I missed it.....What was it?, International pick on the geezer day?

I couldn't resist, Wayne. Sorry!

I know what you mean.
A useful strategy (here anyway) is being really fussy and liking periods/subjects that don't much attention.
That said, there are still 16 figs in the stash.
Years worth of modelling.
Total ban on buying more is firmly in place.

Honest.

Yeah right

Bill

Malc,I had the same problem but finally found peace when I admitted to myself that I have two distinct hobbies.One is figure painting and the other is kit collecting.They are not relevant to each other.I will keep collecting beautiful miniatures as long as my wallet allows it and I will keep on painting figures until infirmity lays me down.I will die a proud kit hoarder and I will make there is a special clause in my Last Will forcing my heirs to build me a pyramid so that my kits and books follow me to the Great Beyond.

Oda.

Now there's a thought.

Malc

Without denying those deficiencies, I'll stand up for Staddens. As Steve pointed out, that was the peak of the hobby at one point, though yes, not every figure sculpted by Stadden was a contest-winner.

But I still collect and paint them. For one thing, Stadden was probably the most prolific producer of figures in my two favorite areas to collect-the Seven Years War, and the Imperial German Army. And for another, he produced his "custom models", using a basic casting of a particular figure, that could be finished to order. So there is a nice variety of figures in different poses.

Here are some Staddens I painted long ago, from my Seven Years War collection:





When he was on, he was on!

Some of his contemporaries were more consistent in their quality. Russell Gammage's Rose Miniatures provide one such example. Again, not as detailed as we expect today, but the sculpting and casting was clean, and again, he produced a lot of 18th century figures, and good figures of the Kaiser's army. I have a lot of Rose figures in my collection, too:


Phoenix is another maker from back in the day, and still available today. I collect the figures from the Georgian catalog, because it fits in with my Seven Year's War figures. They were sculpted well and crisply cast, too. They have a distinct style, too, very lively facial expression. I think today only Peipp has achieved a similar style. And I have both brands in my collection.

So yeah, some of the old brands, which were top of the line years ago (even before I was born) look awful today, but they can still have their charm.

Prost!
Brad

Charles Stadden also sculpted many of the Airfix 1/32 toy soldier sets from the 1970s. Some excellent little sculptures among them, and to this day still some of the best polythene plastic toy soldiers ever produced.

Do you like your heirs? Do your heirs like you? And do you really give a shit,?, One way or the other you still end up doing what's makes you happy.

Exactly mate.And when I'm gone,wherever I go ,Heaven or Hell I'm going there brush in hand.

Oda.

Hopefully it's not a brush that you keeled over from while painting your house........

Wayne

Hope not but if need be....better than no brush at all .

Oda.

Indeed this is one hell of a great hobby, Malcolm and we are blessed these days with the amount of choice compared to the many past years that I've been involved.
But I've been wondering lately about the longevity of the Historical Figures hobby given that so many younger painters are opting for solely Fantasy Figures.
But maybe that's a topic for an entirely new thread perhaps.....

Mark S this is indeed a harsh reality.I see this happening in my country too.The future of historical modelling looks grim....

Oda.

Better build in some spinning disks, bottomless pits and big rolling balls then coz I'll rob your pyramid like you're a pharaoh.

No need for that.If I see someone finding happiness in my stash,from my heavenly home,I will consider my life a worthy life indeed.

Oda.

Coming more from the fantasy/sci-fi side of things I can easily say there are a few factors causing this:
- Accessibility
Almost every city and many small towns have some form of tabletop gaming store (GW/Warhammer or independent), comic shop, or other games shop which carries GW/Warhammer and sometimes other fantasy gaming miniatures and games. Historical figures and busts are tricky to find reliably unless you already know where to look or go.

- Online presence
Forums to most teens and young adults just aren't really a thing.
Seeing consistent, eye-catching, and engaging social media content for historical figures or games is rare and I'd say that the best I've seen comes from the likes of Alexandros Miniatures and FeR Miniatures. Compared to companies on the fantasy side of things though they are still quite far behind compared to the likes of Big Child, Kimera, and many others.
Out of date webstores. Finding stores still using systems like Flash (which even Adobe doesn't support anymore) and Java is off putting for many younger modellers (under 25ish) more used to better layer out and flashier sites built on other platforms and with regular updates.

- Excitement
What's more exciting for a teen/young adult. Discussing which red a coat should be or painting a figure from a blockbuster fantasy film or show?
When you're up against flashy visuals and special effects, a desaturated, uniformed soldier, just stood holding their rifle isn't going to stir the imagination to someone used to playing fast paced computer games and colour saturated content.

- Shows and feeling included
I'm not taking potshots and trying to piss people off. This is merely an observation.
When you go to many fantasy/Sci-fi shows, and I'm including Salute in this even though it has it's historical sellers and clubs, they usually have a pretty competitive painting competition, some painting or modelling events to take part in on the day like speed painting or kitbashing, various stalls with staff of varying ages who aim to engage with potential customers. And lastly, have been advertised and promoted heavily online with various approaches. Compared to more historical type shows and especially many IPMS (particularly smaller shows) which are often promoted by sharing a photo of a printed and dated looking flyer (often in browns or creams) and very little accompanying text, tables and displays where you feel like you shouldn't approach to look at them, unlit competition tables with all fantasy stuff pushed into on category in a small area, and generally a feeling that you're an outsider and unwelcome because you're not known to them.

- Perceived age
Let's face it. There's quite a perceived age gap. I'm in my 40s and feel like I'm old enough to be dad to most staff in Warhammer and many gaming stores who are often in their 20s.
What would be a better sales pitch to a 12-15 year old. Greying dad type with a soldier from some time they've not heard about or some 20-something (more like an older sibling) who's more like an older brother with a figure in massive Sci-fi armour with a huge gun holding the head of some foe he's just decapitated?


Like I said, I'm not trying to shit on historical. There are amazing sculptors and painters and I never want to see it vanish, and it won't. But it needs a change of approach to attract a younger/future audience. Unfortunately that also means some need to chill out and be more accepting.

Lastly... f@ck recasts too. That kills small companies.

Just look at puttyandpaint website. The amount of historical pieces has declined a lot in the last couple of years.
Not only that, but now people paint in order to produce 'pretty' pictures even though the piece will obviously look deceiving in real life.
No matter what the last trend is, I will always paint firstly for my own enjoyment and in order to paint as best as I can.
I like realistic fantasy art as well. Life is too short to stay within certain boundairies.

Forte’ your last point is without question..f recasts and all who knowingly buy them…,as far as military vs fantasy…or historical vs whatever…I agree - I may relate to WW1 aircraft, or piston aircraft..but then I grew up in 1950s, learned to fly on a Tiger Moth and flew a Stearman…I can hardly expect a 20 something to relate…there is an element of boy historian/boy artist to what we do..and an element of idle dreaming…and if the dreaming comes from fantasy and gaming- way cool..in many ways our understanding of history brings baggage of perspective on colonization/empirical is more…a load of things - at least fantasy can be cleaner in that regard…and besides much of what we call historical is really imagined anyway…exactly what was the colour of……anyway…we are spoilt for choices…maybe winning awards or Facebook likes is important..but underlying the pastime are a vast mob of us just having fun…