West Wind's Women of the West

For a while, I've been posting photos of either Victorians getting crazy or WWII Soviets. So let's change things up a bit. At the end of October, I took photos of my entire collection of miniatures and models. Having a bit of free time this past Friday afternoon, I ran the photos through the old photo editor and loaded up the blog with several posts featuring them. Since I only began painting miniatures when this first came online, you can really see how I've been experimenting over the years. You can also see when I was getting lazy and didn't feel like blending or doing much else! (I think we all have those days...or months...or years as the case may be! LOL!)

While a few of these figures have been seen before on the blog, most only have been seen from afar in large group photos, in-progress photos, or badly edited photos. (Yeah, I'm still working on some of their bases.)

Women of the West -- And More
Up fist are five female gunfighters from various packs in West Wind's Cowboy Wars line. I purchased all these figures years ago from Old Glory during the only sale they've had for Army members. I love West Wind's horror and Western figures. Some of the sculpts can be a bit off, but overall they are very nice. Across the web, West Wind doesn't seem to get the love I think they deserve. They have some unusual (and interesting) figures that no one else has, like the European and Russian hunting parties along with the cast from Bonanza.

So here is today's group of figures, along with their pack info and some of my recollections. Sorry the photo's thumbnail is so small, but clicking on it will blow it up real good.

Figures From Left to Right:

1) ZCW-23 Women of the West #1
She is a homely looking lady, but not everyone in the Old West was good looking. Trying to paint her fat, pudgy face was a real bear for my novice skills years ago. I think it took me three or four attempts until it look decent enough.

2) ZCW-24 Women of the West #2
I really like this figure. I painted her skirt using pink craft paints. I was seeing if I could handle blending, which is hard to do using pink craft paints--just not enough pigment. In the end, the figure looks pretty good on the table. Our eyes tend to blur the colors together more than does an old digital camera close-up. It's like looking at an Impressionist painting close-up and then from farther away.

3) ZCW-47 The Russian Royal Hunting Party #1
She is the Lady Romanov from this pask. Her husband is the other figure in the pack. A great pack if you like Western or Colonial gaming. Her husband's figure is in the que, primed and partially painted.

4 & 5) ZCW-26 The Local Ladies #2
I love the women in this pack. Yes, they are pretty much the same sculpt. So guess what? I made them twins, and created a complete backstory for them. Meet Mary and Margret Slaughter, the Slaughter Sisters, the most feared Winchester marksmen in the West. They inherited their father's ranch when he was murdered. Now they seek revenge for his  death, not settling until the entire pack of outlaws is brought to justice---at the end of their twin Winchesters.