Question about painting Perry plastic cavalry

Yermolov · Post by **Yermolov** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:17 am

Greetings all,

After a lost summer hobby-wise I'm getting back into the swing of things and am getting ready to paint up two boxes of the Perry plastic French dragoons. They look like excellent figures and I will enjoy painting them up.

Quick question for those folks that have already painted some of plastic cavalrymen: Do you fully assemble the figures before painting them, or do you build and paint the horses and riders separately? I'm trying to figure out which process would be easier to deal with and am undecided currently.

Thanks,

Bart

j1mwallace · Post by **j1mwallace** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:30 am

definitely assemble them first. It will save you considerable hassle and grief

Post by **barr7430** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:57 pm

I ALWAYS PAINT HORSE AND RIDER SEPERATELY

Yermolov · Post by **Yermolov** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:38 pm

Split opinion so far.

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:55 pm

I always completely assemble my minis before painting...

The answer you are probably going to end up with is 'maybe'.

obriendavid · Post by **obriendavid** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:17 pm

As far as possible I always like to have my figures put together before painting as I feel I get a better bond with the glue instead of basically sticking two lots of paint together. There's no right or wrong way to do this it's what you feel comfortable with that counts.
Cheers
Dave

BP · Post by BP » Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:45 pm

For all my victrix british infantry they were painted on the sprue and then assembled. My flawed logic being it was easier to get at the cross belts etc without arms/muskets being in the way. You do have to do a touch up though once the figures are assembled, but given my ham fisted approach to painting it works for me.

Bill.

bibio · Post by **bibio** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:42 am

i found that painting the horses and figures sepeately worked best for me,also when it comes to carbines I paint them on the sprue then add them on when the horse and rider are together.

iain

CoffinDodger · Post by **CoffinDodger** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 5:51 pm

I always fully assemble my figures on the basis that, "if the brush can't reach it then the eye can't see it". I have posted several images on this site which are easily recognisable by the unsightly white bits that the brush couldn't reach.

Jim

obriendavid · Post by **obriendavid** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:13 pm

CoffinDodger wrote:I always fully assemble my figures on the basis that, "if the brush can't reach it then the eye can't see it". I have posted several images on this site which are easily recognisable by the unsightly white bits that the brush couldn't reach.

Jim

Jim, that's one of the reasons that a black undercoat is useful, any missed areas just look like dark shading.
Cheers
Dave

CoffinDodger · Post by **CoffinDodger** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:34 pm

obriendavid wrote: Jim, that's one of the reasons that a black undercoat is useful, any missed areas just look like dark shading.
Cheers
Dave

Dave,

That's one of the reasons I invariably use a black undercoat except on my "new" Napoleonic habit blancs that I'm painting now.

Jim

Atheling · Post by **Atheling** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:42 pm

barr7430 wrote:I ALWAYS PAINT HORSE AND RIDER SEPERATELY

Yep, I concur. It's a lot easier to glue them together post paint job than it is to fiddle around on the "hard to get at" bits whilst painting.

Darrell.

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:42 pm

I agree with Dave. If I can't reach it with a brush, it's in shadow. It's actually faster for me. Also, I leave thin black lines around the different parts of a figure, which include the saddle and backside of the rider. It's a pain to go back in and paint black lines on such areas.