Today was supposed to be spent finishing off the horses on my cuirassiers, but I started fiddling about with the Garrisons again and no horses were painted. I don't know what it is about the G-men, but I just adore them. Exactly the same thing happened when I was painting my French Garrison battalion, who threatened to elbow aside my Prussian reservists at one point.
Pictured below are the day's results:
The drummer was a much bigger challenge. I spent hours carefully paring back his arms with the intention of repositioning them, but when I tried to re-attach them they disintegrated. To make matters worse, I'd changed the solder I've been using recently and it really wasn't working very well. In the end I had to revert to my earlier supply and chop off a new pair of arms from a surplus Lamming Guard Grenadier. He still needs a little bit of work, but he's basically all there now. There's now a very high probability that the Garrisons will queue jump my cuirassiers, although I'm still fighting it.
In other news, my friend Rob G has sent me the attached, demonstrating once again his extraordinary painting accomplishments. Those have got to be among the best Poniatowski' and Ponsonby figures ever painted. Rifleman Plunkett, Rob tells me, is the chap they are about to tread on.
Last but not least is a selection of the absolutely stunning flags Rob has been gradually adding to 'Lee's wonderful Hinchliffe ECW army. These make me weep for my teenage self. My own attempts back in those days were absolutely abysmal.
That's it for now. It'll be either more Garrisons, cuirassiers or a general or two in the next post, although I also have some gunners on the go so anything could happen really.
WM
Pictured below are the day's results:
The standard bearer was dead easy, of course, as all I had to do was cut away his musket and drill a couple of holes. The Silesian Landwehr flag he's carrying, needless to say, is not what he'll be carrying when he's finished, but it's shown here to give an impression of what the final result ought to look like.
In other news, my friend Rob G has sent me the attached, demonstrating once again his extraordinary painting accomplishments. Those have got to be among the best Poniatowski' and Ponsonby figures ever painted. Rifleman Plunkett, Rob tells me, is the chap they are about to tread on.
Last but not least is a selection of the absolutely stunning flags Rob has been gradually adding to 'Lee's wonderful Hinchliffe ECW army. These make me weep for my teenage self. My own attempts back in those days were absolutely abysmal.
That's it for now. It'll be either more Garrisons, cuirassiers or a general or two in the next post, although I also have some gunners on the go so anything could happen really.
WM
A most heart warming Sunday morning read for us old lovers of vintage model soldiers :) The Garrison conversions are wonderful of course.
ReplyDeleteAlmost two years since Rob G became the custodian of my 800 figure Hinchliffe ECW collection and he has been sending me regular photos of his work as he adds his own stamp on them, I'm so glad that they went to Rob. The hand painted flags add so much to them along with the new basing style and gloss varnish.... just brilliant Rob :)
I concur completely, 'Lee.
DeleteA feast for the eyes old chap...
ReplyDeleteThe ECW standards are beautiful... Rob’s colour choices work really well...
Cuirassiers,Garrisons or Generals are fine by me.... ;-)
All the best. Aly
Rob is very talented, isn't he, Aly.
DeleteAs for me, my wargames butterfly is completely out of control.
Hurrah! :-)
DeleteYour flag Looks georgeous!
ReplyDeleteIt's one I made earlier, as they used to say on Blue Peter!
DeleteI'll second Lee's previous remarks. Simply an inspiring, fun read over the first mug of coffee for the day. Quite a bit of powdery, fresh snow here, so I fear cross-country skiing will trump (pun intended) all else today.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
That sounds marvellous, Stokes. We actually had some sunshine yesterday which made me feel even guiltier. Not only was I not painting cuirassiers, but I was skulking about indoors during one of the very rare sunny days we've had this year. This is probably the worst summer I've spent in Wellington, which is saying something.
DeleteLovely work all round!
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Rob and myself, cheers Matt!
DeleteNice conversions, I may have to ask to do some for me in the future.
ReplyDeleteAs for painting the Landwehr - I say go for it! That sort of enthusiasm is not to be wasted and you'll find they're done and dusted (or more likely glossy varnished) in no time at all.
I'm all-too easily convinced, Rob! You are bad man.
DeleteNice conversions, you don't know how much it is tempting me...
ReplyDeleteNo, but I guessed it might!
DeleteThere's an undercoated officer and standard bearer drying as we speak (I don't bother with drummers). Just need to cast a load more of the marching figure itself (sure I used to have some...)
DeleteExcellent!
DeleteAnd pretty much done and posted...
DeleteEven more excellent!!!
DeleteMy goodness, but these Garrisons do seem to have sparked your enthusiasm! If that flag is only temporary, can't wait to see what you do with the real thing!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, David. I'll have to ponder the flag for a bit. It'll need to be something that harmonises nicely with the 2nd IR and the Lutzowers, however. Can't have anything that clashes!
DeleteThey look lovely Matt and Rob's painting is up there with yours!
ReplyDeleteI take it from a reply above that you painted the 'placeholder' Silesian flag? Amazing!
It's one of a pair (the other was for Mr Stryker) I painted...um...a year and a half ago for a Silesian battalion that has so far stubbornly refused to show up. I'm afraid it may be delayed even further if I do a sudden swerve in favour of Tippelskirch's brigade. Never mind, I'll get there eventually...
DeleteI have a few Garrison Brunswickers I got as part of a trade. They are on the larger size even for Garrisons.
ReplyDeleteYour conversions are excellent. Where do you get the drums from ?
I have completely failed to get my head around the trajectory of the Garrison range (even Rob Young says he struggles a bit!). The 1973 chaps you can see above were part of a move into "true 25mm", I believe, designed to be compatible with early Hinchliffes. The discontinuation of the earlier, slightly shorter and much slimmer "20mm" ranges listed the year before seems to have occurred soon afterwards. The whole range was then completely redesigned and expanded at a later date, possibly several times. It's all very confusing, not helped by the fact that the very distinctive marching pose you can see above was also employed by Hinchliffe and the later Lammings, which makes it jolly difficult to tell them apart! An example of what I believe to be a late Lamming Brunswicker appears in one of my earlier Lamming posts here: https://thehintonspieler.blogspot.com/2018/11/looking-at-lammings.html
DeleteThe drum is one of a small packet which was very kindly given to me by Kris Kaonis, the proprietor of Musket Miniatures. This is a stormingly good range of 20mm ACW figures. All very tempting.....
Actually even these figures exist in 2 forms. I have later versions of this style that are virtually identical to this tranche but the faces are a bit bigger - and yes, I'm struggling to sort out the ins and outs of the things!
DeleteHi Matt
ReplyDeleteThe Brunswickers I have are on Robs blog.
https://easterngarrison.blogspot.com/2020/01/garrison-20mm-napoleonics.html?m=1
They are the 73BRN2 figure. Additionally I have a Brunswicker officer.
It took me a while to spot him - he's in the classic "advancing" pose, I see, and as you say, somewhat taller than his 1972 brethren!
Delete