Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Other Adventures => Topic started by: JollyBob on May 29, 2009, 04:18:10 PM
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He saved every one of us!
No really, I painted a flat wargames figure for the first time ever this week (part of an experiment/collaboration set up on Frothers by Redzed).
This is how it turned out:
(http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb155/GrunterPulpit/NFa.jpg)
(http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb155/GrunterPulpit/NFb.jpg)
Yes, the colours are all wrong.
No, I don't care.
The brief we got was to paint it anyway you like. There are things I would do differently if I did another, but I honestly don't think I'd want to.
A good experiment though, and I have learned some valuable and interesting lessons I can apply to my other painting.
There are more by other people on this thread (**WARNING: Frothers Thread - not suitable for work, old people, small children, pregnant ladies or anyone nice.**):
http://frothersunite.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19666
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"You only have 14 hours to save the earth".
Very nice and colourful, Do you remember those early Prince August moulds of C18th soldiers? I had some of them, great fun. :)
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I can't say I've ever seen the PA ones. Its not something I've ever been interested in, tbh.
There are some links to some absolutely stunning examples on that Frothers thread though. I honestly don't now how people an make them look so good.
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Thats damn good painting IMO (that no-one cares about but I'm saying it anyway)
And who cares what colours you use? I use whatever colours I like on my figures - thats partly why I have no friends to game with! lol
Flats really are awful though, other than as curiosities. Now all the young chaps like Answer_is_Level_42 will make fun of us for remembering Flats at all!!
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Great job Bob!
Frustratingly good ;)
Haven't started mine yet :(
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Yes, the colours are all wrong.
No, I don't care.
lol lol
My approach exactly Rob.
It's funny that when people paint zombies, orcs and spacemarines (TM-not) they use all sorts of weird and wonderful invented colour schemes and nobody bats an eyelid.
But as soon as you go a little bit freestyle on an allegedly 'historical' subject (and let's face it, most of the figures aren't truly anything like the real historical soldiers probably looked anyway) people pop up and start saying things like: 'well, I really like the purple warpaint on those indians, but I think it's a semitone out, and I'm not sure they had access to the right colour dye in that particular part of the Chappaquidick' etc etc...
Like you, Rob: I DON'T CARE!
If I've painted them like that, it's 'cos I like the way they look like that! :)
I'd rather they looked right, than technically historically accurate - but dull.
Phew. Glad to get that off my chest... ;)
Nice job by the way - although 'flats' are an acquired taste, that's for sure.
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Cheers blokes, very nice of you all to comment.
Yeah, Captain, I'm afraid I go a bit "Hollywood" in my approach to historicals. If it looks right, then its good enough. Probably from watching too many old films (like 50s B-picture war films when they couldn't get Tigers, so they painted Shermans grey and hoped no-one would notice).
My dad can be a bit of a button counter when it comes to something he's really interested in, so maybe I'm rebelling against my authority figure. lol
(Although, I have caught myself lately shouting at westerns because "you can't make that shot with a Colt Navy! He's bloody miles away!" and so on. Shameful really.)
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Cheers blokes, very nice of you all to comment.
(Although, I have caught myself lately shouting at westerns because "you can't make that shot with a Colt Navy! He's bloody miles away!" and so on. Shameful really.)
Oh dear, dear, dear! Of course you can make that shot - if you're wearing a white hat. If you're wearing a black hat, of course, you miss at 3 inches. In a way its a bit like being a BMW driver - its ok to park on a pedestrian crossing in a beemer, as long as your have your hazards flashing - this Sauvigon Blanc is very nice, I must say.....
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Sun's barely past the yardarm as well Carew, getting an early start? ;)
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Bl**dy right! It's 18:30 hours here, well into drinkie time :P
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Flats really are awful though, other than as curiosities. Now all the young chaps like Answer_is_Level_42 will make fun of us for remembering Flats at all!!
I'll thank you to remember my name, old man!
:D
Damed good painting indeed. Where the Devil do you get such things from?
On a slightly different note, anyone who does not care about the exact number of buttons on a soldiers coat should be taken away and shot through the lungs, in my humble opinion*.
*Not my real opinion. I forgot the facings on my colonial British infantry recently, and I’d do it again!
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I would never want to collect them or game with them, but I like the idea of the painting challenge posed by flats (it's a bit like painting things in black & white or in variant shades of a single color- It's not something you would ever do day-to-day, but the problems you have to solve doing it make you a better painter by osmosis).
Nice work, JB!
