1/72 ACW collection update Part 2
The first two divisions each for North and South at regimental scale are mostly completed, fast-painted (straps not done) and based onto clear acrylic 1/8".
Total time for this project was 2 months, working from 2-3am to 5am, then 5pm to 8pm daily. This was only possible because of prior agreement with my wife.
As usual with any collection, after fast-painting and sealing with Americana Matte spray coating (the ONLY spray that works btw), then applying to the clear bases after staging them first to see how they look (very important), the collection goes into maintenance mode meaning over time, details are completed such as all the strapping.
White strapping btw can be easily done with the proper thickness white paint marker, and the same for black. Ultra-thin sharpee markers are not always good because the ink doesn't flow thick enough.
More details:
Inventory: The first thing that was done once all the sprues were washed and dried, was to observe how many of each sculpt there was between the manf Strelets and Italeri and Imex.
Imex yielded the MOST figures for the least cost, but these are a little small compared to Italeri but DO suit Strelets for size. However, Imex hands are thin, and Strelets line definition is being somewhat lost in their casting process. Their figures lack a little definition compared to Imex.
Italeri is totally in a class by itself. While Italeri figures are noticably larger heads, hands and so on, their definition in sculpt is exquisite and beyond comparison. Italeri are the gold standard for miniatures in my view.
Flag Holders and Mounted Flag Holders: Once the sculpts inventory was known, this also included mounted flag holders. For these, only Imex artillery riders were suitable as shown in the image below holding the flag. A dremel battery drill is indispensable for this purpose, with a 1/64 bit or smaller as a pilot hole, but otherwise the hands dont accomodate drilling completely normal round holes; part of the hand will be drilled away and cant be avoided; BUT, shaping the remaining hand to hold the pole is the result. Admittedly, one must be very good with a drill and drill bit, like a dentist even, to get this done right. But the results speak for themselves:
All the flag holders were made and drilled first to determine just how many units were going to be potentially done. Standing at attention is acceptable, but not realistic; charging forward is acceptable but also not realistic; the best realism is simply advancing with the flag and these were obtained by cutting off muskets as you'd expect.
In some cases, the Strelets bonus figure of a Russian infantryman holding a pike was adopted to hold a flag and you really cant see the difference in uniform at all (last picture shows this best; the figure is advancing and has a sword scabbard which I just left on the figure). His coat looks like a typical ACW overcoat so I deemed it acceptable.
All the other flag holders where converted from the sad Imex cavalryman "skipping to the loo" with the folding stock pistol weapon, which is a pointless weapon and this figure like many Imex figures are a joke.. this was cut away and hole drilled for the flag to go into his hands that are against his body. When hands are against the body, this is the best that can be hope for, for making flag holders because you have plenty of plastic to play with and the figure doesnt flop around while the drill is going in.
Other figures holding muskets were also converted to flag holders; the Imex sculpt of the figure with backpack holding the musket on the ground " at ease " at his side is another ridiculous sculpt BUT it does make for a good flag holder though the hand is away from the body holding onto the musket. Again, you wont be drilling this hand out but rather shaping it as a claw to hold the flag pole you insert into the base of the figure; yes you drill a hole in the plastic base where his musket was on the ground next to his foot, then and insert the pole from the bottom UP. Generally, these poles are about 2 inches long and you leave them that long until your flags are printed and applied, then you'll know where to snip the plastic pole.
The pole is attached to the hand with a hot glue gun; be careful because the proximity of the hot tip to the pole will melt the pole, so get a bead/drip of glue up on the tip and quickly touch the hand while holding the pole to it, then blow on it to solidify the glue while shaping/wiping away the excess hot glue; in some cases you can actually make a really nice hand with this melted glue bead. Dont worry the amount of glue you are wiping away is tiny so you can stand the slight burning and besides, by this time your fingers are used to being burned. A little.
Officers: All officer figures were not placed onto the regiment stands until the gluing process in order to maximize the quantities of sculpts and the looks of units. In most cases, all the officers and drummers were left to be made into Brigadier and Divisional commander stands.
More in the next post.