Friday, May 12, 2017

eBay Rehab - 1.0 Cadians

When compiling new forces I always like to search for deals on eBay.  The days of absolute steals on eBay are well long gone, but there is some money to be saved here and there as well as the challenge of picking up somebody else's pieces and putting something together.  There is just something about a good fixer upper as long as it doesn't become a money or time pit.  In this ongoing series of articles I will be discussing the rehabilitation of some of those pieces I've been able to find.  First up, a few batches of Cadian Shock Troops...warts and all.

These came as 3 auctions of 10 shock troops each.  They looked very basic in paint and assembly featuring only a top frontal view in the photographs.



When they arrived they were indeed very simple.  A few colors and a black undercoating.  A few were in pieces and a closer examination showed some weak glue points.  I'm not convinced these were assembled using plastic cement, but rather a cheap superglue.  As can been seen in the next couple shots, they suffer from a lack of flash/mold line removal and they don't have any equipment such as canteens.


This second group was purchased in another auction.  Slightly more work on them, but still only a single layer per color.


As shown in the following photos, they are a bit rough, but these at least do have equipment and have better assembly despite the problem of mold lines again.


So what we are left with at the start are 4 squads, at a decent starting point, with a little reassembly work.  One squad is totally out of step with the other 3 when it comes to paint scheme so that will have to be addressed.  To move forward with the painting, I need to decide if I want to keep them different paint schemes or make them the same.

If I wanted to have them all in the same paint scheme I'd simply re-prime them all and start from scratch.  Being that my idea for this project was to pick up the ball up at the 20 yard line and run the ball home the next 80, I'll rule that out.  So we'll have one squad out of step with the rest which I'm sure can be justified with a modicum of fluff.

So, what needs to be decided next will be how to go forward with the painting.  The choices are:

  1. Triad from the present state.  I could start building up the paint, just as it has been started, in a basic triad structure.  Maybe utilizing some inks I can manipulate the starting point, but first there would need to be some cleaning up of the areas as they are.
  2. As Is -  They are gaming pieces after all and will be used with children of many ages.  After a bit of basing work I could just gloss and dull cote them up and be done with it.
  3. Dip It. -  I could use the dip technique and build up with some nice highlights.  I'm not a big fan of the dip method, but I have seen it put to good use.  Basically for me to start painting a miniature only to stop and dip it has always seemed to run counter to my goals.  However, with the block painting already done, these may be a candidate for my first ever Dip job.
Stay tuned to see in which direction I take these fellows.








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