Saturday 28 February 2015

Mit Gott fűr König und Vaterland


Hinton Hunt PN 22: Prussian Landwehr Colour Bearer
PN 23, doing the National Union of Railwaymen proud
Although in the last post I said there was going to be a pause in Prussian production, I just couldn't resist having a go at a couple of Don's splendid Prussian Landwehr command figures.

There was always a strong chance that I was going to do a red flag for the 2nd Neumarks, as this was the colour of the flag carried by those Peter Gilder landwehr that inspired me all those years ago. Any doubt about the matter, however, was removed by a remark from Wellington Girl (aged 9). She wanted to know why I was painting a whole lot of Postman Pats. "Postmen?", I replied, "surely anyone can see that these are British Rail employees!". Having invoked the National Union of Railwaymen, anything other than a red flag would have been a disappointment.

It took two attempts to get it right. It was fiendishly difficult to get anything resembling a symmetrical cross on to the flag as it is anything but square and far from securely attached by that perilously thin lead flag pole.


Hinton Hunt PN 23: Prussian Landwehr Drummer
PN 22: Prussian Landwehr Drummer
The other figure is Don's PN 22: Prussian Landwehr Drummer. This is a David Clayton figure (for more on the David Clayton range, see Ian's splendid blog here), which seems to have been made by grafting a Prussian landwehr head onto a French line infantry drummer, complete with the latter's fringed epaulettes and French imperial lace all over the the arms and chest. However, a little bit of work with a craft knife and a file soon made him a little more Prussiany.

Many thanks again to Don for this very generous donation.

These are positively the last Prussians for the next wee while. The next post, I promise, will be about something completely different.....

WM




9 comments :

  1. Matt these are just simply superb!

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  2. Beautiful - with the gloss finish and the crisp painting, they look almost like porcelain.

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    1. Speaking of which - does this mean I can have one of your mugs!

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    2. Porcelain was exactly what I was going to say! Years ago I painted some figures with the rather gloopy varnish one gets for Das Pronto clay models and that had a very similar effect. The varnish should help strengthen the flag pole. I find with some wonky items such as thin muskets that it helps to coat them in runny superglue before painting , that and the paint and varnish can add a bit. of backbone to slim and vulnerable parts.
      Roy

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  3. Cheers Chaps!

    Rest assured that the varnish is now nothing but the very finest Windsor and Newton acrylic. However it takes a couple of coats to achieve the kind of depth I'm looking for.

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  4. Figures and flags are superb!

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    1. Cheers Lee. Wish I could do them as quickly and well as you!

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  5. Great job, amazing details on the flags!

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