"ACW silly task of the day" Topic

Do you some times take a step back and wonder how nutty you look buillding your units?

I've just been carefully painting a bunch of 28mm plastic cavalry carbines on their sprues, prior to attaching to the troopers slings, so I can get an all round coverage most of which can't be seen anyway!

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this!

You are not alone

I am better than I used to be – I also used to do a lot of on the sprue painting and then later realized you could not even see, let alone critique, the things I painted

I am doing less of that but now with washes and highlighting I am probably spending a lot more time on "rank and file" than they need!

I just finished painting shield details on 6mm Early Imperial Roman Legionaires that are mounted in 3 ranks of 12 each on a base. 24 of the 36 figures on each base could be painted with just the base shield color but I just can't bring myself to do it. If I'm painting it, even if nobody can see it, I'll still know it's there and it will get painted.

You are certainly not alone!

I am adding more-or-less correct musette and gasmask bags to some WWII French with greenstuff.

I think it is fairly common among those who build model tanks, planes, etc. When I first started painting multi-piece figures I assembled and then painted. More recently though I have switched to doing base coats prior to assembly and doing the final coat afterwards. Frederick is correct that a certain amount of what you paint before assembly ends up not being visible. However a portion is visible…and for someone with my limited paining skills it is simply easier to get some paint on it before assembly.

I don't think it's silly at all. I do it too, it just seems easier to paint stuff like carbines separately than figure out what will and won't be seen. Now I just finished painting the bomb bay on a 1/72nd scale B-17, bombs, releases, internal detail and all. When I close up the fuselage none of it will be visible. Now that's silly!

My test is, if I know it is wrong, I know it is wrong and won't like it. So I do the extra work.

I acquired enough Victrix 28mm Napoleonic British Peninsular War figures to do 7 British Battalions, 40 figures each.

I assembled 40 at the 9th Foot, firing by file, then painted them. Fine so far.

Did the same for 40 of the 88th, advancing – assembled completely, then painted.

An old gaming friend said he was painting first, then assembling, so I organized the remaining units into sets of 40, glued on heads, then painted the head/torso/legs

In the meantime, my wife and I moved from northeast TX to southeast PA – 1400 miles – and I find the body PARTS box is here in the apartment, but the painted figures are buried in a storage locker 15 minutes away! I really messed up!

It was not a bad idea, but 280 figures at a time got quite confusing. I also tried converting figures to make each unit a little unique, which further slowed the process.

GdeP

I don't think you should paint those 'unseen' bits but I can't help myself … that said I've got better as time has gone on. Basically I consider those areas 'in shadow' and they get an appropriate covering of dark paint/wash.

My 22mm ACW (and WWII) units multiple figures are mounted on a stand and the rules call for stand removal at loss. I paint the underside of the stand. It's a little more understandable for single figures where you will see the bottom when the figure becomes a causality.

It's when I glue the shields onto to the carefully highlighted knuckles, fingernails and veins of the hand that I have a small amount of regret for the time wasted…..but not for long.