Around thirty years ago I purchased a number of Phoenix Model Development figurines (now produced by S&D Models) with a view to populating some future layout – loco crew, station staff, passengers and traders etc. My thought was, by populating various scenes, albeit as a snapshot in time, a sense of purpose, occupancy and activity would be created. For example, if a loco moves, it needs coal in the tender and a crew on the footplate – anything else would look somewhat estranged from reality. The figurines, unpainted, were put away for a rainy day.

Potential suppliers of figures can be found using the search facility on the Gauge O Guild website under Traders/Find a Trader, and then filtering for “Scenery” under Product, ‘Figures’ under category, then your preference (all/ animals/bus crew/general figures/military /railway staff) under “Sub Category” and then finally specifying your required country. The ‘All’ sub-category gives the most comprehensive list of suppliers. It is a resource worth checking out. Some suppliers ranges are vast – S&D Models, Invertrain and Modelu, come to mind. The web search should reveal many others, so hopefully you should be able to find what you want.

Historically, the figures have been produced in whitemetal and are the product of artistic endeavour. More recently, technology has enabled the scanning of real people, dressed to suit, and 3D printed in plastic, to produce very realistic minatures. Most are offered for sale unpainted. Pre-painted figures can be obtained from some suppliers and specialists. They will be the product of that individual’s interpretation and steadiness of hand. If they suit your purpose then that is great and are certainly an option to be considered, particularly if time is tight. Some of these specialists may undertake commission work, so that way you should be able to agree on exactly what you want. Alternatively, you can have a go yourself, so the end results are unique to you and your circumstances. This is what I have set out to do.

There have, on occasion, been demonstators of figure painting at Guildex and other shows, but I cannot recall the last time I saw an article in the Gazette about the painting of figurines. Like any other areas of our hobby, it probably qualifies as a specialism in its own right. So with the original figurines still in bare metal, and with others subsequently added, I thought I would make a few notes as I finally got around to putting some colour on the metal.

Careful research should enable the sourcing of figures suitable for the period being modelled and for them to be presented, through painting and other embellishment, in the manner appropriate for the era and setting. The fashionable elements and detail will have been provided through the original research and skills of the figurine sculptor. This artistry can then be brought to life through the application of colour and by creating little vignettes, be they on the footplate, in a coach, on the platform or perhaps in a street scene. This is the imaginative bit. However, some communities are either missing or under represented in model form, and if the wider society the railway network represents is to be reflected, then that really needs to be addressed.

Consideration also needs be given at an early stage to your characters, the season, what they are doing and also to the time of day, as this will have a bearing on how people are dressed and enable the sourcing of the figures to match the required criteria. With regards to location, the placement of the figures on the model may influence visible detail – so potentially more detail on those in full view, and possibly less detail may be required for those in an office, shop, shed or coach etc. Your choice entirely, but it might save a bit of time if you have a large number of figures to paint.

The research element these days will probably start with your own reference materials followed by internet searches, but traditional resources available through libraries might include contemporary magazines and articles, etc. These are all well worth checking out. Close scrutiny of photographs can also yield a suprising amount of detail, often items of interest may be discovered that are peripheral to the principal subject matter.

There is of course the problem of making sense of colours in the black and white photograph era, particularly before the widespread availability and usage of panchromatic film (say pre-1920). Panchromatic film at leasts shows the full visible colour spectrum, in shades of grey. In this respect, museums with collections of fashion, fabric and clothing might assist in creating a palette of suitable colours. Railway museums often have items of uniform on display. Do not overlook period films and TV dramas as a potential reference source. Those that are carefully researched often include meticulous attention to detail, costumes of principle, supporting and passing characters, vehicles (private, commercial and utility), choice of street scenes, architecture, furniture, etc. A case in point for modellers of 1930s subjects might be the marvellous Poirot TV series starring David Suchet, screened between 1989 and 2013.

Ever noticed how, after some appalling incident, some grimfaced spokesperson always then claims ‘Health and safety is our first priority’? So before going any further, we must give due consideration to health and safety, both for the substances to be used and for the work area. The substances used may influence your choice of paint type, if there are potential adverse effects on you, those around you and the environment. Depending on type, the paint may be solvent-based or include other items of concern (ie lead chromate, cadmium, cobalt). There are also adhesives with volatile components. The metal alloy used for the figurines would need to be checked out – some is described as lead-free pewter, and some with no specific indication at all. Use of abrasives (after fillers, etc.) will create dust and filings. The glass fibre scratch brush, effective as it is, generates unpleasant irritating fibres.

Familiarise yourself with the safety information provided on the products to be used. Bear in mind that for some articles, such as small pots, label space is limited and print rather small. With the need to include basic preparation instructions, health and safety information may be the minimum necessary, so other sources, such as the manufacturer’s website or your immediate supplier, may need to be consulted.

The following apply to where you are working, so make good any shortcomings: The work area should have sufficient space for easy access, safe movement and be free from obstructions (clutter, trip hazards like cables, worn mats or carpet, etc.). Children and pets are best excluded for their own safety. Provision of adequate lighting is essential; daylight, supplementary ambient lighting for the environment and specific lighting for the work station.

