NCO for the Berry Regiment

The figure – on the right in both images has been converted from the RSM French NCO on the left of both images.

Basically I’ve cut off the right hand, the left arm and the hat from the original figure. The right arm has been bent into a posture more suited to a walking or “advancing” pose, whilst the left arm has been bent a bit and glued on so that he might credibly be thought of as carrying his pole-arm. The amputated hat has gone onto the carefully sawn-off top of his head. I think this really changes the look of the figure, giving it a much more erect carriage than the original.

UPDATE: The figure also converts nicely to make a gunner hauling on a wheel, I've since found. I think I'll paint mine up as an infantryman pressed into serving a gun. I think the figure could also be capable of wielding a variety of artillery tools.

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?

Ducal Doings

Thanks for being patient. And Ducal doings aren't what you think. That's between Friedrich Augustus and Bauer.

I've been fairly busy this past week with work and overtime and haven't really had the time to post much here.

I have been doing a little work on the Strudelberg project. I finished the first Bavarian house a couple of days ago. I have painted up a couple more Croats of the Szluin Regiment, so have had to perform a little hat-surgery upon them.

Speaking of surgery, I have been slicing around an Austrian infantry officer with the aim of turning him into a Bavarian grenadier officer, complete with fusil and belly-pouch - I think the French used to call the equivalent item in their army a "gargoussier". I have an NCO lined up for similar surgery, although I think he will keep his pole-arm. This officer figure, once he has had his "Spanish Reed" cut away would also make a dandy ensign with a little arm-bending.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I'll post a few pictures tomorrow for the sake of a little eye-candy.