Sunday, 13 March 2011

At last - Cavalry!

It might just be me, but sometimes there are models or figures that I just can't seem to complete.  I bought these 1/32 Mamelukes to use as light cavalry for my fictional Funny Little Wars country, Forbodia.  The first shock on getting home and opening the box was the sheer size of them - these are very big lads! 
I then prepared a few of the figures (the box contains 8 men and 8 horses) for painting by de-greasing (giving them a good wash!) and painting on a generous coat of PVA. 
Very nice artwork.  Before I opened it I wondered why the box was so big!  I need hardly say that my guys ended up looking nothing like this.
Annoyingly the PVA gathered in clumps, indicating that the plastic was still too greasy, and the Mamelukes were sidelined in favour of painting more co-operative figures.  A couple of weeks ago I had another go - washing all the figures thoroughly twice.
The box contents after washing.
Despite all this attention, the PVA still wouldn't coat properly and I ended up applying three coats of primer in order to get a decent painting surface!
Close-up of a couple of the Mamelukes.  They are lovely figures.
After all this work I was pretty determined to paint the bloody things and I spent much of last weekend doing just that.  Pics of the finished figures will follow soon.
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16 comments:

  1. Paul´s Bods13 March 2011 at 15:31

    I didn´t realise they did these in 1/732nd...well...that would be mainly due to the fact i´ve never looked.
    They do look good..but painting horses in 1/32nd? all that space to fill :-D
    Cheers
    paul

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  2. Mosstrooper13 March 2011 at 15:51

    Nice looking figures though ! the problems with painting plastics puts me off them . Would some sort of industrial type degreaser work ? , have to be carful though might desolve the figs as well !

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  3. Don M13 March 2011 at 16:06

    Nice looking figs, as I have yet to do anything this size I've been thinking how I would go about it.
    There is a new spray paint in the states by Krylon that is made for
    soft plastic like patio furniture
    and tested it on 1/72nd figs...you can paint on the paint! It comes in
    a wide variety of colors so I'll
    spray them either white or the base
    uniform color and go from there.

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  4. Conrad Kinch13 March 2011 at 16:45

    Annoying as they may be to clean, they are lovely figures. Armies in Plastic have a reputation for being on the big side as well.

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  5. Tim Gow13 March 2011 at 17:08

    Paul
    I discovered them quite by accident in the local wargames shop. They've used up a lot of paint!

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  6. Tim Gow13 March 2011 at 17:10

    Mosstrooper
    Interestingly, I've not had this problem with other plastics I've painted recently - 1/32 HAT and ACTA and 1/76 old Airfix. I think these were just a particularly bad batch.

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  7. Tim Gow13 March 2011 at 17:11

    Don
    That's interesting to hear - a link to the manufacturer would be appreciated.

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  8. Tim Gow13 March 2011 at 17:13

    Conrad
    These are the only 1/32 figures which have caused me any grief so far. I have some AIP infantry - they are pretty chunky but nice enough for that not to be a problem.

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  9. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com13 March 2011 at 20:57

    All of Italeri's 1/32nd are fairly hefty. The annoying thing when I was contemplating migrating my 1812 British to Spain was that Call To Arms offered small (1/35th?) Heavy Cavalry and Italeri offered large Light Cavalry.

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  10. Robert (Bob) Cordery13 March 2011 at 23:04

    Tim Gow,

    CAVALRY!!!!

    I am still struggling to put together an infantry unit!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  11. Giano13 March 2011 at 23:23

    Hi everybody! Tim,
    I have several Italeri sets of figures (only 1/72 stuff though). Most of them gave me the same problem: the plastic seems too greasy, and is very difficult to paint. Washing it with soap doesn't work it seems, so maybe is the plastic itself and not the greases.
    What's worse, some figures which took the paint quite well, began to flake after several months.
    Anyway, I love Italeri stuff, even more because I'm italian, and living only 60 km from their hometown means that Italeri kits are somehow cheaper and easier to find :D

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  12. Don M14 March 2011 at 01:21

    Here is a good place to get it
    http://www.thepaintstore.com/Krylon_Fusion_for_Plastic_s/249.htm

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  13. Tim Gow14 March 2011 at 09:36

    Ross Mac
    I have some ACTA 'heavies' (still in the box), so I know what you mean. I'll just have to make sure that the Italeri guys are further away in photos!

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  14. Tim Gow14 March 2011 at 09:39

    Bob
    At this rate I'll have to build both armies so we can have a game!

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  15. Tim Gow14 March 2011 at 09:41

    Giano
    I live in fear of flaking paint! Nice figures though. Should we all place future Italeri orders through you?

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  16. Tim Gow14 March 2011 at 09:44

    Don
    Thanks for the link. I have previously encountered Krylon in the UK being used to camo paint airsoft rifles.

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