French Line Lancer - a change of scale

It's been a productive Easter break - mainly with the weather being bad I have been able to focus on clearing off the table with a number of items coming to completion.

I showed you the 18mm AB trumpeters last time , well they have now be joined by their mates. I have been really impressed with the quality of the casting - really makes the painters job easier.

Basically exactly the same colour mix for the greens as the Chasseurs - Vallejo Military Green , and Flat Green. The horses were done in oils bar the trumpeter and the officers. I undercoated the bays in Humbrol 62 Leather and painted on the furniture in black Vallejo - I highlighted some of the flanks with a little Dark Flesh or Ochre , just to give a little variation as well. After 24 hours they were given an oil rub using Burnt Umber , Burnt Sienna , and mixing some black in on some. I did use my more expensive better quality oils for this as the pigment is finer and given the actual size of the figure it was needed to give a fine finish.

For the basing I used Minatur moss tufts due to size required - these were fairly dark so i gave them a light drybrush of a yellow ochre just to lighten them slightly while they were still attached to sticky sheet.

Time for a bit of something not green based i think.

Chasseurs à Cheval - Work Completed

After what seems like an age , these two regiments are now complete as far as I am taking them - looking forward to seeing them based & flagged. Very happy with the end results. The "Elite" miniatures give some real life to a unit. I think you have to remember these are designed to be fielded as large units en masse , all mixed in with a load of their mates. They are not hyper detailed, super anatomically correct - and i love them all the more for that. I see loads of Perry Napoleonics,all beautifully sculpted and individually well painted  yet very few have really struck me as delivering units that really look the business - but maybe it is my "old school" goggles that cause that.

One thing for sure is that these two units are truly individual with the extra conversion work done, so no other collector or gamer will have ones quite like them.

 24th CaC

 

 24th CaC

24th & 23rd CaC

Work progresses on the 18mm AB miniatures French Line Lancers - very nice they are too. So here are the trumpeters as a little taster.

Also next up is a Connoisseur British Line battalion - proper old school miniatures. 

 Also taken delivery of some Fireforge Mounted Teutonic Knights , and some Testudo Personalities (from PD Miniatures in the UK) to go with them.

Also got my eye on the Great Escape type Stalag Luft set by E-BOB - you gotta love the personalities. Sometimes you just have to paint for the fun of it.

Personality set picture taken from the EBOB website

Doug C will be pleased to hear his AWI Highlanders are about to get a serious looking at too ...

And less than 2 weeks to Salute - who knows what goodies that will turn up..

Chasseurs à Cheval - Work in Progress part 3

The first regiment - the 23rd has now been completed as far as I am taking taking them apart from a further coat of varnish and I will wait and do both units together to ensure a consistent finish. I will get a photo back of them based and flagged.

The 23rd Chasseurs were commanded by a certain Major Marbot in 1812 and i was asked to do some conversions on the unit commander. His head was replaced with one with a a Colpack and plume on (from the spares box), A sword was made to and placed in hand as the original is just waving , add  loose sword knots from wire, and a flying scabbard was added. A rather nice individual creation.

I have had a few queries on the greens to be used. The main colour is Vallejo Model Colour Military Green (975) as the overall base, this is then highlighted with VMC Flat Green (968), and VMC Light Green (942), with some mixing between them . It gives a pleasing result to eye I think.

Of course the other fun with these is that French colour "aurore" , which seems to vary from a yellow to scarlet - although can be orange to salmon pink! So in the end I went with a VMC scarlet base mixed with a little VGC 028 Orange Fire and highlighted with a touch of the pure orange.

Also been doing something a little smaller - some AB miniatures French Lancers are on table once the 24th chasseurs are done.

so a little taster - and just to put things in scale

These AB are 18mm - but they seem a lot smaller than that. However the casting quality and detail is superb making them a real joy to paint. more next time.

Chasseurs à Cheval - Work in Progress

Currently working on a couple of units 23rd & 24th. Some conversion work with replaced swords , one trumpeter made to be blowing his trumpet (starts cast to leg) .The officer on rearing horse has been made with pistol added into to hand and the other hand freed from his body to hold the reins. The standard bearer has had shako removed and head & hair remade with a bandage around forehead. Horses are base coloured ready for oiling up. so that's the first regiment on the go - on with the second lot of conversion over the weekend.

Used a range of base colours ready for oiling the horses.

Mamalukes - done

The squadron of Mamalukes is now completed. Great fun unit to do, lots of movement and colour achieved which was the aim. I am going to add another one off eagle bearer casuality figure next week as well now I have a proper GMB standard for them.

I used a mixture of 4mm Summer & early autumn Silfur grasses , .and was very pleased with the look

Mamaluke progress - part 2

I have now done the main horse colours and the faces, headdress and some of the main blocks of colour. They are going to be very colourful when done.Horses were done in what was for me a fairly old oil and enamel mix technique - this gives plenty of time to shade and highlight to get he result I wanted. I undercoated the horses in range of differing colour shades and gave them a light oil wash and left them overnight. Next day I again did another light oil wash of Burnt Umber or Burnt Sienna or Indian Red and then used Enamel white and leather brown and some white spirit blended the colours with oil to get a whole range of shades and finishes.

