Some hints for modelling soldiers

Dated: October 9, 2001.

Contribution by Mr. Flavio Rossi of Italy.

My interest in modelling is very wide, and practically only military, even if I've a deep horror for violence.
These are the different field of action in order of relevance:

1) military ship of WW II in 1:700 waterline scale
2) military AFV (Armoured fighting vehicle) from WW I up now in 1:72 (1:76) scale.
3) Every kind of soldiers in 1:72 scale
4) Airplane of WW I in 1:72 scale
5) Aeroplane of WW II in 1:144 scale
6) Aeroplane of modern wars in 1:144 scale.

Moreover I've planned (I don't remember if it would happen in my second or third life) to build ships from Napoleonic period till WW I, using wood in 1:625 personal scale !

All these must match with my wife, my three sons, my sport activity (sailing …), and lastly with my work. Sometimes I've a terrible headache …….

In the following, in a schematic way, I'll give my standard procedure in order of painting plastic soldiers. I'll discuss the different step which bring to the final product, in the hope that it could be interesting for someone.

STEP 1: choice of the army.

The first point for me is terrible. In fact, as I show before, my interest sweeps from ancient Greek to the last terrible military events. So the choice it's not easy. Sometimes I'm influenced from my recent lectures, sometimes from pictures sawn on the net, but I've three main project:
1) reproduce a Napoleonic battle (not waterloo),
2) make a series of small dioramas of all the battles fought in the land where I live (Trentino, practically from Roman age till WW II) and
lastly make dioramas with the battles fought by the italians Alpini from 1800 to 2000. With all these ideas in mind sometimes I remain one month without any choice! But let's go on supposing I've chosen a historical period or a particular army.


STEP 2: Uniform references

I search in my library (not too large but not small) everything concerning the uniform. Sometimes I use also the public library or the fabulous net ! When found the object of the research, one problem could arises from different information about the same uniform! It's not my interest to go deeply in the details, (we are in 1:72 scale!) so in this case I choose the most appealing.


STEP 3: Selection of the soldiers

Often I can use the soldiers straight from the box, but sometimes a conversion is needed ( I LOVE CONVERSIONS). So one has to think where he can found the best agreement with Step 2. I'm not fanatic of details: in my opinion when the choice meets my requirements it's enough for me even if it is not perfectly correct! So in this step I eventually use a bistury (medical sharp knives), guitar string, glue and the table looks like a Frankenstein factory. For example I don't like thick bayonets, so I made them thinner by cutting in the middle. Moreover all the soldiers must be cleaned from the flash of plastic injection (doing this I usually cut my finger ten times!) Even if the soldiers are taken from the box, I usually change some poses using boiling water. Moreover one have also to think to particular figure, if they are absent e.g. standard-bearer or bugler etc. In this step must also be decided how many soldiers one have to paint: in general I prefer to paint for every army more than 7 horseman and more than 20 infantryman unless I have in mind an exact number for a diorama. This turn out in the problem of quality-quantity: to keep a high degree of precision over large numbers is sometimes a tiresome work!


STEP 4. Selection of colour

Now the soldiers are ready. I wash them with soap ( in the case of conversion this was done before) and sometimes I use a primer (especially for horses). For the soldier I've a preference for enamel colour, while for the other interests I use acrylic one, but a mixing of the two is also adopted. The problem is to find the better agreement with the reference pictures. It's a question of personal taste, even if some tests could be done. I've found no useful, for a large use, to make a own mixing because if it's dries it's difficult to reproduce.

STEP 5: The painting

I star the painting from the clearest colour of the trunk. Then the colour of the jacket. The hat and the boot are the last to paint. I usually hold the soldier with a hand, I rarely use the tweezers: for painting it's very important the position of the soldier. Another important thing is the light: I usually put a halogen lamp (25 W) about 15-20 cm above my hands. For painting straps or small details I put a drop on the end of a small brush ( in Italy the smallest size is 500) and then I smear the colour along the detail. In this case the density of the colour takes a relevant role: not too dense and not too liquid: I shake the bottle and then I wait 2 or 3 minutes until the colour located in the bung reaches the right density. Moreover if the details are in relief the painting is quite easier. When the "clean" painting is finish, one could use the dry-brushing technique to put in better results some particular details or just make a "real dirty soldier". In general I leave the soldier "clean" and use the dirty techniques when I decided which kind of terrain I'll use in the diorama.

This is my general way of working, but I want to stress the fact that it is only a hobby for me: I have only to enjoy when doing these thing and so cannot be considered as a professional guide!

By the way some notice about me!
I was born in 1960 in Verona (the town of Romeo and Juliet). Until the age of six I play with the soldier: airfix in 1:72 and 1:32. Due to my brilliant victory I had the nickname of Napoleon ! At the age of 14, my father bought a 1:700 ship and I became crazy for them: I arrived to sold my painted soldier ( waterloo airfix) in order to have money to buy ships! Then for a long period (17 years) I bought only ships without doing anything. In 1994 I went in a flat with a friend of mine who made small AFV. So in order to re-construct my ability I started with AFV. After came the aeroplane (1:144).For the dioramas I used my friend's painted soldiers!
In 1997 I had two twins! So no time for modelling, (I need to be concentrate to do them) and I began to paint the soldier! So I've made a desperate research of my old toys founding a lot of Atlantic and some Airfix! And, obviously I bought everything at the shop from that period till now! But a lot of pieces are lacking, unfortunately.I've not well understood why some boxes are out of production! In 2000 I had the third son, but my production still grows up! Best modelling to everyone!

Flavio Rossi.

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