Cheap Prepainted figures. Heroclix!?!

No but I'm looking at 28mm (1/56) scale figures at the moment.  trying to find some decent ones for passenger cars.

Not seeing any photos.

@Bob Delbridge posted:

No but I'm looking at 28mm (1/56) scale figures at the moment.  trying to find some decent ones for passenger cars.

Interesting.  Do they have to be seated or are you chopping them off at the waist?   I've painted hundreds of 25-32mm figs over the hears and not seen alot of seated 28mm figs. 

If you're chopping them anyway, Reaper has alot of possibilities in their Chronoscope line (modern and sci-fi figs) and they're not terribly expensive in their "Bones" (vinyl) material.  They're a bit bigger in 30-32mm (sole to eye) though.   I might have a few extras lying around from some kickstarters I could let go cheap...

Still, if you're going to chop and put them in cars, second hand Heroclix for a buck or less are probably a cheaper alternative.

@Will posted:

Not seeing any photos.

Thanks for letting me know. I've reloaded the pics.  Are they showing now?

Yes I have lots of the Super hero’s on the layout.

They are pretty cheap too, going for about a buck apiece.  

Went to their website.  And I didn't really see anything that looks like civilians.   Maybe there is another source.

And, the only figure I saw that looks like it is standing in a natural pose is "The Living Brain #048"   :-)

Mannyrock

I always hit up the comic / gaming / hobby stores, especially when traveling,  looking for the bulk, undesirable-to-gamers HeroClix figures.  One store I went to was selling them for 50 cents apiece.  Sprinkling a layout with a few superheroes is always a hit when kids (and us big kids at heart) find them.  I've even toyed with the idea of doing a comic / science fiction convention scene and include various heroes, villains, horror and S/F figures as costumed attendees.  Currently, my module at most train shows is a "vehicles from TV & movies" theme with a lot of the 1:43 vehicles I've been collecting over the years, and I always put this HeroClix Batman next to one of the Batmobiles on the display:

I also check out the other fantasy and historic gaming mini-figure systems for appropriately-sized items and figures.  Although these are a little more expensive, they can often be repurposed.  One of the figures I bought was a warrior angel that will look good as a monument in a cemetery.

And 1:48 military models sometimes have figures and items of use.  I bought a 1:48 Tamiya WWII generals figure set that contains Patton, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Montgomery and Rommel.  The 3 American generals will eventually get painted as statues for a park scene.  The other two will probably get reworked and painted as non-military people.

Andy

@Mannyrock posted:

Went to their website.  And I didn't really see anything that looks like civilians.   Maybe there is another source.

The "civilian" style figures are rarely used in their advertising and promotion.  If you go to the auction site, try searching the characters' "real" names, like search "Heroclix Tony Stark," or "Heroclix Bruce Wayne" (and Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, etc.) and you will find a variety of this type of figures in different poses.

Andy

@Eilif posted:

Thanks for letting me know. I've reloaded the pics.  Are they showing now?

Actually they are not loading for me either.

Please try posting them again.

@Eilif posted:

Interesting.  Do they have to be seated or are you chopping them off at the waist?   I've painted hundreds of 25-32mm figs over the hears and not seen alot of seated 28mm figs.

If you're chopping them anyway, Reaper has alot of possibilities in their Chronoscope line (modern and sci-fi figs) and they're not terribly expensive in their "Bones" (vinyl) material.  They're a bit bigger in 30-32mm (sole to eye) though.   I might have a few extras lying around from some kickstarters I could let go cheap...

Still, if you're going to chop and put them in cars, second hand Heroclix for a buck or less are probably a cheaper alternative.

I was looking for seated, full figures and only saw a couple, but still looking.

No, just a minus sign. Did you click on "add attachment" at the bottom right? Use that, not the icon in the tool bar. That is usually what causes the problem.

Yes. I wanted to ad some classic movie monsters to to the haunted house scene on my layout.  

They were recommended by laz1957, Thanks again George!

They are great looking figures that are pretty much O scale size. There are tons on ebay as well.

Here are some of the "civilian" style figures I bought:

Andy

@Andy Hummell posted:

Here are some of the "civilian" style figures I bought:

Andy

My pics are still showing for me but apparently not for others.  Regardless, my figs are similar to the ones Andy shows above.  If you have a comic or game shop nearby they probably have a bin or more filled with these.  You might have to ask though if they aren't on display.

Sites like Troll and Toad have hundreds of clix for under a buck.  I think I need to do a blog post about these.

A lot of folks are into gaming.  I was a couple of decades ago and lately have been wanting go do a bit of solitary gaming with WW2 miniatures and some simple rules to follow.  I did get a box of Bolt Action US and German 28mm figures, if for nothing else to paint up and display.

