You'll have heard the news, no doubt, that New Zealand is not going through the best of times right now, and that it's about to get a lot worse.
I'm dealing with some of the anxiety by painting soldiers, which may partly account for the promising start I've made on my latest regiment, which is to be the 4e Chasseurs à Cheval. Once again, the plan is to paint the whole regiment in one go, with the sole exception of the wee test chasseur pictured below.
He's a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 122: French Chasseur a Cheval of the line charging. I think he's one of the loveliest HH one-piece-castings I've ever handled.
Far more impressive, however, is recent work by Rob G., who's been building a vintage 20mm Spanish army. Impossible, you say? Not if you have the artistry and ingenuity of Rob, who also turns out to be a genius with a soldering iron.
First up is Rob's 2nd/10th Guadalajara Regiment, which started life as what I think were Scruby 1806-era Prussians.
Not content with that, Rob has also produced the 1st/27th Princesa Regiment, using a few more of the Scrubys and grenadiers converted from Der Kriegspielers British Guard Grenadiers.
Edit: an earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that it was the 127th Princesas, and that the grenadiers were converted British fusiliers!
I empathise with you, luckily England has realised that if one is fully vaccinated thats as good as its going to get, and being social creatures we need others. Love the Spanish, they are brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThat's more or less the conclusion reached at this end as well. The good news is that we got all our vaccinations done before it really hit.
DeleteRob is a figure sculptor manqué, clearly!
I love the lacing on the CàC's waistcoat - you might regret having to repeat that for a whole regiment! My planned future CàC regiment (the 5th) will have the same colour scheme with the exception of the collars being green and only piped in yellow. With 4 Battle Honours and 86 other battles to their credit they should have bragging rights.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the upcoming battle, is Wallmoden being allowed out to play?
Deciding how to do his waistcoat was the hardest part of this figure. It was also very unclear where the waitcoat ended and his legs began until I put the lace onto it! It's this sort of thing that makes test figures advisable. As you say, however, the rest of them will have to be like that now, although the officer might get something even fancier.
DeleteWallmoden might get a look in, although it'll be in the role of the Dastardly Baron von Driberg.
A lovely shiny Chasseur Matthew…
ReplyDeleteRobs Spanish do look rather lovely…
All the best. Aly
Cheers Aly.
DeleteYou've got to hand it to white-coated infantry, haven't you. I've clearly got to do something about this!
For me the breakthrough with white uniforms was an undercoat with Humbrol Duck Egg Blue (Matt 23 not at all blue!). I recommend trying it and hghlighting in white on top of that - that way it doesn't really matter that white doesn't cover too well.
DeleteA lot of excellent paintwork by both of you.
ReplyDeletePersonally waitingfor the letter about my 4th jab - 3rd one is listed as part of the first lot due to depressed immune system. Fun times.
Thank you Rob. I'm pleased to report that the horses are all done on the rest of them. As for the troopers, there are really only four colours to put onto them, so I'm hoping it'll go quite quickly.
DeleteI dread to think what Rob G is going to do next!
Fun times indeed.
Superb work with the Chasseur Matthew! I agree that it is a lovely little sculpt, my own 6th Chasseurs are my (current) favourite unit and painting them last year did bring some lockdown relief so hopefully the same will apply to you.
ReplyDeleteThat Rob is a clever boy too!
I think the last thing I painted is always my favourite, Ian!
DeleteAs for Rob, too clever by half.
Ooooh I do love your hunter. The richness of the green coat you have achieved is spectacular. I know it is a little thing (literally), but I am amazed at the steadiness of your lettring in painting the 4 on the pelise. Wow! The chasseurs really do have a simple elegance about them.
ReplyDeleteI have already lauded Rob on his Spanish efforts. I may have to hire him out to do some cavalry conversions for the Regiment del Ray. Is your skill with a soldering iron for rent Rob? :)
That's right, David, put him to work! That'll teach him.
DeleteIf you're talking about a single figure to cast from I could be tempted if you have some figures to work with and good illustrations of what you want.
DeleteLovely all round, I do still love the old Scruby castings.
ReplyDeleteMuch underappreciated in my view. Your Scruby Franco-Prussians very nearly did for me, Matt - in fact they may still might.
DeleteI see that due to the pandemic Jacinda has had to postpone her wedding, Oh well, that gives you more time to get your CaC painted before the big day. The test figure looks great!
ReplyDeleteI think she got the idea from somewhere that holding parties during a pandemic might not be a good look!
DeleteInspiring work on that Chasseur and Rob's Spanish - I am intrigued by the idea of undercoating white with duck egg blue!
DeleteSo am I, Rick. I'm very set in my ways, but I might actually give that a try.
DeleteMake sure it is Humbrol Matt 23 - it far more of warm but pale grey.
DeleteMatt, are you able to get a response out of Historifigs/Scruby? Several of us have tried. I've tried three times now and never got a response - I'd love to get some more of their figures.
ReplyDeleteI've also tried about three times but without success. I thought I'd wait until there was some sort of lull in this never-ending crisis before I tried again.
DeleteJust seen these: excellent all round! Inspiring stuff. I can't wait for Historifigs to get back in action so I can order some 20mm Scrubies for myself.
ReplyDelete