3mm Samurai experiment

[Thomaston]

Very bad photo. These are on 1″ base. One used super glue while the toehr used greenstuff. The super glue method is going to be a pain to do basing cover while the greenstuff method is an all-in-one solution.

1″ base is a little too small maybe 30mm would have been better but I like 1″ it’s the perfect size to hold (thats what she said).

Each represents a single Sonae, and will represent a small clan or branches of a clan. I’m doing fictional clans so I can fudge al lot of teh inter-clan relations and alliances.

The fun is researching different sonae formations and condensing it down to 3mm.

Finally these are not meant for gaming I just felt like doing mass battle armies after seeing what Thaddeus did with his Roman cohorts.

1/800 Himeji castle

I was trying to replicate these

Tired is enough.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Great looking stuff! I used to base at pico scale, but I gave it up as too much effort for not enough visual payback: I was literally spending more time basing than painting.

 

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Andrew Beasley]

Do you think you will have any issues painting those in the middle?

I painted my 2mm Irregular figures first then based them using very fine flock though your green stuff result is a lot neater than my flocked blocky figure bases on MDF.

 

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

There are two ways of doing this: on strips, then base them; based en masse, then painted.  I don’t think he’ll have any trouble here, because the focus will be the back banners and they are easily accessible.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thomaston]

I’ve considered both methods and admittedly this planning and solving problem is the most fun part of the hobby for me. I’m planning to undercoat in black and paint the middle figures up to where I can reach them. It helps that most Japanese armor were lacqurred black. The reason I didn’t go with painting and then basing is my experience with paint flaking off, especially with these 3mm minis and sharp edges.

Tired is enough.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Don’t undercoat in black. It will be too dark. Use grey instead.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mike]

ooooh noice

[Thomaston]

Well, they’re done and painted. I thought I ‘d be able to add more details but like thaddeus said, its mostly the sashimono. I was hoping I could paint faces but my brush was too big. Painting the dark grey took the longest the rest was pretty quick. Indonesian clan lost two spears in the back because I dropped it. Final verdict: will not be continuing with this. This reminded me why I hate metal minis, paint scraped off easily and the broken spears in the last stage of painting put me off.

Indonesian and Argentinian clan.

Roughly actual size.

Tired is enough.

[Darkest Star Games]

Unfortunate as those are some good looking groups.  Perhaps the “paint on a stick” method might have been easier?  And why don’t you have a 2-hair brush for super fine detail?!?!  (funny side note: i recently made a 6-hair brush from cat hair, for real!  Works great for moving inks around.)

Between you and Thad I have been inspired to bust out my 3mm Nam stuff again.  Time for some tiny helos bringing doom on Charlie!  That is, if I can set up a table and play and keep the aforementioned cats at bay!

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Thomaston]

Ihave very thin brushes, maybe not 6 hair but pretty thin. I hate using it, paint always dry on it before I even get started.
The strips on a stick method doesn’t work for me. Notice the top of the banners have little glints on them, that’s paint rubbing off them from handling. Considering I’ll have to base every strip after painting I think there willl be more of that using Thad’s method.

Any game with helicopters is gonna be good.

Tired is enough.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

When I paint on base, I don’t sweat the rubbing off of paint: I just carefully touch things up and then varnish: two spray coats, one gloss followed by matte. As long as I give the figures a proper basecoat, I have zero problems with paint rubbing off.

3mm is better in this sense, actually, because the figures are lighter and generally handled by the base. My 15mm stuff gets some wear and tear, but not 3mm!

The broken spears are another thing entirely. O8’s alloy has problems with anything longer and more delicate than Roman pila. How they are going to do pike blocks is anyone’s guess. I have suggested piano wire, but Marcin sneered at that idea.

That said, my Roman cavalry with the long spears are standing up well: zero breaks so far!

For painting faces, I actually use a pretty thick brush. A 0, IIRC. It’s all slash and dot painting, anyway, so if you get a little sloppy, don’t sweat it.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

I think they look  VERY nice, broken spears and all. You might try making the base color a bit lighter to reflect more light up into the figs and to contrast with them better. Excellent use of contrasting colors on the sashimonos, btw.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Darkest Star Games]

Thomaston wrote:

that’s paint rubbing off them from handling

  Dumb question:  did you spray a layer of gloss then another of flat before removing them from the stick?  I ruined a 15mm command diorama stand once when I dropped the stand on hard tile before I had sealed the figures, even though I had painted them before mounting to the stand.  Sooo much paint flaked off…

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Thomaston]

I haven’t varnished the job yet. When I broke the spears, that was the last straw. I’m thinking of putting the stands under thermite to salvage some satisfaction out of the experiment.

Tired is enough.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

😀

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

I’ve stayed away from the Shogunate range precisely because of the long spears. I have to say, though: O8 is getting better. Half of my French lancers broke (no biggie: I painted the broken ones with swords and carbines), but none of my long speared German and Roman cavalry broke.

 

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Alexander Hay-Whitton]

Those look like ashigaru, not samurai. Not sure what they’re doing on the ancients page.

[ian pillay]

I think you have done a grand job on those. The O8 alloy and the size tends to make long thin parts really brittle. I understand the frustration as my ACW have a few flag casualties. However, having seen this post I am going to revisit them me thinks.

I ve not suffered paint cracking or rubbing off as of yet. What under coat are you using? I used Army Painter spray for mine.

Don’t give up hope yet on the project.

Ian

Tally-Ho! Check out my blog at…..
http://steelcitywargaming.wordpress.com/

[Thomaston]

@ian pillay
I used Hycote gray for the undercoat. I don’t think it’s a peoblem with paint sticking to the metal but the sharp/hard edges wear much faster than normal. Since most of it si black it shows through more.

@Alexander
There are some samurais in there but I liked the scult on the ashigaru more and used a lot more of them.

Tired is enough.

[Author]

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