12 August
Perry's plastics
Well, I am breaking with years of tradition and have been drawn to the 'dark side'. I love the Perry brothers metal figures so I have been tempted to try my hand at their hard plastic range. I have not decided on how I shall paint them but they won't be French. I guess it will be Swiss or Italian, I can't make my mind up but there is no rush.
13 September 2020
FINALLY finished the assembly and priming of the figures and what a rigmarole it is. I understand why people prefer plastics, the ability to pose the figures as you want etc but is it worth the hours of trimming, filing, finding parts (dropping them and struggling to find them again) and then using filler for the joints that don't quite fit? Not for me but I am glad I have experienced the process, now comes the hard bit, the painting!
I must congratulate the Perry brothers for the excellent molds and options provided in the box, I now have a box of plastic 'spare parts' from the sprues. If I wasn't so used to metals and had better eyesight then maybe I would fully embrace plastics.
10 October
Finished my first two Perry's Swiss grenadiers, after doing the initial painting on the whole box, I have decided to do the figures two at a time so as to ease pressure to complete one painting job through all the figures. So I will do two at a time and accept that theses figures won't be completed this year! I settled on the Swiss for no other reason than whim.
31 October
Due to other commitments, I have not had the time to concentrate on the figures. Plus, I paint in my garage (sadly not air-conditioned) so it is so hot to pain this time of year in Brisbane. Also the paint dries so quickly even with a wet palette. I have also purchased these figures: https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/fn4-mounted-infantry-colonels/ to add a mounted colonel to the regiment. I will admit to getting impatient to see the finished regiment on the table. I am sure all painters have the conundrum between the sense of achievement of a finished figure that they are happy with and the desire to see them all finished.
27 December
Well it has taken ages but the Swiss 1st Regiment is completed. I have added a couple of metal figures into the mix along with a 'general' which is actually a Perry's metal French cavalry marshal figure but I try not to be too dogmatic over historical details.
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| Ist Regt of Swiss advancing |
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| The regiment will advance! |
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| Fictitious Swiss General Renee de Toblerone |
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| Voltigeurs screen the advance |
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| Eagle view 1 |
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| Eagle view 2 |
Lovely work and a very enjoyable read. I am with you on not having been drawn to plastics for exactly the reason you have outlined, Model assembly has never been my strong point and I have spent much wasted time searching for pieces I think I have dropped only to find them stuck on the back of my hand. Great choice to use the figures for Swiss.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lawrence, I thought it diplomatic not to describe the dramas putting together the excellent Perry castings. I 'get' the popularity but for old eyes assembling plastics is a nightmare. Yes they are cheaper per figure and lighter to carry/store but the hours of assembly has to be considered. As I mentioned in another place in the blog, the smaller nations of the Napoleonic wars attract me. Most seem to think that it has to be Britain against France when, in reality, Britain was not a major foe of Napoleon compared to Prussia, Austria and Russia until Waterloo.
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