Painting Horses

[mikec55]

I recently started Andrea's 54mm Sioux falling off his horse figure.

As an aside, the horse is not a real great assembly- lots of gaps needing lots of filler.

But as for painting, some horses can be mounted on the final base for easy painting. This one is going to, hopefully, be part of a 3 figures on horseback scene, so I can't really mount any of the 3 on the finished base to paint them. Both of the other 2 will have only 1 hoof in contact with the base, so pinning 1 hoof of a relatively heavy, somewhat unbalanced metal figure to a working base might not work real well.

What tips or tricks can I steal- er, I mean- what would you guys suggest as far as securing a horse to a working base for painting?

Thanks in advance Mike

 

[Helm]

not sure how big a hoof you have to work with but a small self tapping screw might work

 

[Einion]

You'll obviously want to pin the supporting leg deeply if a rod is not cast into it (tricky drilling job!) so I'd either mount this temporarily into a block of wood or clamp it down into whatever kind of holder you have; you can knock one together quite easily if you don't have any currently. Even a pin vice would do in a pinch, although it'll be a lot of strain on the supporting hand if you're working for long periods.

Einion

 

[Tubby-Nuts-REMOVED]

Mike, is this the piece, where the horse's head has hit the ground, and it's arse is in the air? or the other two, the carbine shooter, or the Bowman, I am not sure which one to try and help with?

Mark

 

[Wings5797]

Hi Mike
You may be able to pin it through the hoses back or saddle where the rider will cover the resulting hole or pin
Cheers,
Keith

 

[mikec55]

There are some types of exacto blade holders that can serve as holders if there's a rod to place in the holder but from past experience, you can only tighten them just so much & then the horse tends to spin around in the holder. A clamping device or a self tapping screw might be the answer so I guess I'm off to Hobby Lobby or Menards.

Mark- Yup, it's the one that's butt steak over elbows. The 2nd is the Indian aiming his rifle from under the horse's jaw which does come with a very short pin in one hoof. The 3rd is Pegaso's pony express rider which has a small metal peg molded into 1 of the horse's legs.

It just dawned on me that I could probably temporarily glue the upside down horse to the metal hase that comes with the kit. I just hope it won't be a problem breaking the bond when it's finished.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

 

[Tubby-Nuts-REMOVED]

mikec55. I dont think you will have to do that!....... Is the Horse's tail a seperate piece?

Mark

 

[Mirofsoft]

You could use a hand device like those ones

 

[megroot]

I've painted 5 horses know and use always the same method for painting.
If possible I pin all the hoves. I do that with a piece of paperclip.
When the glue is setteld i take a piece of wood sometimes a ruined base and drill holes in it for all the pins.
Then with bluetack i fix the horse on the wooden base. It gives me a solid base to paint the horse.
If the painting is finished I only have to remove the bluetack and transport the horse to his prepared and finished base. There I glue it with epoxy to sit there forever.
Then I can start to paint the hoves, and the rest of the legs where the bluetack didn't allow me to paint.
Hope this help.

Marc

 

[theBaron]

Very instructive for me, too, folks, thanks very much!

Prost!
Brad

 

[mikec55]

Mark- Actually, there is a hole where the tail will be attached so I'm sure I've got something I can use to take advantage of that. Temporarily gluing the horse to it's metal base does sound like a fiasco waiting to happen.

Marc- I've seen wip photos here where people use some kind of putty to hold figures down but I didn't know it was blutac. I think that might be the answer for this and future projects.

Also, I think I'll shop around for one of those handheld gizmos.

My thanks to everyone for their input. It's been a good day. I learned something.

Mike

 

[Mirofsoft]

Heve a look in Jewelry Tools like
http://www.sunrise-exports.com/jewelry_tools/casting_soldering_finishing_equipments.html
Best

 

[osceola]

I use this tool I built, very comfortable and safe
Hello

 

[ChaosCossack]

I use a block of styrofoam wrapped in masking tape into which I stick the pins from the hooves. Then I wrap an elastic band around the body (at the saddle) and the block to secure it. If there's only one hoof down.... you can use a temporary rod to support the free end of the horse. Eg: If one of the front hooves is pinned and the rest of the horse is airborne, a temporary pin can be fixed in the hole for the tail or in a hole discreetly drilled between the hind legs to be filled after the horse is complete. If it's a rear leg that is down, the temp pin can go under the chest where the saddle's chest strap will hide the hole.

These are things that have worked for me anyways.

Good luck with this project and don't forget to post some WIP pics.

Colin

 

[Helm]

Osceola that is an excellent idea and easy to make too,nice one

Steve

 

[Mark S]

Osceola that is an excellent idea and easy to make too,nice one
Steve

I'd like to second that, well done.

Also Mike just be aware that when using Bluetac, which is very handy for the purpose described here, you will sometimes get an oily residue on the piece which has come in contact with the bluetac so those areas should be cleaned before painting.

 

[mikec55]

Just when I thought this thread had just about pooped out, more good ideas.

With 3 horses to paint, I think I'll try 3 different suggestions for comparison.