Building an (American) Civil War Army...help? Tips?

[oscarone]

So a couple years ago I sold my toy soldier collection...about 1800 1/64th scale guys. Kind of bugged me to do it, but I was having a kid.

Anyway.

I am a big Civil War buff, and since my kid is going to be a Lego kid anyway, I thought that I was start getting into this hobby. To start, I wanted to build a little Army of Union and Confederate soldiers.

Now, I assumed that this was like buying regular toy soldiers, but man...these little dudes, when I can find them, are pricey!

So, I thought I would go the custom route.

Now, I see that I can buy the little stickers for the torso...but past that, what is the best way to get all the little hats and weapons? And what about the body color? Is there a place I can buy blue and grey bodies in bulk?

I would love some tips. I want to kind of go...biggish...on the numbers of guys. I know that I wont be up for getting my 1800 guys back...but still.

Thanks for any tips for a newbie!

[CaptainToad]

Hi

I would like to build a civil war army as well! :)

You might wanna consider the lone ranger cavalry set, it contains three soldiers and one horse! :) and some weapons (a canon for example)

[oscarone]

Hi

I would like to build a civil war army as well! :)

You might wanna consider the lone ranger cavalry set, it contains three soldiers and one horse! :) and some weapons (a canon for example)

Yea, I saw that...but I it was expensive and I figured what the heck, I will just do it myself (once I figure out how!)

[AmperZand]

At the risk of suggesting the obvious, have you tried BrickLink?

[CaptainToad]

Yea, I saw that...but I it was expensive and I figured what the heck, I will just do it myself (once I figure out how!)

Lego is generally expensive and the sets and themes are never the way you want them to be I guess.

The lego ranger series was both boon and bane to me, first I was very happy that lego came up with another western theme - I dont invest in retired sets (dont have too much money to waste) so these were the first western themed sets in my collection - a dream come true in a way. But then I dont really like lincensed minifigs - always prefered the original yellow lego style. So I am gonna have customise all of these minifigs. Because of that I never actually bought that cavalry set - too much customisation! Didnt buy the train set as well - because of its lack of a power function, the other sets were good IMHO but all of them featured tonto and the lone ranger, tonto can be customised, the lone ranger not to much I guess. So I really hope they will bring back the old western sets or make new ones based on those...

[Legotom]

Bricklink is your answer. Use a program such as Brickstore To make a wish list, and then Brickficency to find the cheapest store or combination of stores to get the parts you need. That will work for hats and weapons, and probably legs but might not for torsos as there are many blue and grey ones with different prints, which you'll be covering over anyways so the exact print doesn't matter too much.

You can use something like Brasso to remove the printing from a minifigs torso, or you might not bother if you're just using stickers.

If you're planning on making hundreds are you going to print your own stickers? If you have access to a good quality printer I'd do that. Buy some high quality glossy sticky labels and then cut them out carefully.

Another thought. How many variants of soldiers uniforms are there, and in how many colours? If it's not many you could setup your own tampo printing process. Get some custom rubber stamps made (or make them yourself if you have the skills), and make a jig out of wood to hold the torso and align the stamp, then use paint on the stamp. It's a DIY version of what Lego do on a massive scale. If you are wanting to make 1800 figures then this might be your easiest route. Will give a nicer finish than stickers too. It will be a bit complicated to setup and will take a bit of practice, but once you've got the skill you can pump out figs at a fairly high rate.

[tedbeard]

Have you seen the new printed torsos from Citizen Brick: Confederate Cavalry Torso, Confederate Infantry Torso, Confederate Artillery Torso and the Confederate Kepi?

[Robianco]

Have you seen the new printed torsos from Citizen Brick: Confederate Cavalry Torso, Confederate Infantry Torso, Confederate Artillery Torso and the Confederate Kepi?

Citizen Brick items are fantastically well printed but if the op thought Lone Ranger sets seemed expensive then CB items may be well out of range. I fell very deeply into the CB trap with German WWII figures! ;)

[MAB]

Buy the torsos for the cavalry soldier, rather than as minifigs, especially if you want yellow skins instead of fleshies. You can pick legs up fairly cheaply too, especially if you want a range of colours. Also start buying the revolutionary soldier now, before he goes up too much.

[Darkdragon]

If you simply want blank torsos in blue and grey for your own builds, as well as the matching hats - you can look at Bricklink.com as others have said, but if the price for the torsos is over 85 cents, you might want to call LEGO customer service and ask them if they have the part (which will be between 65 cents and 85 cents normally for a torso). I'm not sure either color hat is still in production but the grey might be due to use in Star Wars sets.