@Bob Delbridge posted:

A lot of folks are into gaming.  I was a couple of decades ago and lately have been wanting go do a bit of solitary gaming with WW2 miniatures and some simple rules to follow.  I did get a box of Bolt Action US and German 28mm figures, if for nothing else to paint up and display.of

The Bolt Action rules are great.  My last club played some Konflikt 47 (the wierd war variant of BA) and enjoyed it.

With two sides of painted minis there are tons put great rules options. For solo have you considered "Nuts"? 

https://www.twohourwargames.com/historical1.html

THW's "reaction" system isn't my favorite mechanic in a Vs. game but alot of folks swear by it for solo play.

Thanks, I'll check it out!!!

We're going to expand our Christmas layout this year so I bought another batch of mostly civilian looking Heroclix.

I just went to Troll and Toad, selected " All Heroclix" , checked the box to exclude out of stock items and sorted by price ascending. Then I just added every civilian looking figure I could find until I had enough. None of these cost more than 80 cents.

I'll blog them in more detail later but here's an overview shot of them after removing the clix bases.

I went to Troll & Toad and tried to create an account, never got an ack to complete the registration.  So I tried to add stuff to a cart, it add one item and ignored all the rest.  I guess they don't want me buying their stuff.

I have a couple of bags of "Homies" figures that are close enough to O to be suitable; hey, real people do come in many sizes! There are many sets or theme, I happen to like the "New Jersey Mob" set:

They seem to be able to stand without any special base or glue.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I went to Troll & Toad and tried to create an account, never got an ack to complete the registration.  So I tried to add stuff to a cart, it add one item and ignored all the rest.  I guess they don't want me buying their stuff.

Lots of heroclix figures on ebay John.

13,000 results when you put "heroclix figures" in the search box.

That's were I found my movie monsters in the post above.

Blogged the figures I recently purchased.

Heroclix. Cheap Painted 1/48 Figures For Your Layout! (chicagovalleyrailroad.blogspot.com)

Close-ups of all figures, removal suggestions, out-of-scale figures to avoid, and a list of featured figures included.

Thanks for the list of suitable figures, searching for those was easier than looking through the 8000 entries!   For whatever reason, I couldn't use my main email address for an account, but I got it with a gmail address.   The only oddity was I had to keep refreshing the pages to allow me to add stuff to the cart.  I got 50 figures for $40, and I won't have to paint them, not a bad deal.

You're very welcome John. So glad it finally went through for you. Hope they work out.

I'm not sure why online shopping carts are so fickle.  I tried 3 times to buy a Boost mobile phone today on my computer from my account.  The sale only finally worked when I switched to buying on my phone as a guest.  I have no idea....

I spent a lot of time filling the shopping cart only to fail when I tried to purchase. It said I had to create an account. That turned into a disaster for me. Spent about half an hour trying to do that and finally gave up. I guess I am not the only one having trouble making a purchase. Very disappointed I could not get it to work. Too bad, there were a lot of nice figures I would have bought.

Paul Goodness

There are problems with their site.  I had to try a different email to create my account.  Also, I had to continually refresh the pages so I could add things to my cart.  I finally did get an order placed.

@Eilif posted:

I'll blog them in more detail later but here's an overview shot of them after removing the clix bases.

Explain your procedure from removing them from the bases.  I just got a bunch, and I'd like to do the same thing.  I figure someone that's already done it seemingly successfully will have a good idea of the right technique.

I only mistakenly ended up with one of the "oversized" figures standing on a mount of grass, a slip of the finger I guess.

FWIW, these look great for the price, and there is a lot of variety in the mix.

Sure thing. Looks like you got a good selection.

Removal is pretty much as I describe in the blog post.

I grab the clix base with pliers to get a better grip and keep from cutting myself. These things are squirrelly. A vice would probably be even better.  Then I take a chisel blade heavy Exacto knife and cutting downward onto a cutting board I slice in around the edge of the integral base.

Older Heroclix were easier to remove as they were glued flat to the clix without an integral base. However, these days they usually have an integral base that fits over a raised bit on the clix base so if you want to preserve the integral base it's best to work your way around the edge before you try to pop it off.

Of course if you don't care about the integral base, the vinyl they are made of is soft enough to simply cut under the soles of the feet with even a light Exacto blade.

I finally got around to seeing if the little industrial cargo bits I made from the clix bases fit in the standard Lionel Gondola.

They fit quite well and slide right in between the interior ribs.

Note the one at the right edge has a bit of warping on two of the bases and that widens it enough to keep it from fitting in nicely.

