Saturday, February 02, 2008

Willies


I've had a long standing thing for Edward Suren's "Willie" range of figures.

With one of the OSW crowd talking up the Regiment he's working on, I was prompted to pull out the ones I'd bought a few years ago. Looking at the paint jobs, I decided it was time for a thorough renovation.

I also thought this would give me something to do as I waited for the temptation to buy some of these frighteningly expensive figures to go away.

That didn't work, did it? I've since bought two packs if the Line infantry, a pack of the Foot Command and a pack of the Mounted Command. I've decided that my old Willies will form the second line of the regiment I build.

I'm really not very good at resisting temptation. Perhaps I may need to build an Old School Brigade?

7 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

Greg,

I noticed in the photo that you've used "slotta-bases" under the figures.

When I've used them, I cut strips from some of the address labels that keep coming in the mail from various charities and use them to cover the slot.

Thus, when I paint the base, those ugly gaps are not there . . . and, since I also flock, you can't tell that there ever were slots.

Furthermore, when using them with plastic figures, I also fill the bottom of the base with spackle (the stuff used to fill holes in walls) to give them weight.

Feel free to ignore these tips or use them depending upon how you feel.


-- Jeff

Andy Mitchell said...

Nice paint job, but will you be filling in the visible slots on those bases or replacing the bases? As it stands I think that one detail falls below the standard that you've acheived on those figures.

Expensive? Per figure perhaps, per amount of pleasure gotten from them, cheap I think.

Bloggerator said...

All figures are cheap over the course of their lives - you only have to pay for them once!

Thanks for the tips; what I have been doing is getting plaster filler and using it to blend the bases of the figures into the plastic bases. I'd also texture them a it with some sand or the odd rough pebble for interest. Painted and then a dash of static grass and basing is done.

I usually find the filler I use is stiff enough to fill the slotta-base holes. It's an interesting idea to fill their bottoms with filler. I'll have to try that.

I have been thinking of using Litko bases since the GW ones have dried up rather, and these do not need filling, being solid wood. Mental note - Greg, try the Litko bases.

Regards and thanks,

Greg

Bluebear Jeff said...

Greg,

You had indicated earlier that you wanted to see my Samurai.

I've posted a few clearer photos on my Ancients blog:

http://kingdomsofantiquity.blogspot.com/


-- Jeff

Bluebear Jeff said...

Oops!

I gave you the wrong URL for the Samurai photos. It should be:

http://jeffs-ancients.blogspot.com/


-- Jeff

Der Alte Fritz said...

Yes the Willies and Staddens are more expensive, but as someone said, the amount of satisfaction that you will derive from them is boundless. It is not so bad if you only buy one unit at a time.

Bloggerator said...

Thanks for the photos Jeff! Comments are on the relevant blogs :^)

der Alte, What with inflation and all, the hundred dollars I spend today is likely to seem a mere bagatelle in retrospect. I'll be buying more Willies, I suspect.