Welcome to the Strelets Forum. Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets. If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.
Richard, if I could offer you two tips that I was given that have helped me with my painting:
Go to Acrylics and ditch the Humbrol.I use Vallejo Model Colour range.
Secondly, if you're not invested in lots of shading/dry brushing layering techniques etc, get Army Painter Quick Shade bottles. They act as a really simple wash and will improve any bit of basic painting. Finish your painting and then just brush the wash all over. Go on Army Painter website and they will show you a comparison of before and after.
I am an unintentional collector. During my working life, I collected sets with the intention of painting them " when I have time". Of course, when I retired I still didn't have time, and in fact the idea of trying to paint them all makes me stressed. So I paint a very small few from time to time and otherwise just admire what I have, occasionally setting the unpainted masses up for fun. If I could afford it, I would have someone paint them all, so I buy a lottery ticket occasionally. It's not like I don't have a plan.
I am a bit of a Hybrid - Collector, Painter and very occasional Diorama builder. Collector first - as I seem to spend so little time actually modelling or achieving anything of note and I keep amassing my figure sets and kits without much output. Painter/modeller next, as when I do get to paint or convert something I get real joy from what I have achieved and finally Diorama next.
Although the concept of a large scale scene of the "Charge of the Light Brigade" has always appealed, it is in fact(for me) impractical, better to stick to small vignettes with a handful of painted and based figures. Same with "Rorkes Drift" - great idea to make the entire buildings and surrounds , but more manageable to produce a small element or set-piece of the conflict.
I am not a wargamer so that does not feature at all with myself … although I do joke with some wargamer friends that it is the "dark side of the hobby"! :wink: