, the first figure is dry and you can start on the next color.

mjc

Doing too many at once can lead to boredom (certainly for me as I find it a chore. Do them in stages but have stages running concurrently (as in "And here's one I prepared earlier."); I find then I'm more interested in getting each group to the next stage.

Steve P

I have a heap of warzone plastics. I assemble a squad of 10 at a time, them paint them in 2 batchs of 5, then assemble the next 10 ….

Phil

I've decided to break this into two polls – one for assembling, one for painting.

16 (a unit) at a go.

Wait to you see if you like what you doing-ie poses etc. If you do it all at once you may repeat your mistakes.

I go at them all at once.