Perry Wars Of The Roses figures - 18 March update

[Captain Blood]

My first painted figure of 2010 – and it’s plastic! 

This first figure was really a colour test, to check out the livery scheme for my first Wars Of The Roses household – an entirely fictional creation: The Earl of Tandridge.

I’ve made up and primed 14 figures so far - one command sprue and one 'bow and bill' sprue.

There are clearly a lot of variants possible in head / body combinations – less so with the arms. The bow-armed arms tend to only go in pairs (different types of sleeves, see) whilst the way the bill-armed hands / arms have been made, means they effectively have to be used as they come.

Which is a bit of a criticism, because all the billmen are going to look rather samey, whichever head and body combination you put the arms on… 

Still, they are remarkably beautiful little figures, with good, sharp, raised detail, fantastic period character, natural, realistic poses, and wonderful attention to detail.
I’d give them a comfortable nine out of ten.

On the down side, only three complaints.

1. They are perishin' TINY. They may technically be 28mm tall - but they are extremely diminutive in stature. All the things I’m used to painting on chunky 28mm metals, are extremely difficult to paint in this ‘scale’ – hands, faces, belts, bootstraps, accoutrements etc. All titchy and almost impossibly fiddly. Maybe I’ll get used to them, but I'm worried that if I paint a box of 40 of these, never mind a whole army, I’ll end up going blind. It really reminded me of painting 20mm Airfix figures.

2. There's a pronounced mould line on many of the components. It's (fairly) easily removed with a sharp craft knife - but scraping does leave some unsightly hairyness, so you need to be careful before you prime. It’s a particular problem on those heads where the mould line runs straight down the middle of the face. Scrape away the mould line down the nose, over the lips and down the chin, and you can very easily lose the features as well. To my astonishment, the prep on these figures - including clean up and assembly - took me longer than with metals (where I simply take the Dremel to them).

3. The heads fit onto the bodies via a shallow ball and socket joint. Too shallow in fact. Because most of the helmets have a rim sticking out the back, if you mounted the head ‘as is’ into the socket of the collar, the tendency will be for most of your figures to end up looking down their chests to a greater or lesser extent. I found minor surgery necessary to take a slice off the back of the collar and hollow out the socket a little more, allowing the head to sit square, or – if you wish – chin up slightly.

Anyway, here's the first of 14... See what you think.

[JollyBob]

I rather likes it. 

[Silent Invader]

That is a lovely paint job - very, very striking. 

One question, which has nothing to do with the painting.  Are the feet on the large size?

[Prof.Witchheimer]

2. There's a pronounced mould line on many of the components. It's (fairly) easily removed with a sharp craft knife - but scraping does leave some unsightly hairyness, so you need to be careful before you prime. It’s a particular problem on those heads where the mould line runs straight down the middle of the face. Scrape away the mould line down the nose, over the lips and down the chin, and you can very easily lose the features as well. To my astonishment, the prep on these figures - including clean up and assembly - took me longer than with metals (where I simply take the Dremel to them).

that's what I hate on plastic.

Though top painting job, Captain, like it too.

[oxiana]

Great pant job and review Richard. You're really going over to the dark and plasticky side now!

On the 'chunkiness' side of things, apart from them being a bit fiddly, do they fit in well with your metal 28s? OK? Or a touch of the Perry plastic ACW farmhouse about them (technically in the correct scale, but look a bit small next to most 28s)?

[gamer Mac]

Lovely stuff Richard
You give us all the moans then produce this, you are at it

[Yankeepedlar01]

That is a lovely paint job - very, very striking. 

One question, which has nothing to do with the painting.  Are the feet on the large size?

There's nothing wrong with large feet....

[Ray Rivers]

 

Super job, Capt'n!

[warhammergrimace]

Nice paint job, still building mine as I have some other items that require painting first, like some ECW muskets, then ECW sakers x 2, then a an ACW artillery piece and then following that some competition pieces for Salute, may try and paint some for Salute.

[Captain Blood]

Thanks all - I should say that I heartily recommend them (if your eyes are up to it).
Just pointing out what I found to be the issues, which you might want to be aware of...

 

On the 'chunkiness' side of things, apart from them being a bit fiddly, do they fit in well with your metal 28s? OK? Or a touch of the Perry plastic ACW farmhouse about them (technically in the correct scale, but look a bit small next to most 28s)?
 

Actually Paul, because they are more or less right height-wise, the difference in stature alongside metal 28mms doesn't really notice at all. In fact standing the finished archer alongside my recently completed Foundry Zulus, he actually stands a fraction taller than most of them.
So yes, I'd happily use these plastic figures alongside metals.

Not that I have any metal figures for this period... 

But I'm guessing you are thinking cut-price conquistadors! Late C15th... Just about right 

[meninobesta]

1. They are perishin' TINY. They may technically be 28mm tall - but they are extremely diminutive in stature. All the things I’m used to painting on chunky 28mm metals, are extremely difficult to paint in this ‘scale’ – hands, faces, belts, bootstraps, accoutrements etc. All titchy and almost impossibly fiddly. Maybe I’ll get used to them, but I'm worried that if I paint a box of 40 of these, never mind a whole army, I’ll end up going blind. It really reminded me of painting 20mm Airfix figures.

I'll have to agree with this particular bit! because it was also my impression when I've started to paint their ACW plastics, I even had to use a thinner brush than the one I'm used to in order to paint the details correctly. Although I think the chunkier bits on the metal minis are easier to paint the Perrys are really doing a great job with their plastics!

oh! by the way.... Excellent painting ... but then again, I wouldn't expect anything different from you 

[OSHIROmodels]

And this is just a colour test    Shame on you Richard, I'm sure you're capable of better than this 

Beautiful work and a good write up that includes interesting things wrong with them. It's a shame about the mould lines along the face, I've had metals with that and it's one of the most unwanted jobs I don't want when cleaning and preping.

I heard people complain about the lack of dynamism in Perry figures but I have to say, they are the most realistically posed of all the manufacturers.

cheers

James

[Geudens]

Very nice, thx for the effort of writing this up.  You have created a serious dilemma for me: I've got 2 boxes on the shelf, but already too many projects running for the moment...

Rudi

[Mad Doc Morris]

Thanks for the review. Some fair points of criticism, although nothing to stop me from purchasing some (as soon as the Perrys release something more usable for Continental conflicts of this period).
I think the tiny details are a consequence of designing models as 3-ups. That's what makes them outstandingly realistic on the one hand, but on the other hand sets them apart from chunky though clearly detailed miniatures we're used to. As long as eyesight is well I prefer this 'new realism' style.

Anyway, looking forward to the complete installment.

[dodge]

absolutely excellent painting, once again

nice review of the figures too

very much looking forward to seeing the rest 

dodge