Well, as of today some figures that have languished for far too long are now prepped, primed, and pre-based awaiting painting. These would be the domestic beasts - or most of them. I have started gluing the horns onto the Minifig's longhorns but that is a chore so will take some time - and then I have to glue the horns on to the highland hairy cattle (Falcon if memory serves).
However, all of the sheep (96) are ready to go (Irregular and some Baueda), the goats (48, Irregular and Minifigs), the pigs (72, Irregular, Baueda, and Hovels(?)), the horses (18 - some Irregular, some Freikorps, some who-the-heck-knows), the donkeys (12 - Irregular???, maybe Museum Minaitures), and the mules (9 - sorry, don't recall but maybe Irregular). And not just mammals - something is fowl. I've cooked some geese - and chickens, too (48 and 72 respectively, all from Museum Miniatures). Actually, I used some Sculpey clay as the base on top of sheet metal bases, stuck the stems of the poultry in that, and cooked for a proper time at a proper temperature - to cure the Sculpey.
Some of the beasts are already painted, 24 sheep, 10 pigs, 5 goats - as are some of the cattle. After priming (!), I glued the painted ones onto the bases of the others in need of painting - except the sheep which I just based since they had numbers to fill full bases, four of them - but primed bases. The smaller 'cattle' go 6 to a base, the larger three to a base - 1 1/2" squares, poultry 6 to a base on 1" squares.
Oh, and on the cattle front, I've sorted it out as 48 longhorns, 24 zulu suitable cattle (that can stand-in just fine as more longhorns), 24 beef cattle to be painted as Herefords, 24 beef cattle to be painted as Black Baldys, 24 dairy cattle twice (yup, that is 48) to be painted as, um, dairy cattle (breeds not finalized just yet), 6 cattle to be local 'on the farm' stock - painted however I choose to add some variety, 24 Highland hairys, and 18 Brahmin beasties. Oh, and I have 18 dead cows (courtesy of Peter Pig). Except for the longhorns and Hairys awaiting horns, these are all on bases ready for painting - those not already painted (though some will certainly get re-painted in the process to match my plan). Almost forgot (actually did forget and had to come back and edit in), 12 ancient Aurochs cattle - whoever manufactured these, they were just too big to match most of the other stuff so I landed on painting them as Aurochs, the ancestor of most modern cattle, supposedly.
Some of you may be asking: "What in the world are you going to do with so many 15 mm domestic farm animals?" Well, finish painting up the dogs, various breeds, various sources, and then start on the other wild beasts I have to either paint or just base if already painted. And then play with them. On the table. With other more 'traditional' miniatures. Old Macdonald may have had a farm, but I've got myself a veritable Animal Kingdom. Eat your hearts out! Oh, wait, your figures aren't very well fed and mine are - morale points to me.
Not to everyone's taste, but having so many animals is to mine. Visual feast - in more ways than one.
Where playing with toy soldiers is the whole point - and sharing the joy of doing so. And keeping a record of what's been done and what is still awaiting completion. A note of caution for those unfamiliar: this activity can be remarkably addictive and take over your free time. Well, now wait a minute, it's so much fun that shouldn't be a problem. Oh, that's right. It's not! (title with asterisk in bar below is newest or most recent modification to a Page topic)
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