Ron Barzso's new Lewis & Clark set (1 Viewer)

[Winky]

Just spoke with Ron about his new set.

Sounds like he thoroughly researched the expedition, consulting
Stephen Ambrose's book, "Undaunted Courage," about L & W's
experiences and, incredibly, had the opportunity to look at Sargent
Ordway's original journal documenting the expedition's progress. The
journal is stored in a local Chicago institution. Ordway was, of
course, one of the expedition members. Lastly, I gather Ron also read L & C's expedition journal.

Ron advises that his set may contain the following pieces:

1) Fighting poses of Blackfoot and expedition members depicting an
actual skirmish between the two parties

2) 7 new poses of Blackfoot, 7 new poses of expedition members, and
2 new crew members for a keele boat the expedition used

3) 6 character poses, including Lewis, Clark, Sacajawea, "York" -
the only black on the expedition and servant to either Lewis or
Clark, Sgt Ordway, Droulliard - a French Canadian member of the
expedition, and Seaman, the expedition dog (apparently a pure bred
Newfoundland)

4) A buffalo herd with buffalo scaled to true 1/32nd scale

5) an entirely new keele boat replicating the expedition keele boat

6) A replica of Fort Clatsop based on original plans simulating the
50' square fort the expedition built. Two opposing walls will
consist of extended cabins that form each wall and the other two
opposing walls would include a front and back wall, one of which
would include a working gate. The fort is an entirely new piece and
is said to be compatible with the Treasure Island playset fort pieces

7) A prairie dog town

8) Last, but not least, the grizzly bear from the Davey Crocket
Wilderness set. Evidently, there were a number of close encounters
with grizzly bears on the expedition. Apparently, grizzlies were not
as succeptible to musket balls as expedition members might have
hoped, leading to some unsettling experiences for expedition
members, who soon discovered that indian advice to avoid grizzlies
was best heeded.

Sounds like the set represents a wonderful slice of Americana. It's
clearly not entirely conflict based, but would appear to contain
lots of action and some VERY interesting pieces.

Dick

 

[Hoot-n-Toot]

Dick, I picked up some of Barzo's Indians at OTS and I was wondering if you know any sights where I could see some painted. This is my first attempt a painting plastic and I am having a little trouble telling how good to scrape and fill my Indians. I have only painted lead figures in oils before. I wanted to tray something different and build a drama with the Indians. I wonder if I am expecting too much from plastic. I am doing a lot of fillings and scrapping. Thanks Hoot

 

[Winky]

Hoot, Ron uses a resin plastic which is fairly flexible. Most of the injection molded soft plastic used in toy soldier making is extremely hard to paint because you can't get paint to stick well (most soft plastic is chemically inert), but there are a variety of methods that can be used. Toy Soldiers of San Diego paints injection molded soft plastic all the time (see their web site) to reasonably good effect.

Resin plastic, as opposed to injection molded soft plastic, presents special challenges. I've successfully painted small resin plastic parts (but not whole figures) by undercoating the resin with high flow, as opposed to viscous, superglue. Superglue sticks to resin, of course. The paints I've used, in turn, seem to stick to superglue. If I painted a resin figure, I think I'd also use an oversrpay of dullcoat or matt laquer once I'd finnished my painting. Oh, it's probably also useful before undercoating with superglue to wash the figure thoroughly to clean away surface oils and residual mold release. One of the hobby companies has a mold release wash available, but I can't remember its name.

Hope this helps.

Dick

 

[Hoot-n-Toot]

Thanks Dick, Maybe I am just too fussy. I did undercoat and cleaned before painting. I had just expected the figures to be a little smother than they are. Possibly others do not try to paint them, I thought I was doing something common with Barzo's figures. I really like the detail and poses of his Indians but I expected a cleaner peace. When I am finished I will post a photo for critique. Hoot

 

[Leadmen]

I have painted Barzo's Indians to good effect. If my son ever gets around to showing me how to post some pics I will. I usually clean figures then prime them with Armory white or grey primer. I paint the figures with acrylic paints by Vallejo, Tamiya or model color. I also use Humbrol enamels. When dry I give them a clear coat of Krylon spray then a dull coat. There is a slight sheen on some but most are flat when dry. I did his French Artillery and firing line also. They came out neat and I did not find any chipping like on the softer guys I painted.I am finishing his last Indians but got distracted ,now doing San Diego WWll guys. I usually white glue 6-8 figures on small square pieces of wood about a foot or more long then prime all of them at once. Leadmen