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Lord of the Plastic Flies


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Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian writes:

I found a spare bag of flies, so I can now tell you these are Kid Fun brand, 72-piece value pack, item #VL62 Mini Flies. Company is in Grandview, MO, but the flies are made in China.


Revision Log
20 June 2024page first published

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©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
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Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian writes:

I've been thinking about the possibilities offered by plastic critters.

Bag of plastic flies

I did some online shopping, and found this bag of 'educational' plastic flies.

Get it off me!

As flies go, these are big flies.

Flies of horror

Compared with this 28mm post-Apocalypse survivor, these flies are a significant hazard. However, I'm thinking to prepare some flies as 15mm fantasy mass-combat monsters.

Upside-down fly

I've tipped this fly over so that you can see that it's hollow on the bottom. It is cast in black plastic, and depending on the thickness, the color is darker or translucent.

Fly on my workbench

So let's get some flies on my workbench and start painting!

Painted flies

To my delight, the plastic takes paint without needing to be primed. My first step is to flip the flies over, and paint the insides black to make the bodies a solid color rather than translucent.

Painted fly

Using a sharp hobby knife, I trimmed off any extraneous bits of plastic from the legs and mandibles.

Flies with painted legs

I then used a black permanent marker to color in the legs and mandibles. The last step was to paint the eyes – which took several coats to look right – and mount the flies on 2" by 2" fantasy monster bases.

Completed flies

Superglue holds the flies in place.

Completed flies

I edged the bases in white for no particular reason, except that I hadn't used white for any other faction.

Completed flies

I wasn't intending these for skirmish gaming, but I suppose they would work.

Completed flies

And remember… flies can fly!

Completed flies

I only needed a few for my fantasy army, so I have the rest of the bag to use for other purposes.

Completed flies

The wings were left unpainted and translucent. Maybe I should have drybrushed some grey on the body and legs to bring out the details.

Completed flies

A quick-and-easy project for your fantasy or sci-fi gaming.