I have then just worked on one to finish it , to work out the various colours and processes that need to done for the rest.

He has come up rather well I think.

In between all this colourfulness I have also knocked off a French Legere - they seem to have been popular recently! 

 

Aim is to complete the Mamalukes this week - there is the sound of Sudan drums - there is an order on the way! 

Work in progress - Mamalukes

Well they have to be one of the most colourful units in the Napoleonic period. I have had these rider casting from Bicorne for some time - they are a really nice figure, and having recently taken delivery of some some new horse casting from Firing Line I have started work on "customising".  They are going to be a fully unique unit with each figure and horse different. Almost all the original arms have been removed and repositioned and soldered back on, heads moved, reins added (to be soldered on after horse painting). Additional work is required on the horses due to extra horse furniture decorations these guys had too (done with the soldering iron and files). A number of horses are re-positioned and turned etc.

The left hand side one is a straight original casting.

This one was fun - removed sword and made it

hanging from wrist on cord,and added in a pistol to the hand

 The command trio - added banner & cord to the trumpet, made the Toug? from milliput for the standard bearer. I may even add in a proper eagle bearer to.

 Right - now all we need is some paint on the blighters....

I am looking forward to doing these


oh and JD has finished the horse, basing and flag on 1st Regt of Vistula infantry I did last year so here they are.They look really good and great posed shot too.

Band of the 1st Cuirassier Regiment

Something a bit different this time. After previously completing the Old Guard band I had been looking for some mounted musicians. Having been on the verge of trying to create my own set I was given a steer via the group knowledge of the Steve Dean forum to this set of "Mirliton" castings(makers of some really unusual stuff!) from Italy via Martin at "Vexillia" who specialises in imports. They are an older style of 25mm figures. they have separate rider, saddles and horses.

" Timbalier"

Very few regiments had full mounted bands that also included a Timbalier or Kettle drummer and the 1st fit the bill. But they nearly became the 22nd Dragoons in yellow were it not for the lack of the Timbalier. If you want to know anything about Trumpeters and Musicians there is a fantastic new French publication on the 1st Empire - "Les Trompettes de Cavalerie sous l'Empire"


How many other units do you get with white horses -alright apart from the worst led cavalry in Europe.. those Scots Greys.


Left in glorious gloss , with Red, White & Blue was else was I gonna do!
 

Really enjoyed doing  these guys, nice to do something different.


More good stuff on the prep table, lots of cavalry.

Bavarian Chevauleger-Regiment Konig

Back to Napoleonics. I think there will less Poles this year and more German states. I had these "Connoisseur" castings in stock so decided to create a wholly unique unit, so have converted every single figure in some form. No two horse and rider combinations are the same. I swapped out a few horses for Elite ones for more variation.This range also does not include a dedicated trumpeter casting (as Peter Gilder who designed them never got around to doing them for purely economic reasons – i.e. how many would he sell!). The officer and trooper castings come with the right arm cast down by the side and sword attached to the boots.

 

"Connoisseur" figures designed to be used en masse! 

Conversion

So to list the conversion process.

Work out what I want each squadron doing! Key part of the planning.

 Squadron 1

Remove right arms and sabres and solder into new position, with soldered shaped flattened pins added to replace the swords. I really liked the one turned and drawing his sword from the scabbard in squadron 4.

Reposition heads, some just turning, bent forward or back  some removed and soldered back on. Turn the feet of the rider to dig in more to horse if rider position warrants it.

 Squadron 2

Make trumpets from solder and wire, solder these to hands for those that will be blowing them and solder arms back into position. Add loose trumpets with cords to those with their swords drawn

Make falling horses for front squadron – cut from bases bend/cut, position and solder back to base. Model the falling riders – one trumpeter with splayed out hands (done with soldering iron) to cushion his fall – and dropped sword attached to wrist by cords. Add loose flying trumpet ,scabbards and billow out the saddlecloths.

Squadron 3

For the horses match the riders and turn heads & tails to match the riders movements.

Solder flattened wire reins into riders hand. Once the horses are painted these are soldered onto the bridle.Attach riders to horses with two part epoxy glue.

  Squadron 4

Now all I have to do is paint the beggars!  

Painting

Horse were in various brown shaded oils for troopers, Black for officers and White for trumpeters.

The base tunic green is Shade 5 from the "Andrea Color" green clothes set highlighted with a Vallejo Flat Green

The Red's are again from the "Andrea Color" red set used in the "wrong"order starting dark and working to lighter.

The blue lozenges on the shabraque edging were certainly fun if you like that kind of thing - along with the ciphers in the corner.

A bit about varnish:-
For protection they are given a coat of polyurethane Gloss varnish and then a Matt coat - as that seems to be the fashion these days. I don’t think a full Matt finish at this scale always work, so once varnished Matt the areas that should be shiny are redone in a satin varnish to give a little sparkle! In addition i did the buttons last in a neat silver after varnish to keep the shine as they are not in area that will get touched and rub off.

It is just a shame these guys never carried a standard - one of those Bavarian ones would have really added to the overall look. I did not have any decent infantry casualty figures in stock to adorn the bases - so that is another thing to add the near time purchases!

I am very pleased with these , the finished article looked how I had imagined when i started out.