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Thanks both.
Heldrak, I agree completely, that's why I agreed to try one.
Ais42 - I'm sorry, I have no idea where it came from, redzed sent a load out to people who were interested in taking part. Couldn't tell you where he had them from though. Apparently they are still very popular in Germany. ???
After Malamute mentioned the Prince August ones before, I had a look at their site, but they don't seem to do these anymore. They have flat Naps in 40mm, and some odd looking "semi-flats" of modern types. Very strange.
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I've painted a few of these, although it's been a while. Gave this one to my brother for a birthday some time ago:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/3577585872_2530a6bce6_o.jpg)
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I love flats, owning several dozen, including a couple of fairly large sets, but it definitely is a totally different mindset when it comes to painting them. The fascinating thing about Zinnfiguren is that the range of figures available, like that of traditional 'toy soldiers', is immense, with thousands of different sets to be had, with everything from cavemen to spacemen and plenty of civilians. (Toy soldiers, on the other hand, generally leave me cold, other than eternally complaining 'Gee, I wish they'd do that in 28mm'!)
Here's a couple of links, if anybody's interested.
http://www.zinnfigur.com/ (One of, if not the, biggest dealers out there)
http://www.zinnfiguren-golberg.de/
http://www.jamesfinnminiatures.theshoppe.com/zinnfig/zinnindex.html
http://www.thelittletinsoldier.com/catalog/
http://www.britishflatfigures.org.uk/index.html
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Wow, Mancha, that's stunning! :o :-*
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After Malamute mentioned the Prince August ones before, I had a look at their site, but they don't seem to do these anymore. They have flat Naps in 40mm, and some odd looking "semi-flats" of modern types. Very strange.
Hey Rob, I'm showing my age here... This was about 30 years ago..... Before they started doing 25mm Napoleonics they produced a very limited range of C18th flats, my friend got the mould set and we spent ages casting them up, did nothing with them as flats were not as nice as Timpo cowboys or airfix 1/32 soldiers for playing with, it was just the thrill of casting something!
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Ah, I see. Well, yes, in that case I'm not surprised they stopped doing them.
There must have been legions of little boys all over England wondering what the hell to do with them now they're here, and how badly they were going to cop it for ruining their mum's saucepan by boiling lead in it.
I actually meant that the semi-flats are strange, though. Neither fish nor fowl, I can't really see the point to them. :?
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Wow, Mancha, that's stunning! :o :-*
Thanks. What I really like about flats is that they can be framed and hung on one's wall, and when guests see them they won't necessarily think you're nuts for painting "toy soldiers".
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Flats can be quite stunning, but to get the proper impact you need to go somewhere like Kulmbach, to the German flat figure museum.
It really is impressive even if you don't like flats - they have figures displayed in dioramas by historical period, including a couple of huge dioramas (huge as in bigger than 6' x 6') one of which depicts a 7YW battle, and a truly immense diorama (portraying a renaissance siege of the town) that made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the number of figures.
The museum is not heavily publicised, as far as I know it doesn't have a website, the best I could find was :
http://www.schloesser-bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/kulmbach.htm
But one thing they do have is a large collectors fair, every 2 years, it's merntioned here :
http://www.louis-liljedahl.se/first.htm
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My only personal brush with flats makes an amusing tale -
As a wee nipper I ordered a footlocker full of toy soldiers out of the back of a comic book (expecting the traditional green plastic army men) and the figures I received were plastic flats!
I wasn't best pleased at the time, and of course I no longer have them (now, when I might find it an interesting challenge to paint them...!).
Caveat Emptor!
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My only personal brush with flats makes an amusing tale -
As a wee nipper I ordered a footlocker full of toy soldiers out of the back of a comic book (expecting the traditional green plastic army men) and the figures I received were plastic flats!
I wasn't best pleased at the time, and of course I no longer have them (now, when I might find it an interesting challenge to paint them...!).
Caveat Emptor!
Likewise. In my case, it was an ACW set. The scary thing is that I still have most of them!
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My only personal brush with flats makes an amusing tale -
As a wee nipper I ordered a footlocker full of toy soldiers out of the back of a comic book (expecting the traditional green plastic army men) and the figures I received were plastic flats!
I wasn't best pleased at the time, and of course I no longer have them (now, when I might find it an interesting challenge to paint them...!).
Caveat Emptor!
Likewise. In my case, it was an ACW set. The scary thing is that I still have most of them!
I am an inveterate packrat- I do still have a number of my Airfix figures from around the same time...