Prince Poniatowski & ADC

After a few weeks of completing larger units it was time to do something from the "for my enjoyment" collection of metal. I bought some Front Rank command figures earlier in the year and really liked the look of these two and had some good reference library pictures to work from. I decided to stick with Front Rank horses. (I don't mind the light horses standing or walking - not so keen on the faster moving lighter ones or any heavier ones though - it's a personal taste thing). I looked through the horses completed earlier , but found i was going to need one of their S1 type with cast on saddle cloth for the ADC which only came with part sheepskin saddle . I did not have one of those already completed so decided just to add a saddle cloth to a completed one from a small amount of thinly rolled out Milliput (a two part putty that is easily worked into shape). This was shaped with some sculpting tools and a scalpel blade. Took about 5 minutes to do.

The rest was a simple paint job. Undercoated the figures in Humbrol 67 (Tank Grey).

Poniatowski - Has a large fur cloak on , this was blocked in Vallejo flat brown and then drybrushed lighter shades by mixing with Khaki and white until happy with the effect. His tunic was blocked Dark Prussian blue, then highlighted with a Medium blue/Flat blue mix.  The polish crimson trousers were blocked Humbrol 73 to start , then had a little white 34 added and used to highlight knee tops and creases etc. Czapka top was to be white with a cross on and then additional line detail added - this was blocked light grey first. Face as per usual. Various chords etc were added using a Vallejo Model Air Silver - this is thinner and i find it easier to use for small fine detail - as this usually involves using it in dots or dabs to suggest or pick out detail rather than just paint it all. His horse was a standing one which i had bent the head slightly before painting.

ADC-  the main block colour was Humbrol 73 (Wine) which was then over painted to gradually highlight with Vallejo Red, Flat Red, Scarlet. . Shako was blocked Vallejo Medium Blue, and highlighted with Flat blue , and hint of white then added to that as well.

They were finished in proper varnish - Gloss!

It is always important to keep the creative enjoyment going , and doing these helped.



I also completed a small screen of Connoisseur Brunswick skirmishers to add to the two battalions completed a little earlier. These were a very simple grey paint job , just a case of highlighting up after undercoating (Humbrol 67) with a Vallejo Neutral Gray and a bit of light grey really then piping facing colours and muskets. Faces as usual. I added some bit of beech branch to bases to give a more interesting effect (I now remember why i did not cut down the beech hedge.. good for nicking bits for basing!). They were based in pairs, one firing one moving,

These took about 30 minutes to complete.

Brunswick black.

Black is an interesting challenge to shade and highlight. For the latest commission I used my own mixed dark grey charcoal colour. This was a mix of Humbrol 67 (Tank Grey) and Matt Black. This was used for the main undercoat. I then want to pick out specific areas of deeper black and this was done with the neat black for the shako , belts and packs. Once dry the whole figure was then give a light drybrush of light grey. Additional detail was painted in with thin strokes of grey. Faces as per normal. Facings in 3 shade triad of Vallejo Red and Green for the different units. Muskets and metallics added.  Some thinned Vallejo black was painted in on some deeper folds. These were then  matt varnished and once varnish had dried overnight I did a little  "refresh" of the metallics and a light flick across the "highlight" of the facings to add a bit more brightness.

The figures are old "Connoisseur" and are a simple uncomplicated paint job. I was short of standard bearers however so a couple of officers had to have additional work adding belts from green stuff to carry the standard. Flags are from GMB (Fixed using white PVA and then hardened with varnish - about 4 coats altogether applied once each is tacky dry). The flagpole was made from brass wire and the finials were formed by flattening the end with a hammer and then working in into spear point using a carborundum cutting disc on the mini drill, takes no more than 30 seconds per flagstaff and way cheaper then buying them.Horses are both "Elite miniatures" completed in the last batch of horses.