Another Restoration Project

I was looking for something in the garage yesterday when I noticed an old box file tucked away at the back of the shelf.  Not remembering what it contained I took a look, to rediscover an abandoned project.  The box contained a heap of old 25mm Minifigs American Civil War figures that I had picked up at a bargain price a decade or so ago. 

I remember at the time debating what to do with them.  As they were quite nicely painted it seemed a shame to strip them down, but they had been varnished and this had turned the figures into a golden yellow colour.  They had also been mounted on plastic bases and heavily flocked, which had set like concrete and was going to be a pain to scrape off. After pondering for a while the figures went into the too difficult basket and the box slowly worked its way out of sight and out of mind.

Well, I thought, perhaps it is time to do something with them.  A bit more pondering and the decision was made to strip them down and repaint them.  I will use gloss in my usual toy soldier style.

The box contained mostly Confederates, including all sorts of infantry, some artillery and a mass of irregulars, most of which turned out to be non ACW. Here's the box with quite a few already removed:

On the Federal side there are some Zouaves and some irregular infantry.  Here are some examples of the figures in their original state:

It can be seen that they are quite nicely painted, but the picture does not show well the old yellow varnish.  Anyway, into the paint stripper they go.  First out were these artillery men, a mix of CSA and Union:

A blank canvas no less!