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Post by ederickgrey on Jan 12, 2014 8:50:38 GMT
Greetings Crafters, I am brand new ( read less than one week) into the minis side of table top gaming. Played tabletop for nearly two decades, but nobody I ever played with was into minis. I run a table now and have decided to make the leap with my players into the world of crafting and found minis are EXPENSIVE. Not wanting to spend a fortune on a test run of a new gaming style, I looked for the cheapest way short of using tokens. Apologies in advance if someone else has already said this, but I've had some great success with repainting dollar-store bugs and dinosaurs and other things (using the weird tentacle balls as outsiders for example) but the one that I've had most luck with, and I haven't seen anyone mention is Army Men. I bought a bag of 40 for a dollar at Kroger, then added some Sculpey parts and the end result is pretty nifty. Someone who actually HAS sculpting or painting experience could likely do a MUCH better job of this than me, but here are the pics. Thanks! -Ederick The two figures in the pictures are the exact same figure; one pre-sculpey and one post-sculpey. Now with paint:
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Post by Sleepy Hollow Mike on Jan 12, 2014 11:57:01 GMT
I love that! That is a really solid idea! How tall are they?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2014 12:49:04 GMT
Heh! That was a great idea, well executed.. and by the gore on the sword and shield, there is a lot of execution going on in your game!
I like it!
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Post by sgtslag on Jan 12, 2014 15:43:02 GMT
These types of figures are commonly 54mm tall. They come in bags of 50-100 figures, typically, for a pittance (<$10). Fantastic idea! They look great! Never occurred to me to modify Army Men figures like that.
There are 54mm fantasy figures made by a Russian company -- sorry, forget the name. They offer Orcs, and Humans, I believe. They are more expensive, of course, but if it works out with your group enjoying this style, you could keep the 54mm scale. With DM Scotty's 2.5 D dungeon construction techniques, you can build your tiles for only slightly more cost, in this scale -- the cost would go up due to greater amounts of paint, and glue, only.
This is really a great idea. It can also be used to create custom miniatures of Giants, to use with smaller scales. I've read about folks modifying standard miniatures, making capes out of epoxy, before, but I've never tried it. I would use Sculpey, though, as it is easier to work with -- no time constraints pushing you to sculpt it before it fully cures. Thanks for sharing your brilliant idea! Cheers!
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Post by sgtslag on Jan 12, 2014 15:51:14 GMT
Forgot to mention, you may want to seal your paint work with a full-strength application of Pledge with Future Shine Floor Polish, available at most grocery stores. It is a water-based, clear acrylic, tough as nails. Just paint it on, wash out your brush with soap and water, quickly, as it cures (water-resistant) within 15 minutes, or less! Then apply a matte clear coat to dull the shine.
I've been gaming with Army Men for pseudo-historical war games, for many years, and I tried different techniques for painting, and preserving the paint (I paint directly on the plastic, with craft paints; I use the plastic's color, whenever possible, only painting those parts which differ in color -- saves tremendous painting time!). The Pledge with Future Shine product is not perfect, but it is inexpensive, easy to apply, and it works better than most products.
If your paint is not sticking to the plastic, another option is to prime the figures with artist's Gesso (white, gray, or black), which is water-based acrylic; it goes on thick, but it dries to a thin skin, which usually has a few pinhole's in it, which need to be touched up (available at craft/artist's supply stores; can be used as a brush-on primer for metal, resin, or clay figures). Cheers!
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Post by kokigami on Jan 12, 2014 21:49:15 GMT
54mm gives a lot of options. there are pirates and zombies and fantasy figs, cowboys and indians, medieval knights, romans.. just got to hunt around. As for the russian company.. I havent bought from this guy, but have been thinking on it.
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Post by Sleepy Hollow Mike on Jan 13, 2014 0:17:27 GMT
Forgot to mention, you may want to seal your paint work with a full-strength application of Pledge with Future Shine Floor Polish, available at most grocery stores. It is a water-based, clear acrylic, tough as nails. Just paint it on, wash out your brush with soap and water, quickly, as it cures (water-resistant) within 15 minutes, or less! Then apply a matte clear coat to dull the shine. I've been gaming with Army Men for pseudo-historical war games, for many years, and I tried different techniques for painting, and preserving the paint (I paint directly on the plastic, with craft paints; I use the plastic's color, whenever possible, only painting those parts which differ in color -- saves tremendous painting time!). The Pledge with Future Shine product is not perfect, but it is inexpensive, easy to apply, and it works better than most products. If your paint is not sticking to the plastic, another option is to prime the figures with artist's Gesso (white, gray, or black), which is water-based acrylic; it goes on thick, but it dries to a thin skin, which usually has a few pinhole's in it, which need to be touched up (available at craft/artist's supply stores; can be used as a brush-on primer for metal, resin, or clay figures). Cheers! If you would like to protect And shade your work check out the YouTube videos that mention "The Dip" or "Miracle Wash! The Dip Rules!
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Post by miltonmurphy on Jan 13, 2014 3:08:26 GMT
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Post by sgtslag on Jan 13, 2014 4:01:23 GMT
The Russian company's name is Tehnolog, they can be found on e-Bay, as well as through Google. Cheers!
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Post by monkeywithtacos on Jan 13, 2014 6:08:43 GMT
Great ideas and use of the army men.... and as usual, great suggestions by the Sgt.
Also if you search sgtslag's posts he talk about the 1/72 scale minis... They are quite smaller than your army men but they are a cheap and easy way to get started. Another option that's a little bit more pricey are Reaper's Bones line of miniatures. Great sculpts and selection as well as a decent pricepoint to start with..... Can't wait to see more of what you do!
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Post by ederickgrey on Jan 16, 2014 8:17:23 GMT
Wow! Thanks for all of the positive feedback and great ideas! I was half scared I'd be told this idea was dumb/old/sad/useless. Thanks to all of you for such encouragement! Looking forward to crafting and sharing here!
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Post by onethatwas on Jan 16, 2014 9:00:27 GMT
Wow! Thanks for all of the positive feedback and great ideas! I was half scared I'd be told this idea was dumb/old/sad/useless. Thanks to all of you for such encouragement! Looking forward to crafting and sharing here! I think the point of this forum is all about sharing, and judgement can be left outside. We're here to craft and help others improve their craft, and a big part of that is encouragement. I know from experience I could not do what you did in sculpting and repurposing army minis. But if there is any advice I can give as your own crafting experience grows, I'd be happy to put some ideas out. Others here seem tp have a similar philosophy, and it helps make this an awesome community. So craft on! Hope to see more interesting sculpts from army men. Who knows, I may decide to try it out myself one day, and you can bet your sculpts will help inspire my own work.
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