Monday, April 8, 2019

Toy Animal Miniatures



One of the reasons that I played Episode 2 of my After The Horsemen Campaign with graph paper was because I didn't have animal miniatures. So one day I found some plastic animals that my daughter had. She said she didn't want them anymore so I took them so this post I'll show you how I improved them for the table.





These animals are made out of cheap plastic so I was a bit worried about paint adhesion. I took some sandpaper to them being careful to not sand away any detail. I wanted to make sure that the animals would stick to the wooden bases so I gave their feet a good sanding. With the animal prep all set I got the bases ready by scoring them, then I glued the animals to them and let them dry.



I used some spare wood bases that I had bought for something, I don't remember what. I got them from Litko which is a company that I've bought from before and I'll probably be getting something from them soon because they make some great stuff.

Once the glue hardened I hit them with some primer. I always like what they look like after priming them, they remind me of statues.




With them in primer, I began to paint some color on them.


Once all the color was on them I gave them a wash and then painted on some quick highlights but nothing fancy as they are just animals and not some cool guy with guns or swords.


When it came to the white cow I decided to leave most of the dark wash on it as it made the cow look more real. If you've ever seen a cow they are usually a bit dirty and don't like they are given a bath every day.


After painting and washing the minis down I painted the base brown and before I dried I sprinkled some sand to the base. When that dried I threw down another coat of brown to help keep the sand stuck to the base and also to color the sand brown. I then washed the base, let that dry, and then have it a quick highlight coat using the same brown with a bit of white added to it. To finish these guys I added some static grass to the bases and I was done.


I've very happy with the way they came out. The miniatures were free, the four bases and paint I used probably cost me pennies so with almost no cost I now have two cows, a pig, and a horse that look great and can be used in just about every type of wargame. I'm sure you can look around a craft store like Michaels or even a store like Wal-Mart to find some plastic animal miniatures for cheap that could be used in the same way.



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