I managed to get enough Perry zouaves assembled to create six stands for the upcoming 1862 project. I’m trying something different and priming them white and then staining the base colors on to try and give me some natural shading so far so good other than the grainy white undercoat.
Assembling plastics is time-consuming and somewhat of a pain in the butt. I do enjoy the variety that is possible with them and they are a lot easier to customize than metals. Just make sure you’ve got some contour putty or green stuff available after gluing them together. There will be gaps to fill on at least some figures no matter how attentive you think you are during assembly.
After the zouaves get farther along it will be time to order figs for the next regiment or two. I’m currently working on Starke’s brigade around the time of the 2nd Manassas campaign which consists of Coppens’ zouaves along with the 1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th and 15th Louisiana regiments.
I hear you loud and clear on the plastics assembly. Doing a bunch of Perry plastics at the moment for some GaG and ACW Sharp Practice. I once cursed metal for all the flash trimming etc, but now I have to assemble and trim mold lines so there is no prep time advantage for me in the end. I do like the varied positions though, however slight.
It’s a trade-off for sure. I’ve got to do a better job with the putty for when it dries it leaves a gritty, bumpy surface. I’ve been using Testors’ Contour Putty up to now but am thinking about switching to green stuff to see if that is any easier to work with.