Figures other than soldiers!

[MattB71]

Hi guys, not been on here for a while, but I'm getting back into my figure painting again (albeit not that great! ) and some armour!
Rather than always painting soldiers of 1:35 or 1:16 scale, i was wondering on other things i have seen being painted on YouTube - Cowboys, Pirates, Sci-Fi type figures. Where do you source these from in the UK? Not sure if i want the WarHammer, Marvel type stuff just something different to assemble and paint other than soldiers (my wife says dont you paint anything else apart from German's! LOL)

I have seen some stuff on e-Bay like busts etc (which i like the idea of) but do you have to create your own colour scheme - is there normally a painting guide?

And then paint wise, I've built up some nice base soldier colours (Vallejo mainly and some Tamiya), but if I'm looking at other figure types, i guess I'm going to have to get some other colour variants (red, blues etc) where do i go for these, is it best to get them in a pack?

And ive only built from plastic kits before, if is see resin or white metal, should i run and hide or is it a good learning experience to just have a go...!

Sorry you can tell I'm a noob with most of this stuff

Cheers, stay healthy!

Matt

[bilbo]

Historexagents https://www.historexagents.com/ has a good mix of different figures from different genres.

I wouldn’t run and hide from resin or white metal kits it’s just another medium and a learning experience, clean up is different from plastic and avoid the resin dust. Good luck

[Tim Marlow]

Clean up on white metal is actually very similar to plastic, and I use the same basic tools, knife, files, fine sandpaper (but mostly knife used as a scraper). It’s actually easier to clean up than some of the harder grades of plastic....
As Dom states, Historex agents are worth a good browse to get a feel for the scope available. There are many others though, depending upon what scale you want to tackle. For info, Figures are usually catalogued according to size. The size is usually measured from the soles of the feet to the eye level (I don’t know why!). The larger the number the bigger the figure....
Regarding colours, I would simply expand the number of Vallejo paints you have. Buying sets usually means you end up with some you don’t use. You will probably need some brighter colours. You can dull down bright colours, but you can’t brighten dull colours....
For colour schemes, the internet is your pal...look up images of what you are going to paint, and copy them. If it’s a fantasy figure there is a vast array of artwork out there to inspire you.....

[MattB71]

Historexagents https://www.historexagents.com/ has a good mix of different figures from different genres.

I wouldn’t run and hide from resin or white metal kits it’s just another medium and a learning experience, clean up is different from plastic and avoid the resin dust. Good luck

thanks Bilbo, that site looks just what I'm looking for much appreciated!

[MattB71]

Clean up on white metal is actually very similar to plastic, and I use the same basic tools, knife, files, fine sandpaper (but mostly knife used as a scraper). It’s actually easier to clean up than some of the harder grades of plastic....
As Dom states, Historex agents are worth a good browse to get a feel for the scope available. There are many others though, depending upon what scale you want to tackle. For info, Figures are usually catalogued according to size. The size is usually measured from the soles of the feet to the eye level (I don’t know why!). The larger the number the bigger the figure....
Regarding colours, I would simply expand the number of Vallejo paints you have. Buying sets usually means you end up with some you don’t use. You will probably need some brighter colours. You can dull down bright colours, but you can’t brighten dull colours....
For colour schemes, the internet is your pal...look up images of what you are going to paint, and copy them. If it’s a fantasy figure there is a vast array of artwork out there to inspire you.....

Cheers Tim, have chosen the Vallejo model colour Folkstone basics paint set to get me more of those vivid brighter colours. im going to brave it and order some figures from Historex and see how it goes

[Tim Marlow]

Nice one. Later on, when you have painted a few, I would recommend the Vallejo game wash set as well. I find them really useful in all genres of figures.