I'm enjoying...cleaning flash!?

[grubman]

I think there must be something wrong with me, or maybe it's my advancing age (47), but I recently started painting some old school miniatures made with old molds.  Every one has flash, needs some trimming or bending and the bases need to be smoothed and sanded.  In the past I would have found this to be a tedious daunting task...but I now seem to find it strangely relaxing, enjoyable, and rewarding.

[LeadAsbestos]

Well, I can be of help: let me ship you all my unprepped lead, and you can relax to your heart's content. 

[myincubliss]

The high lead content of the old miniatures has got into your brain! 

[Tactalvanic]

I think your right but as we are similarly aged, I don't think thats the main cause.

Perhaps you are having a moment or mid-life crisis, Have you purchased a high spec motorbike or sports car recently?

Or both?

either in 1:1 real scale or other smaller scales?

If not - perhaps medical checks to be sure as suggested you are not being adversely affected by the materials you are working with 

[Daeothar]

I can relate.

For some reason, I find filing parts and bits into shape very relaxing and it gets me into an almost zen-like state. This can either be removing mould lines or shaping scratchbuilt parts; I don't care.

Usually, this occurs when I find I'm too tired to actually paint, but still have the urge to get stuff done, and I simply grab some parts that need cleaning or shaping and before you know it, I've killed a few hours. Love it...

[sukhe_bator]

I'm with Daeothar - its a zen thing 

[Queeg]

Hmmm .....

I hate filing. I must have filed most of the Czars army, about 2,000 angry Frenchman and a boatload of crazed British immigrants at one stage back when I was army painting for people.

I yearned for plastic figures (which were thought to be so unlikely that Santa crapping Easter Eggs onto my Thanksgiving turkey was more possible) and still loath filing.

On the other hand I like glueing and assembling kits. Lots of glueing. lots of assembling. Not painting so much judging by what's in my own finished cabinet. Definitely glueing .....

[sukhe_bator]

In Queeg's instance it sounds like an acetone thing! 

[Tactalvanic]

Hmmm .....

I hate filing. I must have filed most of the Czars army, about 2,000 angry Frenchman and a boatload of crazed British immigrants at one stage back when I was army painting for people.

I yearned for plastic figures (which were thought to be so unlikely that Santa crapping Easter Eggs onto my Thanksgiving turkey was more possible) and still loath filing.

On the other hand I like glueing and assembling kits. Lots of glueing. lots of assembling. Not painting so much judging by what's in my own finished cabinet. Definitely glueing .....

Yes

In Queeg's instance it sounds like an acetone thing! 

I can relate to that, more substance, less Zen 

[Dr. Zombie]

We should form a self help group for all the people who enjoy cleaning flash of miniatures.

I for on am happy to donate all my unfinished figures to these people so they can get their flash cleaning fix.

If we could then find a group who really enjoy painting masses of minis in one go they could have their turn.

And then in the end I, who enjoy playing large battles with painted flashless miniatures could get my fix.

Everyone wins.

[Daeothar]

We should form a self help group for all the people who enjoy cleaning flash of miniatures.

I for on am happy to donate all my unfinished figures to these people so they can get their flash cleaning fix.

If we could then find a group who really enjoy painting masses of minis in one go they could have their turn.

And then in the end I, who enjoy playing large battles with painted flashless miniatures could get my fix.

Everyone wins.

I suppose, but I have to admit that I have just about all the problems you list there...

So; does that mean I now have to de-flash, paint and play with my own miniatures? 

[Tactalvanic]

Combined help groups, find like minded sufferers, put them together.

You can then de-flash, paint and play with each others miniatures.

Problem solved.

Those of us with a more substance based relaxing methodology can continue assembling stuff, and er, not worrying about flash...

[grubman]

So...I'm not crazy (or at least not the ONLY crazy person).  That's good to know

I also suffer from the "no unpainted miniatures (of mine) hit the table" affliction.

[Tactalvanic]

Absolutely, you might not be, and either way, you are not alone.

But fortunately (at least for me), due to both birth and my English heritage and resulting nationality, I am of course, like some other members on the forum eccentric and not in the slightest, crazy.

Very very eccentric. But not crazy   

[Elbows]

While I can't say I enjoy filing or cleaning flash, I'm very much enjoying having found a system where I can comfortable take a miniature, have a plan and execute the plan to a very reasonable result.  While my end results are speed over style, I am happy to be at a point in my hobby life where I can mostly execute what I want to when it comes to a miniature.

I have found, in my recent foray into 2nd edition Warhammer models, a wonderfully cathartic feeling when "rescuing" old terribly painted miniatures from ebay.  Something about a gummy painted figure with flash buried under the paint, poorly based and with bent swords/arms etc...it's a great feeling to clip the base, strip down the figure, send it to the ultrasonic cleaner, brush/rinse off any excess, file and clean..properly base/prime/paint etc.  It's like restoring old cars on a tiny miniature scale.

Assembling a nice army out of bits and bobs from other peoples' lead piles they can't be bothered with is pretty fun.  It has also encouraged me to strip some of my own older figures down for a revisit with the paint brush.