Saturday, March 31, 2012

HOW TO= Getting cheap models Part two: Collecting Your Spoils!!!

OK welcome to Part 2 of Getting cheap models. In this part Im discussing What to do with your Cheap models and how to make them into an Army....

Topic One: What Did I get
OK well you saw your listing and won the auction. Now that it arrived in the mail you need to find out EXACTLY what your dealing with. Lets face facts sometimes People are not 100% with descriptions and even when they are Sometimes things happen in shipping. I will be sharing pictures from a recent purchase of my own with you to show you whats going on.
Inventory
OK well lets look at what we got. Make sure EVERYTHING is there and resembles the description. Leave feedback as appropriate and start looking at what to do with your new models. Lets have a look:
This is a bunch of Ogres I got for converting to plastic Ogryns. I had 50 Ogres in various disrepair with some bits and NOS models and I think I paid $125-150  plus shipping. This is pretty much how they arrived, and Lets face facts again Its not ideal for keeping models intact. SO here is a sample of what I REALLY got.
As you can see I have painted, Primered, Broken weapons, Missing heads, and other little Bits N Bobs gone. No worries as I got them at about 1/4 MSRP and expected lots of work on them. Also since Lots of Green Stuff was going into them I was about more bang for my buck and less Quality of models. When buying used models always expect about 10% waste from damage and crap conversions!!!! 

Now with these Sometimes you get a fresh idea for your own Army. I saw these guys and I liked the "armor" for them. It gave me some ideas for my own and what to do with the gut plates once I cut the buckles off (for the belts) These were pleasant surprises.... But this is what you should ALSO expect.....


As we can see here some had their faces carved off ( come to find out it was to accommodate a shoulder pad/drum head mask thing....)and the Soles of the boots were left off one. Again not a problem for this project but something to look for. Also look for extras in your packing. these guys came with some Bous models!!


Topic two: What am I going to do with them
OK now that we Have inventory NOW we need to get these guys ready to do what we bought them for. These have paint and such so First we need to strip them. I soak them in Simple Green for a week or so and use a brush to scrub them. I will do a TUT later on that but For now lets dunk them and get that paint off. 
OK well now that they are stripping Im using some other models to complete this post. I will use the Catachans I found from a few days ago. After stripping you will have something like this
Sometimes Arms come unglued and sometimes you break things.....it happens. KEEP ALL BITS AND BROKEN PARTS!!! You may need them in the future and can save you money in the long run when you need something. Keep the "10%" waste for other projects. I dont know HOW many times I have saved myself time from sculpting a hand by having one I can just glue on instead. But anyway, Now its time for you to put it all together and actually spend time doing the modeling. What you saved in cash will now be paid in SWEAT EQUITY!!! This is where you go and fix other mistakes, pose the models in poses you want them and make them YOUR ARMY. This is no easy task BUT you can easily save yourself some money if your willing to sacrifice time. Nothing in this hobby is really cheap, but if your willing to spend time looking for what you need and making things work for you you CAN do it on a budget. This is how I do it, and you can too.

Till next time Happy Modeling and Serve the Emperor well
Munkey Joe

No comments:

Post a Comment