03-17-2013, 11:28 AM
For HO scale and smaller, I find the most difficult part of painting figures is getting a wide enough variety of colours so that it doesn't look like all the townspeople bought their clothing at the same sale. 
If I'm painting blue, for instance, I'll do a few different LPBs with the same blue for one article of clothing, then alter the colour by adding some white (or yellow, green, etc.) and keep doing that until it's time to go to a totally different colour. When your paint is bought primarily to paint locomotives and freight cars, it makes for a fairly limited palette - black pants and dresses, with boxcar red shirts and accessories.
Of course, photographs show all the imperfections which an observer might not notice when the figures are on the layout.
Another problem with figures is finding a variety of suitable types - many can be modified by cutting off and re-positioning body parts, but too many on my layout are overdressed for what's usually supposed to be a summer day. For my '30s era, I've learned that hardhats can be carved into those cloth caps so common in that period, but ladies fashions are usually pretty era-specific.
For larger scales (S and up), figures require a lot more attention and also offer a lot more possibilities to create something really outstanding. A couple of guys I worked with were into miniature military figures, mostly historical, and some of the stuff they did looked like it could get up and walk away.
I really should crew all of my locomotives, and since many have large lead weights on the cab floors, there'll be some heavy-duty surgeries happening. On real railroads, some amputee victims of rail industry accidents were fortunate to be kept on as crossing watchmen or switch tenders, but on my road, we hire them as engineers and firemen.
Wayne
If I'm painting blue, for instance, I'll do a few different LPBs with the same blue for one article of clothing, then alter the colour by adding some white (or yellow, green, etc.) and keep doing that until it's time to go to a totally different colour. When your paint is bought primarily to paint locomotives and freight cars, it makes for a fairly limited palette - black pants and dresses, with boxcar red shirts and accessories.
Of course, photographs show all the imperfections which an observer might not notice when the figures are on the layout.
Another problem with figures is finding a variety of suitable types - many can be modified by cutting off and re-positioning body parts, but too many on my layout are overdressed for what's usually supposed to be a summer day. For my '30s era, I've learned that hardhats can be carved into those cloth caps so common in that period, but ladies fashions are usually pretty era-specific.
For larger scales (S and up), figures require a lot more attention and also offer a lot more possibilities to create something really outstanding. A couple of guys I worked with were into miniature military figures, mostly historical, and some of the stuff they did looked like it could get up and walk away.
I really should crew all of my locomotives, and since many have large lead weights on the cab floors, there'll be some heavy-duty surgeries happening. On real railroads, some amputee victims of rail industry accidents were fortunate to be kept on as crossing watchmen or switch tenders, but on my road, we hire them as engineers and firemen.
Wayne