Boxer Rebellion era U.S. Marines

[Pocho Azul]

Some Old Glory 25mm US Marines from their Boxer Rebellion series:

I am not actually putting together a collection for this era, but I haven't painted any figures for about 20 years, and these are my second group of figures, grabbed somewhat arbitrarily from my brother's leadpile. Figuring out how to take decent photos of them took almost as long as painting them (my old camera died).



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A couple of closeups:
 
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Some larger versions and a few more images may be seen here: Link

[JBaumal]

I like what you did with these! Don’t let another 20 years get behind you before you paint some more figs for this collection.

[BillK]

Very nice work. Look forward to seeing more.

I have painted OGs SpanAm War U.S. Volunteers for a ficticious Mafrica project, similar figs, and they are rather fun to paint. Actually wish I has gotten these for my project as they don't have all the bedrolls the Volunteers do.

[Pocho Azul]

Thank you both!

I have painted OGs SpanAm War U.S. Volunteers for a ficticious Mafrica project, similar figs, and they are rather fun to paint. Actually wish I has gotten these for my project as they don't have all the bedrolls the Volunteers do.

These are destined for a similar role. They actually belong to my brother.  They were purchased more as generic "turn of the century U.S. Colonial troops" for skirmish gaming, rather than for a strict Boxer Rebellion type scenario.

I actually found them a little difficult to paint, partly because of being way out of practice, but partly because the are a little inconsistent about how clean the details are. Sometimes, they have a fair amount of clean detail in a particular area, and other times the details get rather garbled. I found this to especially be the case for the faces and chests, when the arms or rifle were held close to the area in question. I imagine that this is a common issue with Old Glorys, as they provide so many variations in each set, such that there is a lot of potential interference (for lack of a better word) between the arms and whatever body part they are nearest, in certain poses.

[JBaumal]

Pocho Azul, I totally understand and have the same issues with the Old Glory figs. I solved this problem for myself by priming them black and only painting in the areas and details I wanted. I think overall the OG figs are a great value for the money, especially when you go in with a buddy or club and buy the OG Army Card!

Another good option is the dip or wash method to help the situation. I’ve got lots of painted OG colonial figs on my blog if you care to check it out.

Keep having fun painting and chipping away at the lead mountain. 

[BillK]

@Pocho Azul... I have been using the dip on my ficticious turn of the century force. First time I used the product, although I regularly use washes, and actually think it has worked to help to hide some of the issues you noted. (These figs are still fun to paint because of their "character.")

Look forward to seeing more.

[Pocho Azul]

@Pocho Azul... I have been using the dip on my ficticious turn of the century force. First time I used the product, although I regularly use washes, and actually think it has worked to help to hide some of the issues you noted. (These figs are still fun to paint because of their "character.")

Look forward to seeing more.

Thanks! I am experimenting with different painting processes. These guys were the old base/wash/drybrush method, I first learned. I painted some buildings, going more from very dark to light, and using washes very sparingly. They seemed to work out well, but buildings (especially these buildings, just adobe brick, mud plaster surface coating and some wood) are often much simpler and have very large areas made of a single materiel, so a single process can work out differently. I am currently working on some super clean, relatively simple models from Pulp Figures, starting with a black undercoating, and I will see how that works out.