"Armies in Plastic Inspiration" Topic

Hey,
Anyone have any images of the Armies in Plastic – Continentals/British Regulars painted?
I just came across some loose figs & need some inspiration to get off my but to paint them.

My gallery has a couple of shots. I have some more at home I will upload this evening.

link

These are 54's right?

TMP link

See here. There are some AIP mixed in with Accurate, Imex, ACTA, Marx and a few others. Yes, they are 54's.

To me, AIP is kinda the Old Glory of 54 mm plastics.
Abundant, cheap and not bad sculpts but not top shelf, either.

Getting them for free is a big plus.
But, before putting paint on them, check out the other makers that I named. They are all far better quality figures. I guess it depends on your point of view.

A few more, others on the gallery site

Joe, Your painting mskes them look much better. Really well done. Outstanding!

Agreed, Well Done!

Awesome!

Eric

Well now Nevinsrip,that's a rather broad brush you take to Old Glory.Say they're variable in quality, and I'd agree with you. I've had disappointments with some,yes,but there are some fine figures to be had. Since this is the 18th century board,I'll stick my neck out and say the FIW line is high quality--and yes,certainly massive!How many different Indians does one need?

And let's try to remember the state of figure manufacturing before they came on the scene--seven bucks for a pack of 6 or 8 identical figures. And then,suddenly,a bag of 30 different figures for $15 USD,C. And then the 15mm! A friend bought the first bag I ever saw--we looked through them(ACW),and could find only two identical figures out of 100.

Sometimes I think we take Old Glory for granted a little too much.

AIP has a pretty good sale on now. Back to 12 rasbuckniks per box with bonus boxs and free shipping over $ 50. They paint up well (done a ton of them).

Paul

Hafen, First off, congratulations on your first post. I hope that it's not your last and that you will contribute on a regular basis.

It's just my opinion about Old Glory, as you have yours. It didn't stop me from having thousands of Old Glory figures in my collection.

I can only comment on what I see and my eyes tell me that Perry, Foundry and some others, are better sculpts than OG. They also cost a whole lot more and don't have the extensive ranges or selection that OG does.
So, we agree on that.

I am a big fan of miniature sculpting and I appreciate the talent that it takes to do so. Some are just better at it than others. That's all.

Nevinsrip,thanks for the kind words--I take it you looked at my--what's it called,bio page? The Bug seems to think I've only made one post--or maybe he just has a high standard as to what should be counted as worthwhile comment.

OG uses several different sculptors,so,tastes being just as variable,it always pays to see a line in person,if possible.Check out the Sikh Wars line,done by Chris Hughes,of Sash and Saber. Very "tasty",in my opinion!

Thanks for all the assistance.

To: nevin re: the other manufacturers, I'm thinking of expanding but shipping to Canada from "the states" has become extremely expensive. I came across AIP's Canadian web page so I took the plunge.
But I agree variety is best & I especially like Accurate's figs.

Hafen, Yes, I checked to see if you were an OG employee and secondly, because I have not seen you on the AWI board before.
I realized later that you mentioned the 18 th Century Board.

In any case, I hope you'll jump into the AWI forum.
Personally, I think that the OG 1812 line are their best sculpts. They match up against anybody's.
As for Accurate:
There must be toy soldier sellers in Canada. I used to get emails from Woodrow's Warstore, if that's still around..
Ask on the Canadian Board.

Very nice brush work there.

So, generally speaking, how many command figures do you get in a box of 54s?

With the Armies in Plastic you get 20 figures, two each of ten poses, so two command. In my pics above 8 boxes yielded 11 units of 12 plus 1 command and 2 skirmish units of six plus 1 command. With a few extras left over.
Based to All The King's Men rules.

To Waco Joe,
Sorry to be a bother but do you have any close-ups of some of these figs? (I've never painted before & need some ideas)
Thanks

To nevinsrip,
There's a Canadian Board?

Anyone know any Canadian sites carrying 1/32-54mm plastic figs such as Accurate, AIP etc. with reasonable shipping? The shipping from "the states" is very expensive!

They are in storage right now unfortunately so I can't get any more pictures of painted ones. As for ideas here is my process:

1. prime with a good white primer
2. Paint from the inside out, that is vest before coat, coat overall before turnbacks, etc.
3. Carefully pick out the belts, sashes, scabards, sword hilts etc.
4. Flesh bits are last. I use a darker flesh color first. Then I dot the eye with white then a small dot of black. Then a bit of dark red for lips. I then take a lighter flesh and paint inbetween the eyss and mouth, highlighting the cheecks, chin and nose. Same with knuckles.

I finish up with washes. My dark wash is future floor wax with enough black in it to color. You can also use sepia or dark brown to get similar but slightly different effects. If I am going for a cleaner look I will paint the white and flesh colors with clear Future. When dry I hit the whole figure with the dark wash. The clear undercoat helps to keep the light areas less muddy.

I find the soft detail of the AIP figures both frustrating and fun. For example the figures with backpacks have a very small strap that makes a H across their chest along with the X straps. On some of them I just ignore it and paint over it with the coat color and and you really cant tell at arms length. Same thing with the legs, on some I paint gaiters and on others it is the pants leg all the way down. Some I paint a full boot, some just the shoe. The wash tends to blend it all together in the end.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask again.

Thanks for the advice Waco Joe!

Lucky, Pay the shipping and I'll send you the figures for free.
Contact me here.

nevinsrip@aol.com