People and livestock / animals / creatures seem to give that extra sence of credibility to a layout. The passenger platform with no riders? The forest with no animals? The farm with fences and no livestock? Just doesn't seem right. But if There are some folks waiting, (forever), for their train or Cattle / horces in the corral or That moose / bear at the edge fo the forest And the brain just seems to say, yes, that makes sence. While I work in 'N-Scale' I expect the information here applies to all scales. A few Questions How do you mount them and to what material? When do you mount them? Before or After painting? Do you mount them at all? What does it depend on? I can tell ya, don't paint the figures first and then mount them on cardstock and then paint the cardstock. The cardstock warps when you paint it, (see attached) . //Bad Steve, do over. Do Not Do This Paint Figures Paint cardstock Attempt to 'glue' figures to cardstock with paint Mix paint with white glue Knock figures over in green paint / glue Ruin paint job and well, you know. So, I'd like to start this thread for folks to share their 'figure painting' systems. Thanks!
In the above picture note: Curled up edges Color variation N-Scale Bison and Long Horn Steers (first painted by my step daughter and then ruined by me) For scale: 9mm between the rails.
I try to pick "stationary" items.......no running/walking/moving figures. Moving figures make no sense since they never move......at least to me. I try to buy already painted figures, because you can buy specific figures like painters,road workers,railroad workers,ect. I do have a large bag of generic figures I got from china that I have to paint as needed. As far as mounting, I use Aleene's Tacky Glue......it's thick enough to stay in place and generally holds the figures immediately in place, although it takes a while to dry completely. It also dries clear and remains flexible, which keeps you from snapping the figures off at the knees if you bump them. And you can pull the figures up if needed and scrape the glue off with a knife blade. It also works on virtually ANY surface. The only figures that will stand on their own are ones with bases and I try to avoid those since they look like snowboarders. On a side note, I don't glue vehicles down on my home layout so I can move them around, but I DO glue some vehicles on my NTRAK modules so there are always at least a few even if I forget my box of vehicles at home.....I always add a few "special" vehicles, but the chance of them disappearing is too high, so those get picked up when I'm off the layout. I also bought a bag of cheap cars from china for the modules. I'm down the middle on vehicles.......on the one hand, vehicles that appear to be driving, but never move seem odd, but having no vehicles in the driving lanes seems even odder. As far as when to mount them, I wait till the very end........sometimes I will mount figures that are on buildings (like station platforms, walkways,ect.) as I do the buildings, but the town on my layout will be a ghost town till everything else is done.
I just started buying painted Tomix (Tomytec) figures (N Scale) this week. I'm waiting for them to be delivered. Tomix has 12 people per set, unlike Preiser and Woodland Scenics which have 6 per set. I find the Tomix sets are a little cheaper in general, too.
I can get painted Tomix and Kato figures pretty cheaply out here in Japan, so I usually go with those for anything outdoors where all the detail could be noticed. I pick up Pressler or Woodland Scenics when they have a “set” that really goes with a scene I’d like to build. I built a diorama that I keep at work so I can look at trains-it’s the wrong side of the tracks so I spent some money and bought the Pressler street fight scene to put behind the bar. I buy undecorated people to put passengers in all my coaches and the for some interiors of buildings ( if I do that at all). I usually use tweezers and a tiny drop of model cement or CA depending on what the surface I’m attaching it to is. I used fine tip sharpies, gundam markers, etc on them. That way I get color but my mistakes are hidden because you only see some of the people. I’ve got 50 Kato Metra coaches and unless you’ve got the window right up to you face, you can’t see imperfections. When they move, you see the shapes of people and flashes of color. eBay usually has packs of 60 people from model power in the 10 dollar/pack range. There are usually 12 green benches in that set as well. Some photos below….I’m fixing a bunch of stuff so disregard the mess. Kato prepainted figure (originally an engineer) going to work at Midtown Auto Body (Walthers Farm Supply kit) on my switching layout. I’m got all the parts to put some flashing lights inside in the next few months to make it look like some minor welding is happening inside somewhere. Model Power sitting passengers, painted with sharpie, lights off. I have to amputate their legs to get them in. You can see it when you are real close like this. With lights on A more normal viewing distance and the imperfections are hidden. And when it’s moving you get even less detail inside, but the shape and color is still there, so my mind at least fills in the rest.
Hallo, I am still not at the point to have the figures outside on the layout, but I really quote Dave on how to use these. At the moment I have just put figures inside the buildings. The more detailed, train workers are from specific brands like Preiser, most of the others, including the patrons at the Bar are chinese figures you can buy very cheaply. At the LCL shed At the station (from top) the bar from the outside the station master's bay window and this beautiful large scale tram is not mine, but hand made by a german guy, it is a tram from Rome (my childhood travel companion), still mastering the rails after 70+ years and surviving many newer models since it goes and goes and continue to go..... (some "model" people is inside, but in reality these are often packed full)... the only fault i can see, is no AC system, but plenty of windows
