My 20mm ACW forces

[fairoaks024]

Edit:- double post

[willz]

More excellent ACW, thanks for sharing Fairoaks.

[Sane Max]

It’s really lovely to see these figures, old and new, getting the love and attention they deserve. Big question – do they get to play or are they just a labour of solitary love? I used Lockdown to strip and repaint one of my 28mm armies, and all through it I was thinking ‘They are never going to get another game, why am I DOING this? But it did make me feel good to bring them back to life from their chipped and scuffed condition.

(secondary question – do you varnish your soft plastics? I have them varnished and unvarnished, and I can’t see it makes a big difference – what are your views?)

[fairoaks024]

@willz thanks!

@Sane Max thanks too! They were started during lockdown mostly as a ‘warm and fuzzy’ project to please my nostalgia. Airfix acw were my first wargaming with the old little airfix hard back Rule set from the 1970s. I have hopes of actually using them in a real game once the world gets back to normal. I’ve done a small amount of solo gaming with them to try out the mechanics of some sets.

my i intention is to play both ‘pickets charge’ from the lardies with them and Sam mustafa’s ‘Longstreet ‘ And see which I prefer.

the entire project has been really enjoyable, Mixing modern 1/72nd and recovering some figures from the 70s.

I give them all two varnish coats.

i think I might be over compensating though. My originals were painted in airfix and humbrol enamels and they used to lose paint all the time.

with modern acrylic paint being much more flexible it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as bad as it was. I only had some paint come off of 2 bayonets When a stand was dropped and hit several things on the way down. No actual damage in play so far.

 

[Sane Max]

Glad to hear they will see a warm place in the field. I missed out on Enamel Paints. I find that acyrlics shed off some figures, not off others. There are a couple of manufacturers who appear to have mastered the art of making soft plastic figures out of a material paint actually adheres to, but many of them still seem to work on the assumption most of their customers will never actually paint them.

[jeffers]

Really, you should be using Terry Wise’s Airfix rules …😄

I have Airfix type 1 8th Army & DAK. I don’t varnish because I use acrylic which forms a mini gimp suit around the figure and won’t crack like old enamels. The trick is to make sure the figures are covered top to toe and there are no gaps. Indeed, Type 1 Airfix were robust figures anyway and my original 1969 box of 8th Army I painted in 1977 or thereabouts are still in good order. They are at the top of the page here: http://battle77.blogspot.com/2019/08/little-acorns.html. Later figures with spindly weapons would flake enamel by harsh words alone.

Now, it’s acrylics all the way for me and I only varnish metals (and I use special metal primer too).

Apologies for hijacking the thread!

 

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[fairoaks024]

@sane max agreed. The plastic which some  HaT sets are made out of ( softer, more Matt surface which feel slightly ‘sponges’) Seems to really take paint well and I’d be surprised if acrylic chipped off, is really good. Some manufacturers are still using very shiny PVC and those are the ones I think might shed paint.

@jeffers:- no problem at all with hijacking, it’s the natural way of conversation to go along meandering paths as ideas come to us. I like the linked figures!

your wargame journey is eerily similar to my own!

[Sane Max]

fairoaks024 wrote:

@sane max agreed. The plastic which some HaT sets are made out of ( softer, more Matt surface which feel slightly ‘sponges’) Seems to really take paint well and I’d be surprised if acrylic chipped off, is really good. Some manufacturers are still using very shiny PVC and those are the ones I think might shed paint.

what’s worse is that while SOME HAT sets are made out of that spongey stuff (The Assyrians are LOVELY) some newer sets are made out of white shiny that peels and chips. But the worst I have encountered is a small company, ‘A Call To Arms’ I think, who made some gorgeous little zulus. The plastic is so shiny I was not even able to glue the shields on, never mind get paint to adhere. I mean I tried every method I could think of, and ended up binning them! Heartbreaking, as they were really really pretty.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=17

[willz]

I matt varnish all my plastic figures with one exception Caesar Miniatures, for some reason when I have varnished them after a few months the go gloss, most annoying   I wash my figures with PVA glue and when dry I spray my plastic figures with grey car primmer , then paint, when dry matt varnish.  Every time with Caesar Miniatures they turn to gloss??????

