These things are cheap. Boxes usually contain around 50 models and can range anywhere from $5.00- $20.00. It's more figures than you'd even need. If there's an army or period you'd like to try out but don't want to dump a bunch of money on lead, try out 1/72 first. The low cost makes you feel better for not spending more time on cleaning, assembling and painting the models. I don't even bother with mold lines and just give them a base coat and a wash.
The downside is they are soft. Gun barrels are easily bent, which means paint can chip. Plus you can't file and trim the mold lines and flash as easily as you can a regular plastic or metal model. Some people coat them in glue to stiffen them, and use heat and steel wool to clean them, but I don't bother.
Another downside is a lack of variety. Some infantry is hard to get in 1/72. Fortunately every piece of armor and aircraft variant ever made is produced in 1/72 scale.
Here are some pictures of the Caesar 1/72 French partisans I've painted:
An assassin and a demolitions expert.
Guys armed with the MAS 36.
A prisoner and a sailor type with a Sten.
Another sailor and a wounded man in an argyle vest.
A couple of "hoods" with MP 40's.
A hunter/ tracker and French soldier.
A man in fatigues and a farm girl.
Another lovely lady and a man with a Molotov.
Three more Molotov throwers, because you can't have enough.
Most of my 1/72 are based on 1" fender washers. The first batch I picked up had very large holes and I had to glue discarded tokens and such over the holes to have somewhere to glue the figures to. My later batches have had very small holes and are thinner to make mounting easier.
I like using the washers because they add needed weight and stability to the figures, plus I can put magnetic sheets in the bottom of my transport boxes for easy, secure storage.
All of these figures were simply primed white, basecoated and given a wash of Citadel Devlen Mud.
The bases were painted black and a layer of tea from bags was glued down. A flock mix was applied over that.
Somua S35
And again...
And another
The Somua S35 is a Heller 1/72 kit. I assembled the kit in a normal fashion, cleaning mold lines, flash, etc. The hull was actually filled with sand and superglue to add some weight to the model.
Painting is pretty standard stuff, and then another Citadel Mud wash was applied. A little drybrushed highlight was applied, then some heavy application of weathering pigments were used. MiG is a prominant brand, but I use something else.
