WF Zombie Sprues now for sale...

[Calimero]

Judging from the pictures, I think that they may not be perfect model but they should look good "en masse".

[myincubliss]

I don't understand the Tamiya reference - can you explain that one?

I mean, is the effect of softened detail comparable to that displayed by Tamiya figures (think their 1/48 scale wwii stuff)

[Col.Stone]

they're better painted, even if i don't agree with the heavy highlight style

any chance of a comparison pic?

[Onebigriver]

Yes, I thought I'd see how it went with no primer at all (having done badly with my black primed redcoats). It seems fine - after all, nobody spray primes model aircraft, do they? (Okay, they didn't when I made them back in, ah 1970 ----).

I think they probably do now, especially if using acrylics. Besides, models aren't meant to be handled all the time.

[Howard Whitehouse]

So many questions ----

I really can't discuss Tamiya's models. The last ones I put together was a box of 1/35th WWII British, which I converted into Rogers' rangers for a diorama. I was about fifteen at the time. It wasn't recently.

A comparison pic of what, the painted figures and an unpainted one? My work never ends 

I'm never very comfortable taking photos of my figures, especially on sites like this where there are SO many really top-notch painters (and the macro setting turns my so-so 28mm paint jobs into monstrous figures the size of a Barbie doll painted by a blind drunkard with an old broom dipped in housepaint - plus cat hairs and odd bits of stray flocking everywhere).

I did paint these with the intention of photographing them, so they are no doubt a bit more "artistic" than my usual "fifteen minutes per figure, dry brush like mad, there's another hundred after this one" style! And that's really the point, isn't it? You need zombies in hordes, not elegant handfuls. Well, I do, anyway.

[Pil]

I'm biased, obviously, since I work for WF. I'd say they are a big step forward in terms of sharpness over, say, the Romans. The new Celts are better yet. What I would say is that, as zombies go, they are less cartoony than most. The hands are small and neatly done, and the heads are sized normally to the bodies.



Because they are closer to 'scale models' the details are not deeply engraved in the way we expect of metal figures, and so I deliberately avoided a mistake I'd made in the past, that of spraying too thick a primer coat, but painted directly onto the plastic.



Some of the detail, which looked great in the original virtual image, was too fine to come out well; one figure wears glasses with one lense smashed, but that was too subtle to come out. This whole process of designing figures so as to show well at 28mm is harder to figure out than I'd have guessed; I've certainly admired some heads, especially, only to see how much of the detail vanishes when translated into a tiny plastic item.

They look less detailed than I imagine, as if they were covered in a thick layer of (enamel) paint. They kind of remind me of horrorclix prepaints in the amount of detail. But of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating so my final judgement will be painted on my table

[white knight]

I think I'll get some to play around a bit trying to combine the parts with my 1/48th tamiya ww2 plastics, probably combined with some west wind and BAM metal bits.

[Commander Vyper]

In all honesty Howard, spray priming is par for the course, it helps the paint adhere to the plastic. A thick coat is a mistake, but no primer at all?

Sorry not the best way to advertise a new product with a homegrown and very poor paintjob.

Where are the studio paint ups to show the naysayers how great these are? 

The Commander

[Dan]

I'm not really feeling inspired by those paint jobs , I think I will stick to Lead until I see a really good painted example.
A shot of them mixed with other makes Zombies would be nice if someone could do that for us.

[dodge]

I'm never very comfortable taking photos of my figures, especially on sites like this where there are SO many really top-notch painters (and the macro setting turns my so-so 28mm paint jobs into monstrous figures the size of a Barbie doll painted by a blind drunkard with an old broom dipped in housepaint - plus cat hairs and odd bits of stray flocking everywhere).

I know exactly what you mean, often you think yup that's good only to phograph and see all of the bits you have missed or the finish isn't as smooth as you thought.

But I think what it does do is give you an idea of what is happening on the model so that you can at least think about where you put the brush when you paint.

Then again 15 minutes is extremely fast,

By the way I did like what you have done with the figures, I'm not sure I could even begin to paint zombies without having a hell of a think first 

dodge

[AKULA]

I don't see how you can leave out a primer.

Just be careful not to overdo it, then ensure that your base coat is thinned down - a wash might help the definition.

To be honest though, as they are being pitched at the cheap end of zeds, i wouldn't spend too much time on the paintjob for each figure, as it adds to the "cost" of the figure (i add in time spent upon assembly/getting rid of flash).

Will probably get a few at some point to bulk out the centre of one of my horde basss, but if the detail were crisper, i would almost certainly of bought hundreds of sprues... 

[Argonor]

To be honest though, as they are being pitched at the cheap end of zeds, i wouldn't spend too much time on the paintjob for each figure, as it adds to the "cost" of the figure (i add in time spent upon assembly/getting rid of flash).

Fast way to get rid of flash on plastic models:

Straighten out a paper clip - attach it to a handle (glue it into a cork, for instance) - light a candle - heat the paper clip over the flame - 'iron' the flash. A human-sized mini can be done in a few minutes - and you do not need to do the individual parts before assembling.

EDIT:

Large flash should be trimmed down, first, mold lines and lesser flash can be smoothed out as outlined above.

[AKULA]

Have never heard that before - good tip!

 

[Argonor]

Lots of people do that with their 1/72 plastics. I have the tip from www.hat.com , the 'Everything Toy Soldier' section.

[Unforgiven]

They look alright, nice price too.
I might get a few sprues