Anyone else have this problem.

[fairoaks024]

@sane max, that’s a real shame, as you say, those zulus are lovely.

 

@willz I’ve had exactly the same problem with Caesar but with the added problem that after a while they become sticky to the touch. They end up picking up flick, fluff hairs and dirt. Ruins them. I’ve found no way of preventing it and now just don’t buy them, which is a great shame as their stuff is universally well sculpted

[Sane Max]

Caesar are also made out of a softer plastic and seem to hold their paint – i HAVE varnished them, because I was doing so to all my plastics, and have not had the stickiness issue. Out of interest what varnish are you using? I use Ronseal Yacht Varnish and then dull it down with Testors.

edit – maybe we should start a new thread rather than Hijack the very nice ACW thread?

[fairoaks024]

I don’t mind either way @Sane Max.

i was using daler Rowney Matt ( oil based) I switched to Windsor & Newton galeria acrylic Matt ( which is superb on everything else) but still had the problem

[jeffers]

Willz – same happens with die cast vehicles. The tracks and wheels go glossy and sticky despite being smothered in PVA both before and after painting. I stopped using them in the end and went to computer printed.

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[willz]

Sane Max wrote:

Caesar are also made out of a softer plastic and seem to hold their paint – i HAVE varnished them, because I was doing so to all my plastics, and have not had the stickiness issue. Out of interest what varnish are you using? I use Ronseal Yacht Varnish and then dull it down with Testors. edit – maybe we should start a new thread rather than Hijack the very nice ACW thread?

I use daler Rowney Matt acrylic varnish, I still buy and paint Caesar figures I just don’t varnish them.  Tried oil paints and enamels both still go gloss after a matt varnish, weird.

 

[fairoaks024]

@willz if I paint any Caesar minis again I think I’ll go the same route if just leaving them unvarnished.

 

i like the new HaT civil war sets and am slowly working on some of them. These are a couple of the standard bearers from the command set. The one with hat is fine as there’s a connection between the hat brim and the standard staff. The one in the Kepi is less supported and has already developed a lean. When I paint more I’ll probably replace the staff with a metal pin.

[willz]

Once again beautiful figures Fairoaks, I am having to fight the temptation not to do 20mm ACW.  I have a few hundred 30mm ACW in the waiting box, thanks for sharing.

[Sane Max]

I am fighting the same urge. I have a dozen boxes of both sides infantry for the FPW. Anyone wanna swap them for some ACW stuff? 🙂 I bought them years ago… someone has to make respectable FPW Cavalry in 1/72 I said…. or if not, will do sooner or later. Not a sausage!

worst thing about this temptation is how cheap it would be. I do wish 1/72 was more widely used at our club, but like everywhere it’s too big for the 15mm’ers and too small for the 28 chaps. I can’t justify another purchase that will never get to play.

[fairoaks024]

One of those standard bearers joins a unit of the new HaT marching infantry set

[fairoaks024]

four of the new HaT officers painted and based up for use as level 1 leaders in Sharp Practice

or adcs for Picketts Charge.

[willz]

More excellent painting, thanks for sharing Fairoaks.  Fantastic inspiration.

[jeffers]

Superb as always.

I didn’t know Hat had released their ACW sets. That’s the final nail in my Blue Moon coffin lid. I’ve already assembled a load of Airfix I had in the loft and bought some Jacklex to bring my ACW in line with my other projects.

43 years of Wargaming and I’ve come full circle!

 

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[fairoaks024]

I got the urge to paint up another unit after a loooong break from this project.

a unit of the 8th Wisconsin volunteer infantry with ‘old abe’

[willz]

More beautiful figures.

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