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Re: Army sizes

My answer to the question as to quality of my painting is up to opinion. There are some folks on all the hobby sites that make me go, "WOW!" They are works of art. It can be both inspiring AND discouraging to see the amount of detail on some of these figures on subjects so small. Then I console myself (not taking away anything from the awesome skill and talent required to produce something so exquisite) that they are painting just a few figures at a time - perhaps even one.

I use a mass production method. Currently I am working on three boxes of Strelets-R Highlanders Marching and "dressing up" a selection of older Airfix, ESCI, and Italeri advancing/charging figures. Before that I knocked off five boxes of the Marching Line and three boxes of advancing/charging Line Infantry. I try to get my guys before I take them off the sprue. I prime them then go through the entire bunch applying one color at a time - usually waiting a day or so before going to the next color. Then, once I get all the major colors done I begin doing the detail work. After that I examine them and do touchups. After they're sealed I remove them from the sprue. The process might take a week or two, depending on how ornate the uniforms are and how much time I get to spend on them (I usually do my painting during the evening, while watching TV with my wife with my little portable worktable in front of me - boring life with the empty nest; I believe just sitting in front of the tube staring at it a total waste of time).

The thing is, this method allows me during quite times in my life (most productive hobby-wise) to churn out between 100 - 200 (my max - any more than that and it gets to be like work) figures (individuals, wagons, horses, arty, etc. are different matters) in a week or two. So the numbers begin to add up when you've been painting thirty years (I started painting my collection in 1986 but have been into toy solders since 1961).

I'd like to think my quality has improved. Taking pix was an eye-opener. Seeing the figures I was so proud of exploded on the computer screen made me realize how many mistakes I'd made. So I went out and bought a lighted magnifying glass. Between that helping me see the tiny details better and learning from some true masters on sites like this I think I've improved. And every now and then, as I'm doing now with my Highlanders, I drag out some of my early work and touch them up - if it seems worth the effort.

Some of my work has been shown on several sites; I don't know that I've ever contributed here - something I may fix when I finish my current project.

Re: Army sizes

My Army is all unpainted & numbers over 100,000 soldiers from all eras. Manufacturers from Giant to Ultima Ratio. I used to buy everything out there, but I've scaled back to not include sets of poor quality or others who doggedly make all their figures in gray & tan!