"Paint Recommendation for repainting old figures?" Topic

I have some old Britains toy soldiers that are really beat up and have lost a lot of their paint, so there is no collectors value to keeping them "as is" . I plan on using the figures for wargaming.

So I want to touch up some of them or give others a complete new paint job. What type of paint should I use to get the gloss coat look of the original Britains toy soldiers? Are these enamels?

Fritz

Auto correct changed repainting to reprinting.

Obviously the topic is about repainting old figures.

I would say quickly that no matter the condition of the paint, repainting them will generally reduce value to a collector. However if you want to then yes, they were painted with enamels. I would use a glossy enamel model brand like Testors or Humbrol .

Jim, Britian's use Testors gloss enamels to paint their figures and has for many years.

There is an excellent guide to painting in a toy soldier style on the Irregular Miniatures website. I can't work out how to provide a direct link. You need to click on the Deutsche Homage heading in the sidebar.

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Any paint will work. If you want to keep them glossy, either use testors, or spray with a gloss sealer at the end. You say you will be using them for gaming, so use what you want, but I think, and I could be wrong, that you want them to match your current figures. I think testors is the way to go for a toy soldier look.

Matthew

Direct link to the Irregular page, scroll down for the painting part: link

The guide that Ian Kay at Irregular wrote is inspiring, but, having tried applying it myself, I can't say I entirely agree with his approach.

It may be very authentic to avoid both undercoat and varnish, but my experiments with doing so resulted in scratched, chipped figures, and controlling the enamels over bare metal is a real challenge.

At the least, I'd suggest applying a satin/gloss finish. I use gloss, but rub it back with a soft cloth to take the sharpness out of the shine.

Ian's suggestions about toning down the colours – whites being mixed to an off-white / cream for example – are spot-on, however, and following that advice, I was very happy with the look that achieves.

I remember reading in an old Military Modelling that you can add talcum powder to enamel to bring the retouch to the same depth as the original.

This guide is useful to repaint old Britains.

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I've never had an 'old' Britains toy soldier but my 'old school' painting style is block painting in acrylics over a white undercoat finished off with two coats of yacht varnish.

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