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.
It is refreshing to hear that you regularly "Re-Issue" new uniforms to your soldiers (by repainting them).
If I were a toy soldier of your's, I'd be durned proud to carry myself in a freshly-painted uniform in bright, new updated colors, as well as proud of my old chipped-up painted-on uniform in the old paints, "battle-scars'n all", after a rough-and-tough campaign as your Viet Nam Expedition, and could not wait to discover the next campaign-assignment - Middle East; South America; Africa ... Where's we go'in next Commander Matt?
I have to confess that I don't repaint by choice, it's just that after the Vietnam enterprise (Nov 2003-Aug 2004): the battle stress of 2 long haul flights, a short hop into Phnom Penh, crossing the land border from Cambodia to Vietnam and then on a perilous journey from Saigon to a provincial town in the Mekong delta rubbed some paint away.
The troops were in some state of disarray and morale was low. I didn't pay them much attention and threats of mutiny and desertion were growing.
Thankfully, I was able to escape with 7000 hard-earned dollars in cash (tucked into a plaster statue of Ho Chi Minh) back into Cambodia and out to England. Despite a hardcore of truculent Greek peltasts and volatile Thracians attempting to escape through a torn bag at Heathrow airport, I'm happy to say that every single one of the expeditionary force made it safely back. So we lost a bit of paint and a few weapons got broken, but it was a good experience for them and they were overjoyed to be re-united with the home army.
The future?
When I paint now, it stays on thanks to a gloss varnish finish. We have learned to respect each other. I'm planning trips to Istanbul, South East Asia, China and Peru, but I'll leave the vast majority of the horde back at base!
It's finally the weekend again, and free time again for our hobby.
I hope you gather by my post that I'm not a wargamer, and enjoy the hobby as a "playset" collector would, and I'm not a wargame enthusiast. That's why I allude to imagination (not the roll of a dice). I've never made a secret of that. In fact, I'm hopeful that there are others out there in cyberspace who also feel the same as me.
But I'm gathering by the lack of responses to this thread that I am, for the most part, not in the majority of members of this forum, and in fact, a "dinosaur." This forum is moving-on and I'm not. I'm actually embarrassed for starting this thread!
I'm kinda stuck in a time-warp with the hobby. But I can assure you I'm not stuck in a drug-induced state as the recent tragedies of movie performers (one you mention) have been suffering. My original post/question was thought-of stone-sober, same as I did as a kid.
I hope you are OK with me ( ) and always look forward to your posts about the hobby.