Drilling those hollowcast moulding holes in the head – that is the next stage of faking the lead patina of old play-worn toy soldiers or troopers onto 54mm plastic figures,
as if these are old battered playthings on other planets,
1950s space figures from our time and place
or real battle-scarred characters within my Close Little Space Wars world.
Look carefully, you can see this casting hole for real on the original gas masked figure (ARP Cherilea hollowcast 1938), now with repainted red Dark Saber
Previously on Faking Lead …
In ancient cultures I believe this head drilling is called trepanning.
The small green plastic lid holds a colourful swarf of dark trooper brains …
The fake hollowcast moulding hole needs painting, so it was touched in with Tar Black Revell Aquacolor Acrylic using a cocktail stick as paintbrush.
I did drill some trial holes in the base to suggest more of the other hollowcast moulding holes but didn’t bother much with this.
To complete the bashed effect, I painted the underside of the bases with steel coloured acrylic paint to suggest metal.
Any base markings were scratched onto the wet paint –
23 for those figures acquired this year 2023,
BYG for unpainted veterans of the BYG Back Yarden Galaxy game in 2016
https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/in-a-garden-far-far-away/
I’m really quite childishly pleased with how this aged bashed play-worn patina Of old lead has worked out on modern plastic figures.
Next stop, suitable varnish – Matt or Gloss?
Mixed in amongst the happy modelling mess of tools, paint and figures on my desk, amongst the plastic Star Wars Command 54mm Dark troopers you can spot a 1980s Britain’s Stargard alien / cyborg figure and some Imperial Miniatures / Dorset Toy Soldiers Castings from their rereleased retro space 54mm metal range with clear plastic dome helmets. The male and female space figure castings will soon be joining these dark troopers of The Galactic Empyre.
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, Back Yarden Galaxy, 6 / 7 August 2023, Earth Calendar.
Man of TIN blog two 
A fun thing to do very much in the spirit of what toy soldiers are all about.
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You know it kind of satisfactorily makes (non)sense.
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