The fit for the others is close enough that even for them I'd recommend sanding a millimeter off the end before painting so as not to scratch up the car or the cargo.

@Eilif posted:

Sure thing. Looks like you got a good selection.

Removal is pretty much as I describe in the blog post.

I modified the instructions a bit.  I used a vise and an X-acto chisel.

I just used a tack hammer to lightly separate the base from the figure.  By holding an angle as shown and having the bevel face out, I was able to get them all off the bases with only slight damage to two of the fifty figures base.  It also went very quickly and my fingers were never in the line of fire.

I note that the thin bases were the ones that were really easy to remove, those must be the "early" version.  They just popped off without a fight.

Thanks for the process pics. I think alot of folks will find it helpful and it's definitely the safest method.

Yep, the thin, earlier ones with their single plane of attachment were the easiest for me also.

I tried holding one with pliers and just using the X-acto to chisel the base off, and quickly realized that wasn't going to work for me.  Putting the figure in the vise worked great and I quickly polished off the rest of the removals.

These are so cool I sat down and formatted another order, they'll be a nice variety of figures for the layout.

gunrunnerjohn, I finely managed to order about 130 of the Heroclix figures from Troll and Toad. They were delivered yesterday, and I must say I am very happy with these figures. There were many that I can use as hospital staff with their white coats. Others look good "as is" for citizens, and the more "super hero" type can be modified. There were only a few that were too large. The majority are on the small and slim side in my opinion, but will work out just fine.

I have a lot of the Homie figures that I can use too even though they are "too big".  I also buy the Disney and other figures at the dollar stores, and the "we honest" figures on ebay.

Paul Goodness

We can thank the OP for steering us to these, for the price they're pretty good.

Anyone try painting these to create some variety?  I'm curious what paint would adhere best.  I usually prefer acrylic but not sure if enamel might be better for these finishes.

Thanks for the idea Eilif, and the blog post with all the details.  This is a great way to populate our models without spending a fortune.

@EmpireBuilderDave posted:

Anyone try painting these to create some variety?  I'm curious what paint would adhere best.  I usually prefer acrylic but not sure if enamel might be better for these finishes.

Thanks for the idea Eilif, and the blog post with all the details.  This is a great way to populate our models without spending a fortune.

Wow, those look great in your scene!

As for repainting, I've painted alot of these kinds of figures and any virtually any paint will do. The figures and the paint they are painted with seems to be some kind of latex and acrylic and latex paints adhere just fine.  In the past I've also applied minwax polyshades as a "dip" to shade the surfaces and darken the recesses.  It's an "oil based" stain in polyurethane (thins with mineral spirits).  Once in a while an enamel or oil paint will get a bit sticky and take longer to dry, but they've always dried out eventually for me.

Also, I've tried stripping the factory paint off, but it's not a great idea.  You need acetone or something harsher and it's very easy to melt the figs a bit.  You're much better off just painting over the existing paint.

Best of luck with the repaints.  I've got a couple more medical/lab types than I need and I might do a bit of repainting to turn lab coats into trench coats.  Might go the lazy route though and just use paint markers.

Here's a batch of "Mage Knight" (the first game to use Clix system bases) that I did up a decade ago for a Mad-Max style wargame. They have been modified (mostly new weapons and bases and minor reposes) and given a simple block-color paint-over with acrylics.  They have been "dipped" with Minwax Polyshades and then given a spray or brush of matte varnish to flatten out the finish. Not my best work (a bit too shiny) but you get the idea.

@paul goodness posted:

gunrunnerjohn, I finely managed to order about 130 of the Heroclix figures from Troll and Toad. They were delivered yesterday, and I must say I am very happy with these figures. There were many that I can use as hospital staff with their white coats. Others look good "as is" for citizens, and the more "super hero" type can be modified. There were only a few that were too large. The majority are on the small and slim side in my opinion, but will work out just fine.

I have a lot of the Homie figures that I can use too even though they are "too big".  I also buy the Disney and other figures at the dollar stores, and the "we honest" figures on ebay.

Paul Goodness

So glad they worked out for you, sounds like you really stocked up!

I bought another dozen or so and I'll blog them soon.  I also plan on mixing them with my We-Honest (Some I repainted) figs, but I couldn't find any of them this year! Luckily I had bought plenty of Heroclix.

Troll and Toad also had a deal on the first 20 or so "common" figures in the TMNT series for just $15 so I got those too.  TMNT was a big part of my childhood.  Now I've got the Turtles, and all the major characters, Shredder, some Foot Clan and a bunch of other wierdos!  No Krang though...

Here's one more scene I am mocking up with some Heroclix and other figures.