#FEMbruary 2022 figure painting and conversions – Good Queen Bess and the Generic Empress

Two slow burner female figures that have been stalled on the Painting Table but finally finished for #FEMbruary 2022, that celebration of the believable female figure in our modelling and gaming collections.

#FEMbruary 2022 figure No. 1 this month featured an introduction to #FEMbruary and this skater girl,

#FEMbruary 2022 figure No. 2 – The Generic Empress or Queen

You can glimpse the Empress / Queen in black undercoat on my painting table at the back of this picture and the Ladybird book inspiration for the costume colours.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/meanwhile-back-in-the-bunny-hospital/

On the New Year rule of “painting what I have in hand”, I used this joblot-acquired or gifted figure of an Empress figure that could be “Queen Elizabeth The First” but is more likely to be Catherine the Great in 54-60mm brown plastic.

With this impressive Sceptre, she could also be a Queen or Empress of Syldavia in King Ottakar’s Sceptre in the Tintin books, bearing the pelican sceptre.

I could of course spend real money on a painted Queen Elizabeth Figure from Tradition Of London / RP models: https://toy-soldiers.store/product_info.php?products_id=816

Shiny gloss toy soldier painting style, pink cheek dot and all.

FEMbruary 2022 figure No. 3 – The Amazonian Armada Elizabeth the First

This archer is from a 54mm generic fantasy figure set by True Legends Toys (USA?), what is probably meant to be an androgynous Legolas type elf man? The others can be seen here:

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/fantasy-plastic-warriors/

With impressive enough ‘man boob’ armour, I though it might convert easily enough into a Cate Blanchett type Galadriel or Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury type figure.

Literally a Copper Top, as I used my favourite bright gloss acrylics for the shiny toy soldier look from Revell Aquacolor of Orange and copper highlights!

A tissue paper and PVA skirt was added as no self-respecting queen would show off her legs in such martial manly attire!

The visual inspiration was Cate Blanchett’s Tilbury speech from her Elizabeth The Golden Age film. Trailer / clip on YouTube here.

I was also imagining her with a bow, rather than sword, as it also has the classical Amazon overtones or huntress iconography of Diana and Artemis.

Anyway its all just more classical and Tudorbethan Imagi-National propaganda for my Arma-Dad’s Army project! I love this Holy Grail / Monty Python-esque type muster of troops on the clifftops, again useful for Armada era uniform details.

Some screenshots from the Trailer / clip for uniform and colour reference.

My final #FEMbruary female figure (No. 4) will be out of this world … watch this space! (Two clues there).

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 23/24 #FEMbruary 2022

Author: 26soldiersoftin

Hello I'm Mark Mr MIN, Man of TIN. Based in S.W. Britain, I'm a lifelong collector of "tiny men" and old toy soldiers, whether tin, lead or childhood vintage 1960s and 1970s plastic figures. I randomly collect all scales and periods and "imagi-nations" as well as lead civilians, farm and zoo animals. I enjoy the paint possibilities of cheap poundstore plastic figures as much as the patina of vintage metal figures. Befuddled by the maths of complex boardgames and wargames, I prefer the small scale skirmish simplicity of very early Donald Featherstone rules. To relax, I usually play solo games, often using hex boards. Gaming takes second place to making or convert my own gaming figures from polymer clay (Fimo), home-cast metal figures of many scales or plastic paint conversions. I also collect and game with vintage Peter Laing 15mm metal figures, wishing like many others that I had bought more in the 1980s ...

3 thoughts on “#FEMbruary 2022 figure painting and conversions – Good Queen Bess and the Generic Empress”

  1. Great work on these figures. She is indeed a Catherine the Great figure from a set of figures from the eighteenth century Russo Turkish War , perhaps Chin toys, I can’t recall.
    The Artemis inspired figure works really well. A stirring figure to bolster the resolve of the Dad’s Army renaissance fellows.

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  2. You are spot on! Engineer Basevitch Plastic 54mm figures from Russia Set #27. Russo-Turkish Wars, Russians reference photo here http://plasticsoldiers.co.uk/index.php/engineer-basevich/
    *
    Did she come from you? I’m sure she arrived in a joblot of figures but whether online or gifted, I cannot recall.
    *
    I thought my Armada Artemis (or Armada Nemesis) was a fitting Amazonian match with the Cate Blanchett Elizabeth on horseback Tilbury portrayal … some more Tudorbethan propaganda …

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  3. Excellent fun. As you say, there are many character roles these could play. That regal sceptre looks deadly in the wrong hands. Catherine the Great she may have been intended but that regal look will work well for Queen Bess. Of course, I’ve painted Catherine the Great and Catherine the First for FEMbruary, so she keeps reappearing in one way or another.

    And I like your conversion of Legolas to “Lego-lass” haha. There’s more than a hint of Cate about her.

    Like

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