Britains Evzone Rstoration Completed And Thoughts On Paints. Also Athena Evzones

Here is the finished Evzone except for coat of semi-gloss varnish still to be added. I used semi-gloss Humbrol enamels except for the face and cap where I used acrylics. The enamel reds seem to take a very long time to dry so I lost patience with them. I didn't have an enamel flesh and would have had to mix one.

 I do often use enamels when i paint metal figures in the assumption that they are tougher wearing paints. Generally, though I prefer acrylics. I think the acrylics are more flexible for bendy plastics and suspect that enamels may make plastics brittle. That is not confirmed by any scientific tests so don't quote me.

Anyway, back to the evzone. I did some research on the ceremonial uniform and discovered that a very ornate vest was worn for special occasions, much more ornate than depicted here. Blue or light khaki ones were worn, according to season, at other times.

As for the actual figure I decided to restore it to the way Britains intended and took the black vest rather than the red vest option. I could have made it more accurate to the actual uniform but decided not to. i didn't paint the gun metal parts as Britains didn't.I could have painted a realistic face and added 'pom poms' to the shoes but resisted the temptation. (For some reason Britains just had ordinary shoes on the figure).

I find this uniform fascinating simply because it is so unusual. I have an ambition to one day mae a unit in plastic for service in the Balkan Wars or WW1.

    I continued te basic pattern on the back of the vest although i don't know if this was the case on the original britains paint job.

                                                                        Below are my Greek plastic Evzones by Athena.

Here is the Britains figure with collar fixed (although the real uniform has a blue collar) and placed next to an Athena figure. the latter subtracts from the former's glory, given the size difference.