"Inexpensive armored knight miniatures" Topic

Help. I am again running a gaming summer camp for jr & sr high school kids. The crafts include learning to paint miniatures and make scenery. Because the crafts are done while sitting around the fire the miniatures need to be very simple to paint. The ones that worked well last year were knights in armor with no skin or clothing showing – they were able to dry brush them which always gives good results and makes the kids feel successful on their first try.
Does anyone have any suggestions for figures? I've got the only ones Mega Minis has and I picked up some from Fox Miniatures at Origins, but I've only been able to find 5 different poses so far. Cheap is also good.

Toys R Us sells buckets of them, which come with some other items as well, or they used to.

They're a bit large, but good for kids painting for their first time, I'll bet.

Perry Miniatures make really good miniatures at a low price

Old Glory 25's.

oldglory25s.com

Eccentric miniatures. Plastic multipart, and inexpensive.

link

Perry, and Fireforge

will get you knights for a bit less than a dollar each.

If you go with the 54mm toy soldier knights that pop up at TRU, Dollar stores and hobby stores, you can prime them with Krylon Camo ("with fusion technology") spray paints. Otherwise they tend to shed paint/primer pretty fast.

Rustoleum works well too and most of their spray paints have fusion like properties for plastics….

The larger figures will be easier to paint. If you have a Hobby Lobby in your area, you can get the weekly online 50 percent off one item coupon and start stocking up. I have seen larger knight figures there. Hobbytown in my area has an awesome selection of larger plastics too.

It might be inexpensive to buy a Prince August mould and cast as many as you want. Maybe you could even let them cast their own figure before painting it.

You could also use plastic Army Men figures: use the plastic's color, only painting the parts which are different (face, hands, weapons, etc.). Then apply The Dip, to finish, followed by a matte clear coat. The figures are dirt cheap, available everywhere, and they can take these techniques home to try -- you may even launch them into a couple of new hobbies!

This is probably the fastest method of achieving well painted, fun figures, for very little cost. Medieval knight figures can be used in the same exact way, for similar cost. I've done the same with Cave Men figures. The urethane coating is durable enough, as long as they do not try to rub it off -- normal handling will not remove it. Cheers!

Thanks everyone for the help and ideas.

Thanks Nevals,
I Just took a look at the old glory 25's. Looks like pretty good minis, that are close to the same size as 90's GW and a ridiculously low price averaging just over a buck each.

Am I missing a downside somewhere?