Scenery
:
People
Meet some Fine Folks
Sep 28, 2004
By Noel Widdifield
LSOL.com Managing Editor |
Author
Bio
At the National Garden Railway Convention in Denver we found several items that we had not seen before, but the first to catch our eye were a set of six figures in 1/20.3.
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This past August, my wife and I spent one day at the National Garden Railway Convention in Denver. While there, we found several items that we had not seen before, but the first to catch our eye were a set of six figures in 1/20.3. Since we had not added many people to our outside narrow gauge railroad, these seemed ideal as our first purchase. The figures come as three in sitting positions and three standing and are sold individually. The three sitting ones are molded in a light tan hard plastic. 
They are "Miss Jenny", "Engineer Chet" and "Fireman Clem". The standing series of figures is molded in white hard plastic. 
They are "Conductor Bill", "Fireman Gus" and "Engineer Bill". They all come unpainted in clear plastic bags for protection and are absolutely beautifully made. There are only very fine mold lines and virtually no flash. What little flash there was easily cleaned up with a sharp hobby knife and very fine sandpaper. Most of the figures required less than a minute to clean up the flash. You can see that each figure has excellent detail.
      Click any picture to see larger image They are produced by Mike's Backshop in Lakeside, California. (www.mikesbackshop.com) They retail for $9 each.
Jo Anne:
I cleaned each figure in dish detergent and mounted them on short pieces of 1/2" X 1/2" cedar for painting. 
I learned from early painting of figures that after the glue dried that was holding the figures to the cedar sticks, the figures were easily loosened and eventually broke loose from the sticks. This time, I drilled a small hole in the foot of each figure and another in the cedar stick and then inserted a one-inch piece of # 14 copper wire in each hole to hold the figures to the cedar sticks.
Painting all of the figures at the same time took about 12 hours. As you can see, each one is unique and has some very interesting features and exquisite detail. They all measure just over six feet tall in 1/20.3. Some variation in height would have been nice, but if you don't put them all in the same scene this won't be noticeable. I spray painted three of the figures with flat black paint and left three without a primer coat. After painting all of the figures, I have decided that all future painting of figures will begin with a flat black primer coat because the finished figure looks better with the flat black primer. "Fireman Gus" is wearing jeans with suspenders, a long sleeved shirt with buttoned pockets, work boots and fireman's gloves. He has a big mustache, bushy eyebrows and a full head of hair. He has a handkerchief in his back pocket. You can see that the facial details and the "wrinkles" in the shirt arms are very natural looking.     Click any picture to see larger image
I painted "Engineer Bill" as an African American. He is wearing bib overalls, a long sleeved shirt and a soft hat. He has a wrench in his hand. His overalls are turned up at the cuff. He looks as if he likes to eat and, like Gus, he also has a handkerchief in his back pocket. The detail in his overalls is excellent.      Click any picture to see larger image
"Conductor Bill" has a finely detailed uniform, with an open coat and buttoned vest. The uniform and vest have "brass" buttons and the uniform pants are sharply pressed. The white shirt even shows at the cuffs and the tie is narrow like it would have been in that time period. The conductor's hat and watch are very well done. His pose is very realistic as he checks his watch before signaling the engineer to leave the station.      Click any picture to see larger image
"Miss Jenny" is the only non-railroad crew figure included. She is dressed in a dressy suit with the skirt just below the knee. She is seated holding her leather purse and wearing a soft hat and gloves. She has curly hair and is wearing a flower on her lapel. She wears plain high-heeled shoes. She has small round earrings in her ears.     Click any picture to see larger image
"Fireman Clem" is seated wearing jeans with suspenders, a long sleeved shirt, engineer gloves and work boots. He has a rather full beard and is balding. He is developing a "gut" that flows over the front of his jeans. He has a puzzled look on his face. You can really see the detail in his clothing and face.      Click any picture to see larger image
My favorite is "Engineer Chet". He is wearing bib overalls, a long sleeved shirt, work gloves and a soft engineer's hat. He has a handlebar mustache and a handkerchief in his front and back pockets. He is looking off in the distance watching for the next signal. It is nice to see a fireman not shoveling coal. Again, the details on the overalls, shirt and face are the best I have ever seen on any of the commercial figures offered for sale in large scale.      Click any picture to see larger image
I achieved the jean blue color by painting the overalls with Tamiya Color Flat Blue and then dry brushing with white over the blue. The result looks very realistic and is even better than the photos show. These are the most accurately detailed figures that I have seen in Large Scale. The painting of these figures is very pleasurable as the detail is so well done. It was hard to stay away from painting them for very long. The resulting people will look great on my outdoor railroad. I would highly recommend them as a "must have" for anyone modeling in 1/20.3 today. Top of Page
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