Comfortable working conditions require; heating and ventilation that can be readily adjusted, the height of the work station appropriate for your needs and a comfortable chair. Ideally the chair should be adjustable in height and provide support for the small of your back and elbows. With the potential risk of cross contamination from activity, breaks for tea and coffee are probably best taken somewhere else. This will also provide you with a change of posture, a bit of exercise and will give your eyes a chance to refocus on other objects and vistas. Access should be readily available for hand washing, with hot and cold running water, soap or specialist cleaner and towel. Handwashing should be undertaken as required, and before and after breaks.

Active consideration should be given to the sourcing and use of eye protection and dust or vapour masks.

If you already do your own painting, you will probably have accumulated a fair number of pots and tins of paint and have a collection of brushes in various sizes and conditions. You may possibly have some familiarity with air brushes; this is a subject worthy of separate discourse in its own right, but not by me.

My initial attempts at figurine painting were by making use of what was to hand, so this would be standard model shop fare, mostly Humbrol enamels and more recently a few acrylics, such as Humbrol or Tamiya, plus a few specialist colours acquired at Guildex and similar shows and enamels from Phoenix Precision Paints and Railmatch. Brushes of various sizes can be sourced from local art and craft shops. This arrangement was primarily for rolling stock, infrastructure items and weathering.

The painting of figurines arguably requires a slightly different approach. The surface areas to be painted are much reduced, the palette of colours may well be more varied and the level of detail to be highlighted requiring small pointy brushes, that maintain their point. But what type of paint and what sort of brushes?

For our purposes, it is the artist or craft brushes that are used; these can potentially come in a wide range of shapes and fibres. Those brush shapes commonly used will be: a) round, finishing in a point and ideal for smaller areas and detail, or b) flat, with a square cut end and suitable for painting larger areas. Materials used for the brush fibres might be: animal hair (camel, pony, hog bristle, sable) or synthetic (nylon), or a combination of any of the above. The quality is usually reflected in the price.

Artists’ brushes are sized by number. The smallest to the largest are numbered along the following lines: 0000, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Beyond 10 the increments tend to increase by 2, so 12, 14, 16 etc. as the heads become bigger. Brush sizes readily available for the hobby can be found within range from 000 to 8. ‘Spotter’ or detail brushes might also be seen. These have very small heads and are intended for the finest detail work. Their sizes might be in the range of 0000 – 2, as noted above. The really small ones appear to be numbered 20/0, 10/0 etc.

Something to be mindful of is that the brush sizing between different manufacturers and possibly within a single manufacturer’s range, may vary. For example, a size 8 round versus a size 8 flat will be rather different, and so might a Winsor and Newton size 8 compared to a Humbrol size 8. For this reason, until you are happy with a particular supplier specification, your brushes would probably be best purchased in person and over the counter, so you can be sure you get what you want.

For the figurines, new brushes suitable for detail work seemed essential, so to keep things simple and for evaluation purposes, two multi-packs of brushes were acquired from a local model shop.

Both sets were round in section, terminating in a good point. The first set (Humbrol Coloro) were synthetic in the sizes 00, 1, 4 and 8. The second set (Humbrol Palpo) were sable hair in the sizes 000, 0, 2, and 4. So in principle a good spread of sizes for the proposed work. It was also intended to use these brushes exclusively for the figure painting and with a single paint format – in order to maintain the brushes in best condition.

Enamel or acrylic? That is the question. Hitherto, I have always used enamel paints for rolling stock and for light weathering of the same, either by dry brush technique or through washes of suitable colours. The initial figure painting attempts were, as mentioned, with enamels and the brushes then to hand. For the visible flesh, I had to acquire a new stock colour, so tried a pot of Humbrol acrylic (Flesh 61) and then as things moved along, other acrylic colours were added.

For me, the use of acrylic paint has been a revelation. The paint is water soluble, the paint can be thinned with water or proprietary thinner. For this purpose, a pipette is probably desirable, or a repurposed dropper bottle, suitably labelled. The brushes can also be washed clean in water. As the acrylic paint goes off faster than enamel, the brushes do have to be cleaned between use. If you are only painting small areas, even if painting a batch, it seems a lot easier to be able to wash a brush in water. The brushes can be dried off on a piece of kitchen paper and the point restored by rolling between thumb and forefinger.

The paint range I have alighted on is produced by Vallejo Acrylics (pictured above), a name perhaps more familiar to military modellers than the railway fraternity, but well worth tracking down and trying out. The painting described below is done primarily using Vallejo Acrylics, unless otherwise stated. For simplicity, a basic figure painting set of 16 colours (Folkstone Basics – 70.101) were acquired and then other shades (from the 200+ available in their Model Color and other ranges) added as required.

Carefully check them over, with an appreciation of the level of detail provided by the original sculpting artist, and note any flash and lines from moulding for careful removal with an appropriate combination of scalpel, rifflers or needle files and fine abrasive paper. Particular areas retaining some flash may be between the legs and under the arms. Any surface blemishes should filled with cellulose putty, left to cure and then rubbed down to a satisfactory finish. This done, the characters can then be lightly burnished with a glass fibre brush. To provide a reasonable base for painting, drill a 0.7mm hole through the heel of one foot of each character, and similarly into the improvised base. The characters can then be attached to the base by a short stub of 0.7mm brass wire.

