Painting and Converting

Well, last night I finished off the last couple of figures to complete my dismounted dragoons. I’m painting an extra one to be a horse-holder. Once that’s done, I’m going to make sadlery for a pair of horses in more static poses from Green Stuff and mate them up on the one base to represent the rider less mounts of the company.

On a related thought, I’ve been looking at the Austrian grenadiers with a mind to turning them into dismounted Horse Grenadiers (yes, I know I was only going to have the one dismounted troop, but my mind wandered…) and I think with a bit more Green Stuff I could sculpt false boot-tops. The protruding gaiter-top could be painted white and passed off as a boot-stocking. I’ll have a fiddle and see how it goes.

Speaking of converting things, I really MUST have a go at producing a mounted drummer for the dragoons. Is there a nice online picture "somewhere" that might give me an idea how such an instrument might "sit"?

Painting. I have become a firm convert to the black undercoat method. My painting seems to go so much easier when I do it this way. This is especially true when I am painting with blue – my Bavarian Grenadiers have been a breeze to paint so far. Three to go. Red is more of a problem, but I find that by the time I have finished putting the highlights on, the patchiness of the base-coat has become rather a non-issue.

Again on painting; does anyone here paint for hours at a time? I’ve tried and failed miserably. I’ve gotten enthused at the idea of having a day off work where I sit down for eight hours and get huge amounts of work done on a huge number of figures. I always wind up getting bored and going out to buy a book or something.

For me the most productive painting time is the 30 minutes I take while I’m getting ready to go to work in the morning. I just put 2-3 colours on 2-3 figures and things seem to move along quite nicely.

What’s your experience?

Kurfurstin Dragoons

Dismounted Dragoons from the Kurfurstin Regiment stand to in a picket line with the Horse Grenadier Troop in close support behind them.

What I've been up to recently.

Just so you don’t think I’ve become a complete Roman, I thought I might let you know I’m still here slopping paint any old how onto miniatures.

So far this month I’ve finished painting 9 grenadiers and an NCO for the Bavarian Leib Regiment, 5 dismounted Bavarian dragoons, a Grenzer, five infantry to round out a French regiment whose name escapes me at the moment and a single Garde Francaise – I suppose he’s the first figure in rounding this regiment out.

I’m constructing another house for Strudelberg with another still in it’s box. I’ve another half dozen or so infantry in various stages of completion who I hope to finish this weekend.

I’ll spend the rest of the month on the Saxon LeibGrenadiers, and throw in the odd Roman as I go on for variety!

I’ll try to get some photos up soon.

I promise.
Really.

OT - Carry on Up the Tiber

I decided to create a new blog in order to keep a journal of all my doings Roman and Wargames-related.

I do have a tidy mind, sometimes.

If you want to take a look, just click here.

I've put the first post up today.

Your comments and feedback are most welcome.