total american patriot
I've looked at many catalogues from many companies searching for a wide selection of decent allied figures. But when I found the cataloque for verlinden models I was deeply impressed with their selection...... until I looked at their prices. 12 BUCKS FOR TWO FIGURES! I could buy a four man set from dragon at that price and better yet an 8 man set from tamiya. What makes verlinden so valuable and if so, is there a way I could buy it for cheaper. Finally, are they resin? if so, how should I paint them?
Resin figures are usually quite a bit more detailed than injection-molded figures and the details are a lot crisper than styrene too... I've used resin, plastic, and white-metal figures all, and I still prefer styrene ones... I have a few resin sets though, since they are kinda "specialty" figures... I have the resin "Kelley's Heroes" set for one (Kelley, Big Joe, Oddball, & Crap Game)... Couldn't pass on those because I've been working on a diorama from that movie for about 15 years, lol...
I stated with the scene of Oddball shooting the Tiger in azz with the paint round, changed it to the scene in which Kelley sees Oddball's Shermans for the first time, moved to the scene in which they all are riding on the back of Oddball's Sherman, and finally, after I saw the figures, decided on the scene near the end when they are "High Nooning" the Tiger in the square...
However, I digress...
Yeah, Verlinden figures are resin, and about the only way you'll find the figures cheaper is to check Ebay from time to time... It'd be best to set a search there for the figures and set your search parameters at the price-range you're willing to pay, something like "Toys & Hobbies-1/35th Scale- Figures-Resin- .99 to 9.99 and then they'll notify via Email whenever something pops up in your range and category... But keep in mind that you won't find any cheap resin figure sets from the Ebayers with "Stores"... Those guys are usually Hobby Shop owners and the like that want to move discontinued items, so they'll take off maybe 20-30% and then kill ya with shipping...
If you need figures for dioramas, and aren't primarily a figure builder/painter (and this is what I do), I'd avoid resin except for necessary ones (absolutely GOTTA have it), and work on your figure modification skills... Although some guys can pull off some stunning dioramas using figures SOB (Straight Out of the Box), like Manstein's Revenge, I personally use very few of them. I mostly take the old tried & true Tamiya sets and also ICM and Dragon and kitbash 'em into poses that are one of a kind... You can pick up heads from Hornet to change them even further (so you aren't stuck with flatheads that force you to use helmets or M-43 caps all the time) too.
"Frankensteining" figures is the best way to ensure you never hear, "Oh, I see you used the figures from (manufacturer X) for your crew and those infantry over there are from (manufacturer Z)." Figure modification will go a long way in making dioramas stand out from the rest of the pack at competions...
Another thing to remember about figures.. Weaponsand helmets... Make sure you use the same manufacturer for all of them... Figures can vary in height, but weapons can't vary in length and helmets don't vary in size (except for the modern K-pots (Kevlar helmets). Those actually come in Large, Medium, and Small)...