Give characters a good wash in a warm detergent solution (your preferred supermarket brand of yellow floor cleaner) using an old toothbrush. Then rinse and dry them before returning them to the painting base.

Having achieved a satisfactory state of preparation, you can now tackle the painting that will give the characters their identity From this stage, all paint will be applied by brush. It might be helpful at this point to make a note of each character and their intended colour scheme by item of apparel.

Our second batch of figures are all railway staff and will be associated with activities around a Goods Shed. They comprise a carter, a porter and a checker. The porter is provided with a large sack truck and has been modelled manouvering the truck. The checker wears a warehouse coat and holds a clipboard. These supplementary parts are assembled and painted separately, then combined with the characters, in something approaching a realistic pose, at a later stage.

The first application of paint is a basic flesh tone on non-apparelled areas, such as face, neck, arms, hands and legs, appropriate to the individual figures concerned. Almost immediately the figurines are transformed from ghostly primed apparitions towards the characters they will become. Finding the right shade for skin painting is an early dilemma. A unitary ‘right’ colour (if such a thing really exists) would probably best serve as a base for additional shading to reflect the individual concerned. Hence my use of the Vallejo basic flesh tone (one of six flesh shades from the Model Color range). This is somewhat lighter than the Humbrol 61 Flesh which, straight out of the pot and without mixing to a lighter shade, might suit an outdoor type in mid-summer from a temperate climate.

The next step is to apply a bit more colour (photo above). Now the carter has his jacket and trousers filled out in dark Prussian blue, the porter’s trousers get a second coat and the sleeveless waistcoat its first of the dark Prussian blue. Boots and shoes get a coat of black. The white primer serves to highlight any bits that might have been missed, and as can be seen from the translucency of the checker’s warehouse coat, a further application of the Imperial blue will be required to provide a solid colour.

This close-up of the porter, temporarily matched with the large sack truck, identifies the areas for retouching that are required (cap edge, neck, and armpits) and highlights another detail item: the elasticated sleeve supporter or garter. From the brush selection, the 1, 2 and 4 sizes were quite satisfactory for blocking in the colour to the larger areas and then the 00 and 000 sizes were ideal for cutting into or filling up to edges.

Returning to our initial batch of characters these can be painted in a similar manner to those above, with major items of clothing blocked out first. The left hand gentleman’s suit (overleaf) is created from Humbrol dark grey and the hat using the same dark grey but with a smidgeon of black added to make it slightly darker. For the lady, the wraparound coat was based on carmine red with a drop of burnt umber, with the hat in a straight carmine red. The farmer on the right is a bit more complicated but started with the waistcoat in yellow ochre, then the breaches in burnt umber, the jacket and cap in medium olive lightened with a bit of white, and finally the gaiters and boots in flat brown. The besuited gent’s case started with a coat of burnt umber. As it happened, three of the five items pictured included some burnt umber, thereby marginally reducing mixing times and brush washing episodes, for this little batch.

Our Goods Shed characters, having been retouched as necessary, can now have extra detail applied in plausible colours. I used Humbrol Prussian blue for the jumpers of the carter and checker, with their ties in Imperial blue or dark Prussian blue. The porter’s sleeve supports I picked out in chrome and the buttons on the carter’s coat in brass. The checker’s clip board is presented with a steel body and chrome clip, then the arm reassuringly attached to the checker himself. A representation of hair has been added with dark grey, burnt umber and orange brown used as the base for the individual characters.

All the characters thus far have just had a coat of basic flesh colour and an indication of hair colour applied to their heads. Given that the surface area of a face on a 1:43 figurine is about that of a split pea, the scope for additional detail, such as lips, cheek bones, nostrils, eyes, etc. and the subtlety of shading is there for a skilled miniaturist, and certainly an area for further research and practice. In real life and from a distance, say from across a platform or a street, what level of detail do you really see? Enough to be able to recognise somebody certainly, but not freckles or eye colour. Therefore, I am at this stage, content with the ‘less is more’ approach, and I am happy just to be able to get two pinpoint pupils into each character’s eyes, using the smallest brush, and with eyebrows suggested by using a pencil. Over-doing it risk the result resembling circus characters who have forgotten to remove their make up!

With all the required colours added, the figures should now be more-or-less complete. Close inspection under good light will identify any blemishes, over-painting or scuffing, for retouching. This done and once dry, a couple of coats of a matt varnish from a rattle can, will then seal the good work done and protect the pieces from casual handling. For those items that do carry a shine, for example dress shoes (rather than work boots), items of luggage and metalwork, such as the gent’s suitcase, you can give a coat of satin varnish. Bear in mind skin and most fabrics are not naturally glossy, so the final protective coat also lends itself to a more natural appearance.

The pieces, until varnished, are vulnerable to scuffing, so need careful packing away in tissue paper or bubble wrap, between painting sessions. The result? Well, if they fit the scenario, appear appropriate, help tell a story and look convincing, job done.